Gavin Gordon (actor)

Fred Gavin Gordon (April 7, 1901 – April 6, 1983)[1] was an American film, television, and radio actor.

Gavin Gordon
Gordon in 1950
Born(1901-04-07)April 7, 1901
Chicora, Wayne County, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedApril 6, 1983(1983-04-06) (aged 81)[1]
Canoga Park, California, U.S.
Resting placeMagnolia Cemetery (Mobile, Alabama)
OccupationActor
Years active1929–1968

Life and career

Gordon landed his first part on stage at the age of nineteen. He began getting small roles at studios including at Fox and Paramount in 1927. After a film test, Gordon starred as Greta Garbo's leading man in Romance (1930). Garbo biographer Robert Dance called Gordon "the least remembered of all the men who supported Garbo. ...Gordon was good-looking, rather than handsome, and had a strong, rich speaking voice. But he was either utterly miscast or appallingly directed: it is hard to say even after ninety years."[2]

An automobile accident that injured Gordon as he was to have begun shooting almost resulted in his being replaced. Although he went to set, he was too injured to work and was hospitalized for two weeks. Garbo insisted that he not be replaced and shooting continued until he could resume work.

Dance noted that Gordon's film career largely consisted for small and/or uncredited roles. With his distinctive voice, Gordon acted in numerous radio dramas. Gordon's final film appearance was in 1963's The Nutty Professor.

He died on the day before his 82nd birthday. He is interred in Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama.[1]

Personal life

Gordon was a homosexual who had a long term "and happy" relationship with Edward Everett Horton.[2]

In the 1980s, Gordon donated a horse sculpture he had owned and never authenticated to the Mobile Museum of Art. It was later determined to be from the Tang Dynasty.[3]

Partial filmography

TV roles

Gordon also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, M Squad, Perry Mason, Playhouse 90, The Real McCoys, The Red Skelton Show, Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, etc.

References
  1. Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons (3rd ed.). McFarland. p. 287. ISBN 978-1-4766-2599-7.
  2. Dance, Robert (November 30, 2021). The Savvy Sphinx: How Garbo Conquered Hollywood. Univ Press of Mississippi. p. 134. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  3. "MMofA's Tang Horse is More than 1,000 Years Old". Mobile Museum of Art. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
  • Film Star Who's Who on the Screen, 1938
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