Leo Gordon

Actor

About

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Also Known As

Leo Vincent Gordon, Leo V Gordon

Birth Place

Brooklyn, New York, USA

Born

December 02, 1922

Died

December 26, 2000

Cause of Death

Heart-Related Illness

Biography

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Powerfully built and perpetually wearing a baleful, cringe-inducing stare, character actor Leo Gordon loomed tall as the villain in dozens of Westerns and melodramatic crime films during the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. He once served time in San Quentin State Prison but it's his flinty voice and bulldog-like under bite that have caused some people to proclaim him the "scariest man they ever m...

Filmography

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Maverick (1994)

Alienator (1989)

Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (1988)

Savage Dawn (1985)

Fire and Ice (1983)

M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (1983)

Officer Horvath

Photos & Videos

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Wasp Woman, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) A Modern Miracle In The Cosmetics World

Wasp Woman, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) Your First Injection

Family & Companions

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Lynn Cartwright

Wife

Married from 1950 until his death.

Biography

Powerfully built and perpetually wearing a baleful, cringe-inducing stare, character actor Leo Gordon loomed tall as the villain in dozens of Westerns and melodramatic crime films during the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. He once served time in San Quentin State Prison but it's his flinty voice and bulldog-like under bite that have caused some people to proclaim him the "scariest man they ever met." However, many of his former co-stars have regarded him as a professional and decidedly courteous performer. Rather funnily, he first garnered attention for his role in the exploitative prison shocker "Riot in Cell Block 11" ('54), a movie that was shot on location at San Quentin--he got to see all his old prison guards while also getting his big break. Though he's appeared in over 100 movie and TV Westerns, including the kicky oater comedy "My Name is Nobody" in 1973, he is probably best known for his late-'50s role as the large-and-in-charge Big Mike McComb on the rollicking, gambling-centered adventure series "Maverick." In 1963, he famously (if briefly) went toe to toe with the legendary John Wayne in the madcap free-for-all romp "McLintock!" and ended up falling face-first down a mudslide. Gordon occasionally played a good guy and wrote scripts himself for over 20 big-screen and small-screen Westerns. Shortly before his retirement in the mid-'90s, he reprised his signature role in the big-budget cinematic adaptation of "Maverick," which co-starred Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster. He died in his sleep at age 78.

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

Maverick (1994)

Alienator (1989)

Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (1988)

Savage Dawn (1985)

Fire and Ice (1983)

M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (1983)

Officer Horvath

Nashville Girl (1976)

The Barbary Coast (1975)

Chief Macdonald Keogh

My Name Is Nobody (1973)

Bonnie's Kids (1972)

Charley [Thomas]

The Trackers (1971)

You Can't Win 'Em All (1970)

Buckskin (1968)

Devil's Angels (1967)

Sheriff Henderson

Hostile Guns (1967)

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967)

The Night of the Grizzly (1966)

Beau Geste (1966)

The Girls on the Beach (1965)

Kitten With a Whip (1964)

Kings of the Sun (1963)

The Haunted Palace (1963)

McLintock! (1963)

The Intruder (1962)

The Nun and the Sergeant (1962)

Tarzan Goes to India (1962)

Noose for a Gunman (1960)

The Jayhawkers! (1959)

Escort West (1959)

The Big Operator (1959)

Apache Territory (1958)

Ride a Crooked Trail (1958)

Quantrill's Raiders (1958)

[Cap. William Clarke] Quantrill [also known as Charlie Hart]

The Notorious Mr. Monks (1958)

The Cry Baby Killer (1958)

Spectator in parking lot

The Restless Breed (1957)

Lure of the Swamp (1957)

Man in the Shadow (1957)

The Tall Stranger (1957)

Baby Face Nelson (1957)

Black Patch (1957)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Johnny Concho (1956)

7th Cavalry (1956)

The Conqueror (1956)

The Steel Jungle (1956)

Great Day in the Morning (1956)

Red Sundown (1956)

Tennessee's Partner (1955)

Santa Fe Passage (1955)

Seven Angry Men (1955)

The Bamboo Prison (1955)

Ten Wanted Men (1955)

Soldier of Fortune (1955)

Robbers' Roost (1955)

Man with the Gun (1955)

Silver Lode (1954)

The Yellow Mountain (1954)

Sign of the Pagan (1954)

Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)

Crazy Mike Carnie

All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953)

China Venture (1953)

Sgt. Hank Janowicz

Gun Fury (1953)

City of Bad Men (1953)

The Royal Pauper (1917)

Carruthers, the Wicked Suitor

Pardners (1917)

Alonzo Struthers

Then I'll Come Back to You (1916)

Archie Wickersham

Writer (Feature Film)

Wasp Woman (1995)

You Can't Win 'Em All (1970)

The Bounty Killer (1965)

The Terror (1963)

Tower of London (1962)

The Cat Burglar (1961)

Valley of the Redwoods (1960)

The Wasp Woman (1959)

Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)

Original story and Screenplay

Escort West (1959)

Hot Car Girl (1958)

The Cry Baby Killer (1958)

The Cry Baby Killer (1958)

From a story by

Black Patch (1957)

Cast (Special)

The Unexplained (1956)

Writer (Special)

Bravo Two (1977)

Special Thanks (Special)

Bravo Two (1977)

Cast (TV Mini-Series)

Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Follies (1994)

Mob Boss (1990)

War and Remembrance (1988)

General Omar Bradley

The Winds of War (1983)

General "Train" Anderson

Life Events

Photo Collections

7th Cavalry - Publicity Stills

7th Cavalry - Publicity Stills

Videos

Wasp Woman, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) A Modern Miracle In The Cosmetics World Producer-director Roger Corman’s opening, with maybe some suggestion of innate character traits, in leading lady Susan Cabot, as cosmetics tycoon Janice, stinging her staff (Fred Eisley as Lane, William Roerick as Cooper, Barboura Morris as Mary), in The Wasp Woman, 1959.

Wasp Woman, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) Your First Injection This scene confirms that quacky Zinthrop (Michael Mark) is in fact working with wasp-juice, having been hired by cosmetics entrepreneur Janice (Susan Cabot), who had shown interest in its potential as a remedy for aging, and insists on being his test subject, in Roger Corman’s The Wasp Woman, 1959.

Nun And The Sergeant, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) I Don't Like Psychos Prefiguring The Dirty Dozen, McGrath (Robert Webber) doesn't tell the (un-credited) brig officer he's collecting inmates (first Kenny Miller, notably Leo Gordon, Valentin de Vargas) for a suicide mission in Korea, in The Nun And The Sergeant, 1962, original screenplay by Don Cerveris.

Bamboo Prison, The -- (Movie Clip) I'm Nijinsky! Korean War P-O-W's rush to get a look at Tanya (Dianne Foster), wife of the turncoat head interrogator, in her first appearance, and Brady (Brian Keith) reveals he knows the informer Rand (Robert Francis) is a double agent, in The Bamboo Prison, 1955.

Gun Fury -- (Movie Clip) Try The Other Way Jennifer (Donna Reed) introduces just-arrived fiancee` Ben (Rock Hudson) to fellow stagecoach passengers (Phil Carey, Leo Gordon, Forrest Lewis) at dinner, political chat ensuing, in Raoul Walsh's Gun Fury, 1953.

Seven Angry Men -- (Movie Clip) No Blood Has Been Shed Rev. White (Leo Gordon) and band visit John Brown (Raymond Massey) and free-staters at Osawatomie, backed by younger Browns (including Guy Williams, Larry Pennell, Jeffrey Hunter and Dennis Weaver as nervous John Jr.) in Seven Angry Men, 1955.

Haunted Palace, The - (Original Trailer) Vincent Price inherits The Haunted Palace (1963) and becomes possessed by the spirit of an evil ancestor.

Family

Tara Gordon

Daughter

Companions

Lynn Cartwright

Wife

Married from 1950 until his death.

Bibliography

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