Acting
Jan 3, 1918
Santa Clara, California, USA
William D. Gordon
Acting
Biography
William Douglas Gordon was an American actor, writer, director, story editor, and producer. Although he is best known for his writing credits, he acted occasionally on numerous TV series. Gordon was born in Santa Clara, California, in 1918. He started his career as a writer in 1936, writing for radio shows like The Cisco Kid, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Tommy Dorsey Show. In 1939, he began to direct TV shows, directing the first live television shows for the Don Lee Network and later he served as an infantry officer during World War II. In 1958, he acted for the first time in Maverick, appearing subsequently in TV series including Maverick, The Twilight Zone, Thriller, Peter Gunn, Law of the Plainsman, Riverboat, Rawhide, The Americans and The Virginian during the 1960s. He also worked as a script writer for shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Fugitive, Bonanza, Ironside and Barbary Coast, in addition to writing the screenplay of the films Cotter and Sergeant Ryker. As a director, he directed one episode of The Richard Boone Show titled "Death Before Dishonor" and another of The Fugitive titled "A.P.B.". On March 31, 1965, he became the producer of Twelve O'Clock High, producing 47 episodes of the series, in addition to producing 32 episodes of The Fugitive between 1964 and 1966. He worked as a story supervisor of The Richard Boone Show, Bonanza, Thriller and Alfred Hitchcock Presents and directed the television game show Queen for a Day. From 1977 to 1982, Gordon, along with James Doherty, helped to produce, write and edit the TV series CHiPs. After retirement, Gordon began writing novels about the Civil War. Gordon died in Thousand Oaks, California of lung cancer aged 73
Feature Films (1)
Six episodes of the original series, restored and on the big screen for the first time, and a special retrospective documentary encompass this Fathom Event.
The Twilight Zone: A 60th Anniversary Celebration
Television & Series (7)
Riverboat is a 44-episode western television series starring Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds broadcast on the NBC television network from September 13, 1959 until January 2, 1961. It was produced by Revue Studios.
Riverboat
Law of the Plainsman is a Western television series starring Michael Ansara that aired on the NBC television network from October 1, 1959, until May 5, 1960. The character of Native American U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart was introduced in two episodes of the popular ABC Western television series The Rifleman starring Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain. Law of the Plainsman is distinctive and unique in that it was one of the few television programs that featured a Native American as the lead character, a bold move for U.S.network television at that time. Ansara had earlier appeared in the series Broken Arrow, having portrayed the Apache chief, Cochise. Ansara, however, was not Native American but of Syrian descent. Ansara played Sam Buckhart, an Apache Indian who saved the life of a U.S. Cavalry officer after an Indian ambush. When the officer died, he left Sam money that was used for an education at private schools and Harvard University. After school, he returned to New Mexico where he became a Deputy Marshal working for Marshal Andy Morrison. He lived in a boarding house run by Martha Commager. The only other continuing character was 8-year old Tess Logan, an orphan who had been rescued by Buckhart. Robert Harland, later of Target: The Corruptors! starred in seven episodes as Deputy Billy Lordan. Wayne Rogers, who went on to star in another Four Star western, Stagecoach West, and later, M*A*S*H, also played deputy Lordan in several episodes.
Law of the Plainsman
Black Saddle is an American Western television series starring Peter Breck that aired 44 episodes on ABC from January 10, 1959 to May 6, 1960. The half-hour program was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television, and the original pilot was an episode of CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, with Chris Alcaide portraying the principal character, Clay Culhane. For syndicated reruns, Black Saddle was combined with three other Western series from the same company, Law of the Plainsman starring Michael Ansara, Johnny Ringo starring Don Durant and Mark Goddard, and the critically acclaimed creation of Sam Peckinpah, The Westerner with Brian Keith, under the umbrella title, The Westerners, with new hosting sequences by Keenan Wynn.
