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Bert I. Gordon was a director of drive-in B movie classics of the 1950s through 1970s, including “The Amazing Colossal Man.”
Filmmaker
Gordon began making movies as a child on a 16 mm camera. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, he began working professionally, making commercials and filming TV series including “Racket Squad” and “Serpent Island.” His film debut was 1955’s “King Dinosaur,” the first of many “giant monster” movies he would direct. It was later featured on the comedy movie review show “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” Also featured on the show were seven other movies including Gordon’s 1957 “The Amazing Colossal Man” and its sequel, “War of the Colossal Beast,” both among the cult favorites he created. Other films by Gordon include “The Cyclops,” “Earth vs. the Spider,” “Village of the Giants,” and “Empire of the Ants.” Gordon also wrote the screenplays to many of his films, as well as creating the special effects. At times, he was able to attract well-known actors to star in his low-budget films, as when Orson Welles starred in “Necromancy” and Ida Lupino appeared in “The Food of the Gods.” Gordon’s most recent film was 2015’s “Secrets of a Psychopath.” He was nicknamed Mr. B.I.G., a play on his initials.
Notable quote
“From the time I was a very young kid I didn’t want to do anything but make movies the rest of my life. 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.” —from a 2011 interview for Media Mikes
Tributes to Bert I. Gordon
Full obituary: The New York Times
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