LEO GORDON BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
 
Leo Gordon was born on December 2nd, 1922 in New York City, New York with the birth name Leo Vincent Gordon.  He grew up during the Great Depression and was raised by his father in a very poverty stricken neighborhood.  
 
To escape the financial hardships he endured, he joined the military, but only served for two years before being discharged.  He realized he had no career and no financial support and therefore moved to California and began getting involved with the wrong people and living a life of crime.  After serving four years at San Quentin State Prison for armed robbery he decided to move back to New York and finally found employment in the construction industry.

He enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and began studying acting.  Soon he was working as a stage actor and during a stage production of, “Darkness at Noon” a Hollywood agent took notice of him.  

One of his earlier film roles was in, “Riot in Cell Block 11” which was filmed at the San Quentin Prison where he had actually served time.  Throughout his career he would appear in more than 170 films and a number of television productions. 
 
As his career progressed, he appeared in such films as, “Baby Face Nelson”, “Black Patch” (1957) and “Intruder” (1962).  Many remember him from his recurring role as, Big Mike McComb” on the series, “Maverick” (1957-1960) and he also appeared on four episodes of “Rockford Files”. 

Along with working as an actor on films and in television, he became a talented screen writer for several stage productions.  His first successful film script was “The Cry Baby Killer”.  He also wrote a number of scripts for television shows and the film industry.  He even did 50 scripts total between the television series, “Bonanza” and “Cheyenne”.  He was also an author of a number of novels such as, “Powderkeg” which was a historical western.
 
Despite his large burly experience, he was well regarded in Hollywood and very well liked by many in the industry.  Leo was even awarded the, “Golden Boot Award” for all the work he did on Westerns.  He married only once to fellow actress, Lynn Cartwright whom he wed in 1950 and they had one daughter together, Tara.
 
Gordon passed away on December 26th, 2000 at the age of seventy eight in Los Angeles, California on from cardiac failure in his sleep.  He is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. 

Filmography

1994 The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Hollywood Follies
1994 Maverick 
1994 SeaQuest 2032 
1990 Mob Boss 
1990 Wiseguy 
1990 Alienator
1989 War and Remembrance
1988 Saturday the 14th Strikes Back
1988 Big Top Pee-wee
1987-1988 St. Elsewhere
1987 Moonlighting 
1987 The Garbage Pail Kids Movie
1987 Magnum, P.I.
1985 Savage Dawn
1985 Fame
1985 All American Cowboy
1983 The Rousters
1983 The Rousters 
1983 Bog 
1983 Fire and Ice 
1983 M.A.D.D.: Mothers Against Drunk Drivers 
1983 The Winds of War 
1981 Enos
1981 Fantasy Island 
1980 Rage!
1980 Tenspeed and Brown Shoe
1979 Little House on the Prairie 
1978-1979 The Rockford Files
1979 The Dukes of Hazzard
1978 Son of Hitler 
1978 The Lucifer Complex
1976 Nashville Girl
1975 Cannon
1975 Far Out Space Nuts
1975 Barbary Coast
1971-1975 Adam-12
1974 The F.B.I.
1956-1974 Gunsmoke 
1973 My Name is Nobody 
1973 Marcus Welby, M.D. 
1973 Hec Ramsey
1973 Bonnie's Kids
1972 The Streets of San Francisco 
1972 Mod Squad
1971 The Trackers
1971 O'Hara, U.S. Treasury
1971 Alias Smith and Jones
1971 The Bold Ones: The Lawyers 
1962-1970 The Virginian
1970 McCloud 
1970 You Can't Win 'Em All 
1969 The Outcasts 
1968 Buckskin 
1959-1968 Bonanza 
1968 The High Chaparral
1967 Lassie 
1967 Hostile Guns
1967 The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
1967 Devil's Angels
1967 Tarzan
1967 Tobruk
1967 Rango
1966 Pistols 'n' Petticoats
1965-1966 Laredo
1966 Beau Geste
1966 The Night of the Grizzly
1965 Daniel Boone
1965 Get Smart
1965 12 O'Clock High
1965 The Dictator's Guns
1965 The Girls on the Beach  
1963-1965 Death Valley Days 
1964 Kitten with a Whip
1959-1964 Rawhide
1964 Arrest and Trial 
1963-1964 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1964 The Great Adventure
1963 Kings of the Sun
1963 McLintock!
1963 Temple Houston 
1963 The Haunted Palace 
1958-1963 The Rifleman
1963 The Andy Griffith Show
1962 Ripcord 
1955-1962 Cheyenne
1962 Empire
1962 Tarzan Goes to India
1962 The Intruder 
1959-1962 Bronco
1962 The Nun and the Sergeant 
1957-1961 Tales of Wells Fargo 
1961 Whispering Smith
1961 The Roaring 20's
1957-1961 Have Gun - Will Travel
1961 Lawman 
1961 The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp 
1961 The Brothers Brannagan 
1961 Coronado 9
1960 Checkmate
1960 Route 66
1960 Dan Raven
1960 Outlaws 
1960 Laramie 
1958-1960 Bat Masterson 
1960 Mr. Lucky 
1960 The Alaskans
1960 Noose for a Gunman 
1957-1960 Tombstone Territory
1960 The Untouchables 
1960 Law of the Plainsman 
1960 Tightrope 
1960 The Deputy 
1959 Five Fingers
1959 The Jayhawkers!
1959 Lock Up
1959 The Big Operator
1959 Man Without a Gun
1959 Perry Mason
1957-1959 Maverick
1958-1959 26 Men
1959 Fury
1958 Tales of the Texas Rangers
1958 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
1958 Yancy Derringer
1958 Escort West
1958 The Rough Riders 
1958 Frontier Doctor 
1958 Ride a Crooked Trail 
1958 Apache Territory 
1958 The Cry Baby Killer 
1958 Quantrill's Raiders 
1958 Target 
1958 The Notorious Mr. Monks 
1956-1958 State Trooper 
1958 Sea Hunt 
1957 Casey Jones
1957 Baby Face Nelson
1957 Official Detective
1957 The Tall Stranger 
1957 The Walter Winchell File 
1957 Man in the Shadow 
1957 Black Patch 
1957 The Restless Breed 
1957 Lure of the Swamp 
1956-1957 Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre 
1957 Soldiers of Fortune 
1956 Broken Arrow 
1956 7th Cavalry 
1956 Navy Log
1956 Zane Grey Theater 
1956 Circus Boy
1956 Screen Directors Playhouse
1956 Johnny Concho
1956 Great Day in the Morning
1956 Crusader
1956 The Man Who Knew Too Much
1956 Red Sundown
1955-1956 Frontier
1954-1956 The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
1956 The Steel Jungle 
1956 The Conqueror
1956 Chevron Hall of Stars
1955 Man with the Gun
1955 Crossroads 
1955 Tennessee's Partner 
1955 Robbers' Roost 
1955 Soldier of Fortune 
1955 Santa Fe Passage 
1955 Seven Angry Me
1955 Ten Wanted Men
1955 Waterfront
1954 The Bamboo Prison 
1954 Sign of the Pagan
1954 The Yellow Mountain 
1954 The Egyptian 
1954 Stories of the Century 
1954 Fireside Theatre
1954 Riot in Cell Block 11 
1953 Hondo
1953 All the Brothers Were Valiant 
1953 The Ford Television Theatre 
1953 Gun Fury 
1953 City of Bad Men 
1953 China Venture
1953 My Hero 
1952 Hallmark Hall of Fame