Gale Gordon
Encyclopedia
Gale Gordon was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...

 perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball's
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...

 longtime television foil—and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfisted bank executive Theodore J. Mooney
Theodore J. Mooney
Theodore J. Mooney is a fictional character on the 1960s CBS situation comedy The Lucy Show, he was portrayed by Gale Gordon.Mooney was the president of the local bank in Lucy Carmichael's hometown of Danfield. As such, he was also the trustee of an apparently sizable trust fund of which the...

, on Ball's second television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

, The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1962 until 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the 1965-66 season divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program...

. Gordon also had starring roles in Ball's third series, Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy is Lucille Ball's third network television sitcom. It ran on CBS from 1968 to 1974.-Background:Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the previous season, finishing in the top five of the Nielsen Ratings , Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season and create...

and her short-lived fourth series, Life with Lucy
Life With Lucy
Life with Lucy is an American sitcom starring Lucille Ball. The show ran on the ABC network in 1986, and unlike Ball's previous hits on television, it was a critical and ratings flop.- Premise :...

. Prior to his television career, Gordon was a respected American radio actor.

Radio

Born Charles T. Aldrich, Jr., in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, the son of British actress Gloria Gordon and her vaudevillian
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

 husband Charles Aldrich, Gale Gordon's first big radio break came via the recurring roles of "Mayor La Trivia" and "Foggy Williams" on Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly was an American radio comedy series which maintained its popularity over decades. It premiered on NBC in 1935 and continued until its demise in 1959, long after radio had ceased to be the dominant form of entertainment in American popular culture.-Husband and wife in real...

, before playing Rumson Bullard on the show's successful spinoff, The Great Gildersleeve
The Great Gildersleeve
The Great Gildersleeve , initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. Built around Throckmorton Philharmonic Gildersleeve, a character who had been a staple on the classic radio situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly, first Introduced to...

. Gordon and his character of Mayor La Trivia briefly left the show in December 1942 when Gordon enlisted in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 and the storyline followed.

Gordon was the first actor to play the role of Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...

, in the 1935 radio serial The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon. From 1937 to 1939, he starred as "The Octopus" in the "Speed Gibson" adventure series. In 1949, Gordon recorded the pilot for The Halls of Ivy
The Halls of Ivy
The Halls of Ivy is an NBC radio sitcom that ran from 1950-1952. It was created by Fibber McGee & Molly co-creator/writer Don Quinn before being adapted into a CBS television comedy produced by ITC Entertainment and Television Programs of America...

, starring in the program's title role of Dr. Todhunter Hall, the president of Ivy College. The pilot led to a radio series that aired from 1950–52, but with Ronald Colman
Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...

 in the title role; Gordon later joined the cast as a replacement for Willard Waterman
Willard Waterman
Willard Lewis Waterman was a character actor in films, TV and on radio, remembered best for succeeding Harold Peary as the title character of The Great Gildersleeve at the height of that show's popularity.Peary was unable to convince sponsor and show owner Kraft Cheese to allow him an ownership...

 in the popular role of John Merriweather.

In 1950, Gordon played John Granby in the radio series Granby's Green Acres, which became the basis for the 1960s television series, Green Acres
Green Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...

. Gordon went on to create the role of pompous principal Osgood Conklin on Our Miss Brooks
Our Miss Brooks
Our Miss Brooks is an American situation comedy starring Eve Arden as a sardonic high school English teacher. It began as a radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948 to 1957. When the show was adapted to television , it became one of the medium's earliest hits...

, carrying the role to television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 when the show moved there in 1952. In the interim, Gordon turned up as Rudolph Atterbury on My Favorite Husband
My Favorite Husband
My Favorite Husband is the name of an American radio program and network television series. The original radio show, co-starring Lucille Ball, was the initial basis for what evolved into the groundbreaking TV sitcom I Love Lucy. The series was based on the novel Mr. and Mrs...

, which starred Lucille Ball in a precursor to I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...

. Gordon and Ball previously worked together on The Wonder Show, starring Jack Haley
Jack Haley
John Joseph "Jack" Haley was an American stage, radio, and film actor best known for his portrayal of the Tin Man and Kansas farmworker Hickory in The Wizard of Oz.-Career:...

, from 1938 to 1939. The two had a long friendship as well as recurring professional partnership. Gordon also had a recurring role as fictitious Rexall
Rexall
Rexall was a chain of North American drugstores, and the name of their store-branded products. The stores, having roots in the federation of United Drug Stores starting in 1902, licensed the Rexall brand name to as many as 12,000 drug stores across the United States from 1920 to 1977...

 Drugs sponsor representative Mr. Scott on yet another radio hit, The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show
The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show
The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, a comedy radio program which ran on NBC from 1948 to 1954, evolved from an earlier music and comedy variety program, The Fitch Bandwagon...

, staying with the role as long as Rexall sponsored the show.

Television

The widely acknowledged master of the "slow-burn" temper explosion in character, Gordon was the first pick to play Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy, but he was committed to Our Miss Brooks
Our Miss Brooks
Our Miss Brooks is an American situation comedy starring Eve Arden as a sardonic high school English teacher. It began as a radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948 to 1957. When the show was adapted to television , it became one of the medium's earliest hits...

and declined the offer in favor of William Frawley
William Frawley
William Clement "Bill" Frawley was an American stage entertainer, screen and television actor. Although Frawley acted in over 100 films, he achieved his greatest fame playing landlord Fred Mertz for the situation comedy I Love Lucy.-Early life:William was born to Michael A. Frawley and Mary E....

. He appeared in three guest shots on the show: twice as Ricky Ricardo's boss, Alvin Littlefield, owner of the Tropicana Club where Ricky's band played, and later as a judge on a Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour is a CBS television situation comedy. The show is a collection of occasional specials rather than a regular series and originally served as part of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse...

episode. In 1958, he appeared as a regular in the role of department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...

 co-owner Bascomb Bleacher, Sr., on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 sitcom Sally
Sally (1957 TV series)
Sally is an American situation comedy which aired on NBC from September 15, 1957 to March 30, 1958. The series is the first filmed television series produced by Paramount Studios.-Synopsis:...

, starring Joan Caulfield
Joan Caulfield
Joan Caulfield was an American actress and former fashion model. After being discovered by Broadway producers, she began a stage career in 1943 that eventually led to signing as an actress with Paramount Pictures....

 and Marion Lorne
Marion Lorne
Marion Lorne MacDougall was an American actress. After a career in theatre in New York and London, Lorne made her first film in 1951, and for the remainder of her life, played small roles in films and television...

. Gordon had a co-starring role in the CBS television comedy Pete and Gladys
Pete and Gladys
Pete and Gladys is an American situation comedy broadcast by CBS on Monday night at 8:00pm Eastern and Pacific time for two seasons, beginning on September 19, 1960...

. At this time, he guest starred with Pat O'Brien
Pat O'Brien (actor)
Pat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...

 in the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 sitcom Harrigan and Son
Harrigan and Son
Harrigan and Son is an ABC sitcom about a father-and-son team of lawyers, played by Pat O'Brien and Roger Perry as Jim Harrigan, Sr., and Jim, Jr. In supporting roles, as secretaries, are Georgine Darcy as Gypsy and Helen Kleeb as Miss Claridge. The series aired 34 episodes at 8 p.m. Eastern Time...

, the story of a father-and-son lawyer team.

In 1962, Ball created The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1962 until 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the 1965-66 season divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program...

and planned to hire Gordon to play Theodore J. Mooney, the banker who was first Lucy Carmichael's executor and subsequently her employer, when she went to work in his bank. Gordon was under contract to play John Wilson (after the death of Joseph Kearns
Joseph Kearns
Joseph Sherrard Kearns was an American actor, who is best remembered for his role as George Wilson in the CBS television series Dennis the Menace from 1959 until his death in 1962.-Biography:...

, who played George Wilson) on Dennis the Menace. When that show ended in spring 1963, Gordon joined The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1962 until 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the 1965-66 season divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program...

as Mr. Mooney for the 1963-64 season. (In the interim, Charles Lane
Charles Lane (actor)
Charles Gerstle Levison , better known as Charles Lane, was an American character actor seen in many movies and TV shows, and at the time of his death may have been the oldest living professional American actor. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including You Can't Take It With You , Mr...

 played the similar Mr. Barnsdahl character for the 1962-63 season.) The somewhat portly Gordon was adept at physical comedy and could do a perfect cartwheel. He did this on The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1962 until 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the 1965-66 season divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program...

and Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy is Lucille Ball's third network television sitcom. It ran on CBS from 1968 to 1974.-Background:Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the previous season, finishing in the top five of the Nielsen Ratings , Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season and create...

, and again as a guest on The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...

.

After the sale of Desilu studios, Ball shut down The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show
The Lucy Show is an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from 1962 until 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the 1965-66 season divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program...

in 1968 and retooled it into Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy is Lucille Ball's third network television sitcom. It ran on CBS from 1968 to 1974.-Background:Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the previous season, finishing in the top five of the Nielsen Ratings , Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season and create...

and became her own producer and distributor. She used Gordon again, this time as her irascible boss (and brother-in-law) Harrison Otis 'Uncle Harry' Carter at an employment agency that specialized in unusual jobs for unusual people. It was really that the Lucy Carmichael/Mr. Mooney relationship continued with new names and a new setting.

Gordon all but retired when Here's Lucy ended (he reprised the Mr. Mooney role in the first episode of Hi Honey, I'm Home!
Hi Honey, I'm Home!
Hi Honey, I'm Home! is an American television sitcom that ran from July 19, 1991, to July 12, 1992 for thirteen episodes. The series was television's first "instant" rerun. Each week, a new episode of the series aired on ABC as part of their Friday night TGIF lineup. The same episode would re-air...

), but in the 1980s he came out of retirement to join Ball for the short-lived Life With Lucy
Life With Lucy
Life with Lucy is an American sitcom starring Lucille Ball. The show ran on the ABC network in 1986, and unlike Ball's previous hits on television, it was a critical and ratings flop.- Premise :...

. When Lucille Ball ended her career, Gordon was the only actor to have co-starred or guest-starred in every weekly series, radio or television, she had done since the 1940s.

Beginning in 1949, Gordon and his wife lived in the tiny community of Borrego Springs, California
Borrego Springs, California
Borrego Springs is a census-designated place in San Diego County, California. The population was 3,429 at the 2010 census, up from 2,535 at the 2000 census. Many residents are seasonal while others remain year round...

 (pop. 1,500) where he had a ranch and seven dogs. He was also honorary mayor of the town and commuted approximately 160 mi (257.5 km) to Los Angeles every day when working for Ms. Ball.

Author, painter and rancher

In addition to acting, Gordon was an accomplished author, penning two books in the 1940s entitled Nursery Rhymes for Hollywood Babies and Leaves from the Story Trees, and two one-act plays. After he and his wife purchased 150 acre (60.7 ha) in Borrego Springs, Gordon did much of the construction of the house and his art studio himself. He also built and restored his own furniture on the property and used the land to become one of the few commercial Carob growers in the United States.

Death

Gordon died of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

 on June 30, 1995, at the Redwood Terrace Health Center in Escondido, California
Escondido, California
Escondido is a city occupying a shallow valley ringed by rocky hills, just north of the city of San Diego, California. Founded in 1888, it is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. The city had a population of 143,911 at the 2010 census. Its municipal government set itself an operating...

. Virginia, his wife of nearly 60 years, had died in the same facility one month earlier.

Awards

In 1999, Gordon was inducted posthumously into the Radio Hall of Fame
Radio Hall of Fame
The National Radio Hall of Fame is a project of the Museum of Broadcast Communications.Although no physical building currently exists to house it, the National Radio Hall of Fame is a project of Bruce DuMont, CEO of the currently homeless Museum of Broadcast Communications, and is purported to be a...

, and for his contribution to radio he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

 at 6340 Hollywood Blvd.

Selected film/TV roles

  • Here We Go Again (1942) - Otis Cadwalader
  • My Favorite Husband (1947) - Mr. Rudolph Atterbury
  • Here Come the Nelsons (1952) - H.J. Bellows
  • I Love Lucy
    I Love Lucy
    I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...

    - (one episode)
  • Francis Covers the Big Town (1953) - Dist. Atty. Evans
  • Our Miss Brooks
    Our Miss Brooks
    Our Miss Brooks is an American situation comedy starring Eve Arden as a sardonic high school English teacher. It began as a radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948 to 1957. When the show was adapted to television , it became one of the medium's earliest hits...

    - Osgood Conklin (also on radio)
  • Climax! - Dr. Raymond Forrest (1956)
  • The Real McCoys
    The Real McCoys
    The Real McCoys is an American situation comedy co-produced by Danny Thomas' "Marterto Productions", in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's "Westgate" company...

    - P. T. Kirkland (one episode)
  • Playhouse 90
    Playhouse 90
    Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...

    - Ed Keller (1957–1958)
  • Studio One
    Studio One
    Studio One is one of Jamaica's most renowned record labels and recording studios, having been described as "the Motown of Jamaica." One online review of "Respect to Studio One" released by Heartbeat adds "Stax-Volt" to the American R&B comparison and describes Studio One's founder Clement...

    - R.J. Fuller (1958)
  • The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
    The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
    The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour is a CBS television situation comedy. The show is a collection of occasional specials rather than a regular series and originally served as part of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse...

    - Judge (1958)
  • Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!
    Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!
    Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! is a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Max Shulman, directed by Leo McCarey, starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and released by 20th Century Fox...

    (1958) - Brig. Gen. W.A. Thorwald
  • Don't Give Up the Ship
    Don't Give Up the Ship
    Don't Give Up the Ship may refer to:* "Don't give up the ship", the dying command of James Lawrence in 1813 aboard the USS Chesapeake* "Don't Give Up the Ship", words on the battle flag of Oliver Hazard Perry aboard the USS Niagara in the same year and also the name of a documentary video series by...

    (1959) - Congressman Mandeville
  • The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959) - Raven Rossiter
  • Visit to a Small Planet
    Visit to a Small Planet
    Visit to a Small Planet is a 1960 Paramount Pictures film starring Jerry Lewis, based on a play by Gore Vidal. It was released on February 4, 1960.-Plot:...

    (1960) - Bob Mayberry

  • All Hands on Deck (1961) - Cmdr. Bintle
  • Harrigan and Son
    Harrigan and Son
    Harrigan and Son is an ABC sitcom about a father-and-son team of lawyers, played by Pat O'Brien and Roger Perry as Jim Harrigan, Sr., and Jim, Jr. In supporting roles, as secretaries, are Georgine Darcy as Gypsy and Helen Kleeb as Miss Claridge. The series aired 34 episodes at 8 p.m. Eastern Time...

    - Merril Davis (1961)
  • Pete and Gladys
    Pete and Gladys
    Pete and Gladys is an American situation comedy broadcast by CBS on Monday night at 8:00pm Eastern and Pacific time for two seasons, beginning on September 19, 1960...

    - Uncle Paul Porter (1960–1962)
  • Dennis the Menace - John Wilson (1962–1963)
  • Sergeant Dead Head (1965) - Capt. Weiskopf
  • The Danny Thomas Hour - Baxter (1967)
  • The Lucy Show - Mr. Theodore J. Mooney (1963–1968)
  • Speedway (1968) - R.W. Hepworth
  • Here's Lucy
    Here's Lucy
    Here's Lucy is Lucille Ball's third network television sitcom. It ran on CBS from 1968 to 1974.-Background:Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the previous season, finishing in the top five of the Nielsen Ratings , Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season and create...

    - Harrison Otis Carter (1968–1974)
  • Lucy Calls the President (1977) (TV) - Omar Whittaker
  • The Honeymooners Christmas Special
    The Honeymooners
    The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy television show, based on a recurring 1951–'55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network's Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show hosted by Jackie Gleason, and filmed before a live...

    (1977) (TV) - Ralph's boss
  • Life With Lucy (1986)
  • The 'Burbs
    The 'Burbs
    The 'Burbs is a 1989 American black comedy thriller film directed by Joe Dante starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Rick Ducommun, Corey Feldman and Henry Gibson. The film was written by Dana Olsen, who also has a cameo in the movie...

    (1989)
  • Hi Honey, I'm Home - Theodore J. Mooney (1991)
  • The New Lassie (1991)


External links

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