Bert I. Gordon, director of B-list horror and sci-fi films, died Wednesday (8/3) at his home in Los Angeles of complications from a fall. He was 100 years old.
Among his many films, the low-budget productions “The Curse of the Sinister Monster” (1957), “The Atomic Monster” (1957), “Attack of the Puppet People” (1958) and “Blood in the Lighthouse” ( 1960).
Bert Ira Gordon was born on September 24, 1922 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He got his first camera when he was just 9 years old and has been experimenting with images since childhood. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, he began his career in television commercials. The leap to cinema took place in 1954, when he produced the film “Serpent Island” (1954), with Sonny Tufts.
The directorial debut took place the following year, with “King Dinosaur” (1955), a film with a budget of $18,000 in which Godon films a small iguana in the role of the title dinosaur.
Specializing in budget productions, Gordon directed seven films in the 1950s alone, including “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958) and “Curse of the Spider” (1958) which, as their names suggest, show people terrorized by sea beasts and spiders.
Even though his films were low budget, he managed to attract big actors to the projects. Don Ameche, Martha Hyer and Zsa Zsa Gabor starred in ‘The Odd Portrait’ (1966), Peter Graves starred in ‘Beginning of the End’ (1957), Basil Rathbone participated in ‘The Seven Curses of Lodac’ (1962 ) and young Beau Bridges and Ron Howard starred in “City of Giants” (1965).
And if that wasn’t enough, Gordon even managed to cast none other than Orson Welles to play the leader of a group of witches in the horror ‘The Sorcerer’ (1972).
Venturing into other genres, he also wrote and directed the comedy How to Succeed with Sex (1970), about a man who reads a book on seduction and tries to use its teachings to find a girlfriend.
His filmography also includes the policeman “The Mad Bomber” (1973), the comedy “Love Therapy” (1982) and the novel “The Big Short” (1987).
However, his greatest interest was precisely in horror and monster films, which include some trashy classics, such as “The Fury of the Atomic Beasts” (1976), “The Ant Empire” (1977), “Devil’s Witness” ( 1982) and “Satanic Force” (1989).
After the latter’s release, Bert I. Gordon stayed away from the cinema for 26 years, only returning to the director’s chair in 2015, when he made the horror “Secrets of a Psychopath”, his last credit as director.
Source: Terra
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