Don Gordon

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Don Gordon (* 23. November 1926 as Donald Walter Guadagno in Los Angeles , California ; † 24. April 2017 ) was an American actor .

Life

Gordon grew up in poor circumstances and started working as a newsboy at the age of eight to support the family. At the age of 15, under the influence of the attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the United States Navy . After the end of the war he began an acting training, at this time he also chose his stage name Don Gordon. He made his feature film debut in 1949 in an extra role in Henry King's two Academy Award-winning war film The Commander . This was followed by other war films such as Not a Groschen for Eternity and Okinawa , but he remained uncredited for all of them.

From 1951 he also worked for television, and soon received regular guest roles in television series such as Sugarfoot and 77 Sunset Strip . Gordon lived in Laurel Canyon near Steve McQueen . Both had many interests in common, especially both loved motorcycles, and went on many motorcycle tours together. These trips sometimes lasted several hours and led them to San Francisco . In 1959 he first appeared in front of the camera alongside McQueen for the western series Josh . In 1960 he got one of the leading roles in the crime series The Blue Angels , which was canceled after the first season. He was nominated for an Emmy in 1962 for his guest role in the Preston & Preston lawyer series .

Gordon played one of his most important film roles in 1968 as Detective Sergeant Delgetti in the crime film Bullitt . This was followed by two more feature films alongside McQueen, Papillon and Flaming Inferno . His later films include the horror films Barbara’s Baby - Omen III and The Exorcist III . By the early 1990s he was a well-booked guest star in numerous series formats, and appeared in such successful series as Columbo , Starsky & Hutch , Airwolf and MacGyver . In an appearance on the Remington Steele series , he appeared as Anthony Delgetti , a reference to his most famous film role in Bullit .

Gordon was married four times. His first marriage was to actress Helen Westcott in 1948 and they divorced in 1953. The following year he married the actress Nita Talbot . The second marriage was divorced in 1958, and in 1959 he married another actress, Bek Nelson . This marriage lasted almost 20 years, and this marriage resulted in Gabrielle, his only child. The fourth and final marriage to Denise Farr followed in 1979 and lasted until his death in 2017. His fourth wife was the daughter of Felicia Farr and Lee Farr . Her parents had separated in 1955 and her mother had married Jack Lemmon in 1962 , who became Gordon's father-in-law.

Gordon died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at the age of 90 , just five days after being diagnosed with cancer.

Filmography (selection)

Movie

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Nominations

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personal data
SURNAME Gordon, Don
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Guadagno, Donald Walter (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California , United States
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 2017
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States