Bert I. Gordon, Cult Director of '50s & '60s Horror Movies, Dead at 100
Bert I. Gordon, a cult filmmaker known for his monster movies of the 1950s and 1960s, has passed away at the age of 100. The New York Times confirms his death, bringing word from his daughter Patricia Gordon that he died on Wednesday, March 8th in Los Angeles. Gordon is survived by his wife, three daughters, six grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren. Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1922, Gordon served in the United States Air Force in World War II and transitioned from working in television to making feature films after the war.
Gordon's first solo-feature film was 1957's sci-fi horror movie The Cyclops, starring Lon Chaney Jr. and Gloria Talbot, which he directed, wrote, produced, and created the special effects. From there he would go on to mount an extensive career with American International Pictures, producing and directing films at the same time as Roger Corman was with the independent film company (though they never collaborated on a project together).
The 1950s and its obsession with atomic-age science fiction and horror would prove to be lucrative for Gordon. After The Cylcops he would write and direct five more feature films that were released within 1957 and 1958 including: The Amazing Colossal Man, about a radioactive soldier that grows 60 feet; Beginning of the End, about locusts that become giant after eating giant-radioactive vegetables; Earth vs. the Spider, naturally a movie about a giant spider; War of the Colossal Beast, a sequel to "The Amazing Colossal Man;" and Attack of the Puppet People, a film created to cash in on the success of The Incredible Shrinking Man.
Gordon would continue to work in genre films throughout the 1960s, exploring fantasy and adventure while also continuing to direct horror movies including Tormented, The Boy and the Pirates, The Magic Sword, and Village of the Giants. In the 1970s he would direct the horror movie Necromancy, which starred none other than Orson Welles.
Many film fans perhaps know his movies best for their association with being featured on the original run of Mystery Science Theater 3000, with eight of his movies being featured on the movie "riffing" series in its early days.
"From the time I was a very young kid I didn't want to do anything but make movies the rest of my life," Gordon said in a 2011 interview with MediaMikes.com. "My aunt gave me a movie camera when I was 9 and I started to make home movies...not family stuff but movies...I'd write the stories. My family and friends would act them out and I would film them. When I got to university I started a campus newsreel, shot on 35 mm and the theatres in the town would play them. After that I started making television commercials and industrial films. I thought I was happy because I was making movies. But one day while shaving I looked in the mirror and said to myself, 'Hey...you're not making movies...movies are made in Hollywood.' So after three months I closed my business and moved to Hollywood. It wasn't easy, of course. But in all those years, while growing up, I learned all kinds of methods to do visual effects. To answer your question...why I did everything...I liked doing it all!"
(Cover Photo by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images)