Bruce Gordon (American actor)

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For other people named Bruce Gordon, see Bruce Gordon (disambiguation).
Bruce Gordon
Gordon in 1970
Born(1916-02-01)February 1, 1916
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedJanuary 20, 2011(2011-01-20) (aged 94)
Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1948–1989
SpouseMarla Gordon

Bruce Gordon (February 1, 1916 – January 20, 2011) was an American actor best known for playing gangster Frank Nitti in the ABC television series The Untouchables. His acting career ranged over a half century and included stage, movies, and a varied number of roles on the small screen.

Early life

Gordon was born in

Broadway was in 1937 in the musical drama The Fireman's Flame.[1] From 1941 to 1945, he played the role of Officer Klein alongside Boris Karloff in the original cast of Arsenic and Old Lace on Broadway.[2] He had an "Introducing" credit in the 1949 Marx Brothers film Love Happy
.

Television

On television, he appeared in numerous episodes of such early programs as

Studio One, Justice, Kraft Television Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, The Californians, Whirlybirds, and the premiere episode of Decoy
.

In 1958, Gordon appeared in a memorable bit role as one of

Cajun outlaws who inhabit a remote island in the Mississippi River
. Gordon appeared in the
U.S. Marshal, starring John Bromfield
.

Also, in 1958, he guest starred in Gunsmoke season three, episode 19 "Kitty Caught" and later in episode 1 of season four “Matt For Murder”. He also appeared in Robert Culp's western series, Trackdown, episode "The Mistake" as the character, Steve Marriner.

Gordon made three guest appearances on Perry Mason. In 1959 he played murder victim Frank Thatcher in "The Case of Paul Drake's Dilemma," for which Mason's private detective Paul Drake was accused of the crime. He also appeared in a 1959 episode of Whirlybirds as an escaped convict who kidnaps his dying wife from her hospital bed. Finally, in 1959 he starred in the Gene Barry TV western Bat Masterson, playing Bat's nemesis "Jason Medford", who tries to pin a murder rap on the star who is interrupting his protection money racketeering success in the town of St. Joseph, Missouri.

In 1960 he played murder victim Judson Bailey in "The Case of the Loquacious Liar," and in 1964 he played Mr. Winlock in "The Case of the Blonde Bonanza."

Gordon appeared twice in 1961 on ABC's Adventures in Paradise, starring Gardner McKay; he was cast as Stevens in "Mr. Flotsam" and as Red Munce in "Adam San".

His subsequent frequent, energetic performances as

typecast as an often darkly humorous 'heavy' for the rest of his career. Often stealing scenes from the stolid, humorless Eliot Ness, as portrayed by Robert Stack
, his famous catch-phrases in The Untouchables were "Ya got nothin' on me, Ness. I'm clean!" and (directed at the victims of Nitti's wrath) "You're dead!"

In 1959, Gordon starred, alongside Pernell Roberts, as Capt. Emil Tremaine in an episode of

One Step Beyond
entitled The Vision.

In 1961 Gordon appeared as politician Rath Lawson on the TV western Maverick in episode "The Ice Man."

In 1964, Gordon guest-starred in the episode "Between the Rats and the Finks" of CBS's drama series, Mr. Broadway, starring Craig Stevens, with fellow guest stars Larry Hagman and Dyan Cannon.

From 1965 to 1968, Gordon appeared in several episodes of the long-running prime-time soap opera

Robert Wagner, and also appeared, in early 1969, in the Here's Lucy episode "Lucy and the Ex-Con" with Wally Cox. On 12/06/1972 he played a over zealous detective on Adam-12,Adam-12
October 1970, Bright Boy, Sgt.Poster

Film

His film credits included roles in

cult classic Piranha (1978), starring alongside Bradford Dillman and Kevin McCarthy
.

Later years

Gordon retired from acting after playing himself in the 1989 film Ernest Goes to Splash Mountain,[4] though he was the executive producer of the Australian telefilm Feds: the Betrayal (1996) and producer of the US/Chinese fantasy martial arts film Warriors of Virtue: the Return to Tao in 2002. For a time, he operated a dinner-and-show restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona, called "Frank Nitti's Place", and in the early 1980s, a pizza restaurant of the same name in Kansas City, Missouri. He greeted patrons at the door in his typical pin stripe suit with a carnation in the lapel.

In 2003, he was reportedly unable to attend the funeral of Untouchables co-star Robert Stack because of poor health. Eight years later, Gordon died after a lengthy illness; he was two weeks shy of his 95th birthday. At the time of his death, Gordon lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife Marla.[5]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1948 The Naked City Cop at Williamsburg Bridge Uncredited
1948 The Street with No Name Detective in Raid Uncredited
1949 Love Happy Hannibal Zoto
1958 The Buccaneer Gramby
1959 Curse of the Undead Buffer
1960 Mission of Danger
1960 Key Witness Arthur Robbins
1962 Rider on a Dead Horse Barney Senn
1962 Tower of London Earl of Buckingham
1968 Slow Run
1969 Hello Down There Adm. Sheridan
1971 Machismo: 40 Graves for 40 Guns Burt
1978 Piranha Colonel Waxman
1982 Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann Earl

References

  1. ISBN 9780573680137.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  2. ISBN 9780312284114
    .
  3. ^ The Goldbergs (TV Series) Mr. Mendel - Partners (1953) ... Mr. Mendel IMDB
  4. ^ "Veteran Actor Bruce Gordon, Memorable for The Untouchables, Many Other Series". ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  5. ^ "Bruce Gordon". Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved December 10, 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bruce Gordon.


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