Bert I. Gordon

Bert Ira Gordon (born September 24, 1922) is an American film director most famous for such science fiction and horror B-movies as The Amazing Colossal Man and Village of the Giants. Most of Gordon's work is in the idiom of giant monster films, for which he used rear-projection to create the special effects. His nickname "Mister B.I.G." is a reference both to his initials and to his preferred technique for making super-sized creatures.

Early life and career

He is the son of Charles Abraham Gordon and Sadeline Barnett, who were married June 27, 1916 in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

He began making home movies in 16mm after his aunt gave him a camera for his thirteenth birthday. He dropped out of college to join the Air Corps in World War II. After the war, he married and he and his wife began making television commercials. He later edited British feature films to fit half hour time slots and became a production assistant on Racket Squad and camera man on Serpent Island (1954).^[1]

In 1955, Gordon made his first feature, King Dinosaur, followed by The Cyclops in 1957, which co-starred Lon Chaney Jr. In 1957, he began his prolific association with American International Pictures, beginning with The Amazing Colossal Man and its 1958 sequel, War of the Colossal Beast.^[2] AIP also distributed some of his other late-50s opuses, such as Earth vs the Spider, Beginning of the End, and Attack of the Puppet People.

After filming Tormented (1960), he wrote, produced and directed The Boy and the Pirates, starring active and popular child star of the time Charles Herbert and Gordon's own daughter, Susan Gordon (who died in 2011 from thyroid cancer). All three appeared together in the celebrity lineup at the 2006 Monster Bash, held June 23–25 at the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Airport Four Points. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released a Midnite Movies double DVD set with the rarely seen The Boy and the Pirates, and the more recent Crystalstone (1988), on June 27, 2006.^[3]

His 1977 Empire of the Ants featured a pre-Dynasty Joan Collins, who later said of the film that it was her worst acting experience, but by then the loosely based modernized H. G. Wells tale had been elevated to cult film status.

None of his films has received significant critical attention, but his work has attained popularity in some circles.

Gordon holds a degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.^[4]

Gordon has regularly appeared in the celebrity lineup of the annual Monster Bash convention held in the Pittsburgh region. In 2012, he hosted and moderated a special screening of The Amazing Colossal Man in Dallas.^[5]

Filmography

Of these titles, King Dinosaur, The Amazing Colossal Man, Earth Vs. The Spider, War of the Colossal Beast, The Magic Sword, Tormented, Beginning of the End and Village of the Giants were featured on MST3K.

References

External links

• Bert I. Gordon at the Internet Movie Database