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Gavin Gordon (actor)

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Gavin Gordon
BERJAYA
Gordon in 1950
Born(1901-04-07)April 7, 1901
Chicora, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedApril 7, 1983(1983-04-07) (aged 82)[1]
Canoga Park, California, U.S.
Resting place
Magnolia Cemetery (Mobile, Alabama)
OccupationActor
Years active1929–1968
PartnerEdward Everett Horton

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

Life and career

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Early years

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Born on April 7, 1901,[2][1] in Chicora, Mississippi,[2] Gordon moved to Mobile, Alabama while in his late teens.[3][4] He wanted to be an actor, but he was told that his southern accent would limit his stage opportunities, so he studied stenography. He then moved to Chicago, where he found a job, took speech lessons, and tried to lose his accent. While working as a stenographer, Gordon met actor Grant Mitchell, who offered to help Gordon get started in acting when he was ready.[5]

Stage

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In 1922, Mitchell helped Gordon begin his stage career in Detroit with the Jessie Bonstelle Players. He went on to act in Jane Cowl's production of Romeo and Juliet, after which he performed in stock theater in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.[5] His Broadway credits included The Outsider,[6] as well as Celebrity (1927), Sh, the Octopus (1928), Crashing Through (1928), The Gentleman From Athens (1947), The Devil's Disciple (1950), and Buy Me Blue Ribbons (1951).[7] In 1928 Gordon joined the Stuart Walker Company.[8]

Film

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He began getting small roles at studios including at Fox Film and Paramount Pictures 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."[9]

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.[10][11]

Dance noted that Gordon's film career largely consisted of 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.

Personal life and death

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In Eccentrics of Comedy, Film historian Anthony Slide concludes his chapter on Edward Everett Horton by noting that the actor "never stopped working and never hid from the public eye.

Despite the last, Edward Everett Horton did manage to maintain a private gay relationship with actor Gavin Gordon, Garbo's leading man in Romance (1930). What a strange couple the two very different men must have made—almost as strange and eccentric a relationship as Edward Everett Horton and his mother.[12]

Gordon died on his 82nd birthday in Canoga Park, California.[13] He is interred in Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama.[1]

Partial filmography

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TV roles

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Gordon also appeared on such television programs as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Perry Mason, Playhouse 90, The Real McCoys, The Red Skelton Show, Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Petticoat Junction.

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 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. 1 2 "Questions and Answers". Photoplay. July 1930. p. 83. Retrieved May 13, 2026 – via Archive.org. Mickey Notan, Newark, N. J.—Greta Garbo was born in Stockholm, Sweden, September 18, 1905. Her new leading man in 'Romance' is Gavin Gordon, recruit from the stage. Gavin was born in Chicora, Mississippi, on April 7, 1901. He is 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighs 175 pounds and has dark hair and grey eyes. His great, great grandmother was a sister to Robert E. Lee.
  3. ↑ "TOO SMALL TO REMEMBER". Screenland. November 13, 1929. p. 25. Retrieved May 13, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Gavin Gordon is a Chicora, Miss, home town boy who made good, but he rarely mentions his home town. 'Chicora is so small', Gordon explains, 'that no ever knows where it is, so for biographical purposes, I have transferred my early allegiance to Mobile, Ala., where I saw my first motion picture at the age of seventeen.'
  4. ↑ Wheeler, Ralph (August 1930). "Garbo's New Screen Lover: Introducing Gavin Gordon". Screenland. p. 83. Retrieved May 13, 2026 – via Archive.org. Along about the time the world had been made safe for democracy, a gawky young man shook the sawdust out of his mail-order suit and left Chicora, Mississippi, to struggle along as best it could.
  5. 1 2 Deaner, Frances (April 11, 1926). "Gavin Gordon makes big hit". Los Angeles Sunday Times. p. Part III, page 20. Retrieved May 13, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Kingsley, Harold (March 27, 1926). "Theaters". Saturday Night. p. 83. Retrieved May 13, 2026 – via Google Books. Gavin Gordon and Charlotte Treadway in 'The Outsider.' [...] Charlotte Treadway gives to LaLage a wonderful characterization, and Gavin Gordon, as the young inventor, rises to heights not before reached in his work at the Morosco.
  7. ↑ "Gavin Gordon". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on February 25, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Personal Notes About the Summer Companies". The Indianapolis News. July 7, 1928. p. 4. Retrieved May 13, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Dance, Robert (November 30, 2021). The Savvy Sphinx: How Garbo Conquered Hollywood. Univ Press of Mississippi. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-4968-3656-4. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  10. ↑ Special to the Free Press (June 15, 1930). "Famous Star's Kindness Gave Newcomer Chance; Greta Garbo Ordered Picture Making Stopped Until Young Kentucky Leading Man Recovered From Painful Accident". Detroit Free Press. p. Part IV, page 1. Retrieved May 13, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. On the way to the studio, another car crashed into his small roadster. He was thrown out onto the pavement and struck on his left shoulder, but he got to his feet, set his jaw stubbornly and drove to the studio. He said nothing about his accident. For a solid hour he worked, [...] Then he fainted in Garbo's arms. 'When he came to, he was in the hospital with a fractured collar bone, a dislocated shoulder and a mass of torn ligaments. Garbo was smiling down at him. 'If you will be good and take care of yourself, we will wait in the picture for you,' she said. 'I, Garbo, promise you that.' And that is why the new Garbo picture 'Romance,' was delayed for weeks.
  11. ↑ "Gavin Gordon Hurt". Variety. June 25, 1930. p. E4. ProQuest 1529004047. Schedule on 'Romance,' M-G's current Greta Garbo starring picture, has been re-arranged following automobile crash injuries to Gavin Gordon, male lead. Gordon sustained a fractured shoulder yesterday in an accident while driving to the studio. He will be in the hospital several days.
  12. ↑ Slide, Anthony Slide (1998). Eccentrics of comedy. Lanham, Md : The Scarecrow Press. p. 65. ISBN 0-8108-3534-7.
  13. ↑ "Obituaries". The Stage and Television Today. May 12, 1983. p. 7. ProQuest 962711349. GAVIN GODON, a screen actor who was no relative of the British actor and composer of the same name, died aged 82 in Canoga Park, California on April 7. Born in Mississippi, he had a long career in films and latterly on television.
  • Film Star Who's Who on the Screen, 1938
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