William D. Gordon (actor)

William Douglas Gordon (January 4, 1918 - August 12, 1991) 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.

Biography

Gordon was born in Santa Clara, California in 1918. He started his career as a writer in the mid-1930s, writing for radio shows like The Cisco Kid, The Count of Monte Cristo (radio program) and The Tommy Dorsey Show.^[1] 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.^[2] In 1958, he acted for the first time in Maverick,^[3] appearing subsequently in TV series like Thriller, Peter Gunn, Law of the Plainsman, Riverboat, Rawhide, The Americans and The Virginian during the 1960s. He also worked as a sript writer for shows like Outlaws, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Fugitive, Bonanza, Ironside and Barbary Coast, in addition to wrote for the films Cotter and Sergeant Ryker.

As a director, he directed one episode of The Richard Boone Show called "Death Before Dishonor" and another of The Fugitive called "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. 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. During the late 1970s to the early 1980s, Gordon helped to produce, write and edit the tv series CHiPs. After retirement, Gordon began writing novels about the Civil War.^[1]

Death

Gordon died in Thousand Oaks, California of lung cancer aged 73.^[4]

Selected Filmography

References

External links

• William D. Gordon on IMDb
• William D. Gordon at Find a Grave