Leo Gordon

About Leo Gordon

Who is it?: Actor, Writer
Birth Day: December 02, 1922
Birth Place:  New York City, New York, United States
Cause of death: Heart attack
Resting place: Cremains at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles
Occupation: Novelist, screenplay writer, actor
Years active: 1952–1994
Spouse(s): Lynn Cartwright (1950–2000, his death)
Children: Tara Gordon

Leo Gordon

Leo Gordon was born on December 02, 1922 in  New York City, New York, United States, is Actor, Writer. Big, burly, character actor, one of the toughest of screen heavies, Leo Gordon's powerful physique, combined with his deep, menacing voice, was guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of even the bravest screen hero. Director Don Siegel, who used Gordon in his prison film Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954), once said that "Leo Gordon was the scariest man I have ever met" - this coming from a man who had directed John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Bette Midler! Siegel wasn't talking about just Gordon's screen presence. Before becoming an actor (he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts), Gordon served 5 years in San Quentin State Prison for armed robbery. "Riot in Cell Block 11" was filmed at Folsom State Prison. The Folsom warden remembered Gordon from his prison stint, when he had a reputation as a troublemaker, and objected to his being in the film, but Siegel was able to convince him that Gordon was no threat to the prison.Contrary to his image, though, Gordon was not just a one-note villain. He did play sympathetic parts on occasion, notably in the western Black Patch (1957)--which he also wrote--and in Roger Corman's civil rights drama The Intruder (1962), and turned in first-rate performances, especially in the latter film. Gordon was also a screenwriter, turning out several screenplays for Corman. He wasn't just limited to writing low-budget sci-fi films, either; he penned the screenplay for the WWII epic Tobruk (1967), writing in a good part for himself as Kruger, a tough sergeant in a platoon of German Jews masquerading as Nazi soldiers to help blow up a German oil storage facility.
Leo Gordon is a member of Actor

Does Leo Gordon Dead or Alive?

As per our current Database, Leo Gordon has been died on December 26, 2000(2000-12-26) (aged 78)\nLos Angeles, California, U.S..

🎂 Leo Gordon - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday

When Leo Gordon die, Leo Gordon was 78 years old.

Popular As Leo Gordon
Occupation Actor
Age 78 years old
Zodiac Sign Capricorn
Born December 02, 1922 ( New York City, New York, United States)
Birthday December 02
Town/City  New York City, New York, United States
Nationality United States

🌙 Zodiac

Leo Gordon’s zodiac sign is Capricorn. According to astrologers, Capricorn is a sign that represents time and responsibility, and its representatives are traditional and often very serious by nature. These individuals possess an inner state of independence that enables significant progress both in their personal and professional lives. They are masters of self-control and have the ability to lead the way, make solid and realistic plans, and manage many people who work for them at any time. They will learn from their mistakes and get to the top based solely on their experience and expertise.

🌙 Chinese Zodiac Signs

Leo Gordon was born in the Year of the Dog. Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Dog are loyal, faithful, honest, distrustful, often guilty of telling white lies, temperamental, prone to mood swings, dogmatic, and sensitive. Dogs excel in business but have trouble finding mates. Compatible with Tiger or Horse.

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Biography/Timeline

1922

Gordon was born in Brooklyn in New York City on December 2, 1922. Reared by his father in dire poverty, Gordon grew up during the Great Depression. He left school in the eighth grade, went to work in construction and demolition, and then joined the New Deal agency, the Civilian Conservation Corps, in which he participated in various public works projects. After the United States entered World War II in 1941, Gordon enlisted in the U.S. Army, in which he served for two years and received an undesirable discharge. Gordon was in southern California where he and a cohort attempted to rob a bar and its patrons with a pistol. He was shot in the stomach by one of the officers making the arrest. He was arrested for armed robbery and served five years in San Quentin Prison, where he furthered his education by reading nearly every book in the library.

1950

Gordon started his career on the stage and worked with such luminaries as Edward G. Robinson and Tyrone Power. He was soon discovered by a Hollywood agent in a Los Angeles production of Darkness at Noon. Over the course of his career Gordon would appear in more than 170 film and television productions from the early 1950s to the mid-1990s.

1954

In 1954 Gordon portrayed the outlaw Bill Doolin, a native Arkansan who founded the Wild Bunch gang and operated primarily in Kansas, on the syndicated television series Stories of the Century, starring and narrated by Jim Davis.

1955

In 1955 he was cast on the ABC religion anthology series Crossroads in the role of Sergeant Leroy in "All My Love". In 1958 he appeared as Joe Brock in the episode "Desert Fury" of CBS's Tales of the Texas Rangers, a children's program. That same year Gordon was cast as Zip Wyatt in "Three Wanted Men" of Rex Allen's syndicated Western series Frontier Doctor. He also played a gunslinging professional killer in the pilot for the television version of Gunsmoke; but many changes were later instituted on the series, such as the marshal's office and Long Branch Saloon looking markedly different and the relationship between Matt Dillon and Kitty being subtly more formal as well, so the episode was buried deep in the season in the hope that viewers would not notice, which apparently worked.

1957

Gordon portrayed sympathetic parts when called upon to do so, including his performances in the Western Black Patch (1957), a film that he wrote, and in Roger Corman's civil rights drama The Intruder (1962), opposite a young William Shatner.

1959

Gordon appeared in multiple roles on Robert Stack's 1959 ABC crime drama The Untouchables. Gordon also guest-starred on the ABC/WB western series The Alaskans opposite Roger Moore. He was cast as Damian in the 1961 episode "Million Dollar Suit" of the ABC/WB crime drama The Roaring 20s. He also appeared on the NBC Western series Empire and Laredo.

1963

Perhaps Gordon's single most memorable film scene occurred in McLintock! (1963), during which John Wayne knocks him down a long mudslide after uttering the famous line "Somebody oughta belt you but I won't! I won't! The hell I won't." Another notable role was in the 1966 western The Night of the Grizzly opposite Clint Walker, one of the very few actors who could match Gordon's intense screen presence regarding physical size and strength. Gordon played bounty hunter Cass Dowdy, who had a soft spot for his enemy's son but would, as one character said, "...hunt anything for a price, man or animal." Somehow, Gordon managed to make his character as sympathetic as he was frightening, and in his final scene he gives his life to save the boy.

1965

In 1965, he was cast as the troublemaker Bender in the syndicated western series Death Valley Days in the episode "No Gun Behind His Badge", a dramatization of the Abilene, Kansas, marshal Thomas J. Smith, depicted in the segment by Ronald W. Reagan. The episode also starred Michael Witney as Wild Bill Hickok, who succeeded Smith as marshal.

1970

Gordon was also a prolific Screenwriter and Novelist. Usually credited as "Leo V. Gordon", he wrote dozens of scripts for television series and movies, sometimes writing a good role for himself. His first successful film script, The Cry Baby Killer, featured a young and unknown Jack Nicholson. Among the more notable feature films he wrote was You Can't Win 'Em All (1970) starring Tony Curtis and Charles Bronson. He also wrote the screenplay and appeared in Tobruk (1967), which starred Rock Hudson and George Peppard and was directed by Arthur Hiller. As a television Screenwriter he wrote nearly 50 scripts apiece for Bonanza, Cheyenne and Maverick, in the episodes in which he was not a guest star. In the 1970s he appeared frequently as well on the popular police drama Adam-12, another show that he often scripted. Gordon once told an interviewer that because of his imposing size he never felt he was fully accepted as a screenwriter: "Writing is more rewarding than acting, but look at my face. Nobody believes I’m a Writer. I should be 5' 8", 142 pounds, wear patches on my elbows and horn-rimmed glasses and smoke a pipe. That's a Writer!" In addition to his script work for films and television Gordon wrote or co-wrote several novels, including the historical Western Powderkeg.

1994

Gordon's final role was as Wyatt Earp in a 1994 episode of the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He also appeared in the film Maverick that same year with Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and James Garner.

1997

In contrast to his screen persona Gordon was a quiet, thoughtful and intelligent man who generally avoided the Hollywood spotlight. He was widely regarded by his fellow actors and his Directors as a well-prepared professional. In 1997 he received the Golden Boot Award for his many years of work in westerns. In accepting the award the actor simply flashed a smile for his fans and remarked, "Thank God for typecasting!"

2000

After struggling with a brief illness, Gordon died of cardiac failure in his sleep, aged78, at his home in Los Angeles, California, on December 26, 2000. His ashes and those of his wife, who died in 2004, are interred together in a memorial display in a columbarium at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.

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