Celebrity Deathwatch: Leo Gordon, Actor, 78

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

http://www.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/28/obit.gordon.ap/index.html

Leo Gordon, played villains in scores of Westerns, dies at 78

December 28, 2000
Web posted at: 12:33 PM EST (1733 GMT)


LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Leo Gordon, a tough-guy actor famous for
playing the villain in scores of Westerns and television shows over nearly
50 years, has died at the age of 78.

Gordon died Tuesday at his Los Angeles home after a brief illness, said his
daughter, Tara Gordon.

In a career that included about 70 films and dozens of TV shows, Gordon
created a gallery of mobsters, killers and creeps. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound,
broad-shouldered actor with steely blue eyes was one of the most recognized
character actors of his time.

He played a killer in the 1954 film "Riot in Cell Block 11," which was
filmed in California's Folsom Prison. But Gordon was best known for wearing
the black hat in Westerns, from "Hondo" in 1953 to 1994's "Maverick." During
the 1950s and 1960s, he seemed to make an appearance on virtually every
Western TV show, from "Bonanza" to "Rin Tin Tin."

"Thank God for typecasting," he said in 1997 as he received the Golden Boot
award for his Western screen work.

Gordon also was a screenwriter with more than a dozen films to his credit,
ranging from 1966's "Tobruk" to Roger Corman's B-movie "Attack of the Giant
Leeches." He also wrote "The Cry Baby Killer," which was Jack Nicholson's
movie debut.

For TV, he wrote about 50 scripts for shows such as "Bonanza" and
"Cheyenne," including 21 episodes of "Adam-12."

Gordon was a real-life bad guy before he got into acting.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 2, 1922, he was raised by a single
father who struggled to make ends meet. Gordon never left New York until he
joined the Army in 1941. But "he couldn't take rules" and was honorably
discharged after about two years, his daughter said.

He drifted to Southern California and turned to robbery, his daughter said.
After four years in San Quentin prison, Gordon returned to New York and was
working a construction job when he decided to use his military benefits to
take acting classes.

He met his future wife, Lynn Cartwright, when she was studying acting at the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and they were married in 1950.

Gordon went on to stage work and a Hollywood agent who saw the Los Angeles
production of "Darkness at Noon" launched his career by offering him a role
in the 1953 Western "City of Bad Men."

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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