Gavin Gordon

Fred Gavin Gordon was born on April 7, 1901, in Chicora, Mississippi, and went on to build a career spanning stage, film, television, and radio. He died on April 7, 1983, his 82nd birthday, and is interred at Magnolia Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama.

Gordon took his first stage role at the age of nineteen and subsequently established a Broadway presence that extended from 1924 to 1951. His stage credits included the musical Annie Dear, as well as the plays A Lady in Love, Sh, the Octopus, The Devil's Disciple, and Celebrity, among other productions.

His transition into film began in 1927 with small roles at Fox Film and Paramount Pictures. Following a screen test, Gordon was cast opposite Greta Garbo as her leading man in the 1930 film Romance. The production was complicated by an automobile accident that left Gordon too injured to work shortly before filming was set to begin, resulting in a two-week hospitalization. Garbo intervened to prevent his replacement, and shooting resumed once he recovered. Garbo biographer Robert Dance described Gordon as "the least remembered of all the men who supported Garbo," noting that he was good-looking with a strong, rich speaking voice but was either miscast or poorly directed. Dance observed that Gordon's film career consisted largely of small and uncredited roles. His final film appearance came in The Nutty Professor in 1963.

Gordon's distinctive voice also made him a presence in radio drama throughout his career. On television, he appeared on programs including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, Playhouse 90, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Red Skelton Show, The Real McCoys, Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Petticoat Junction.

In the 1980s, Gordon donated a horse sculpture he had owned, and which he had never authenticated, to the Mobile Museum of Art. The piece was subsequently identified as a work from the Tang Dynasty.