- Born
- Died
- Nickname
- Gordie
- Starting out as a child actor, Gordon Douglas was eventually hired by Hal Roach as a gag writer. His first directorial assignments were for Roach's "Our Gang" series. Graduating to features, Douglas stayed with comedies, directing Oliver Hardy in Zenobia (1939) and both Hardy and Stan Laurel in Saps at Sea (1940). Douglas left Roach for RKO, for which he directed about a dozen films from 1942-47, mostly routine programmers. He then went to Columbia for several years, but in 1950 he headed over to Warner Brothers, where he would stay for the next 15 years and where he would find his greatest successes. His westerns and crime dramas for Warners met with critical and financial success, and it was during this period that he made what is considered one of the classic sci-fi films of the era: Them! (1954). Although he had his share of clunkers, and has at times expressed dissatisfaction with his career (he once said, "Don't try to watch all the films I've directed; it would turn you off movies forever"), he was responsible for some of the more enjoyable films of the 1950s and 1960s. One of his most successful films was also one of Frank Sinatra's best--The Detective (1968), a tough, gritty and controversial (for the time) crime drama about a homicide cop who gets involved in a murder case involving wealthy and powerful homosexual men.
- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- SpouseJulia Mack Douglas(? - September 29, 1993) (his death, 2 children)
- RelativesRoy Brickner(Sibling)
- Excelled in Crime-Related Films, Several Starring Frank Sinatra
- Only filmmaker to have directed both Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.
- Directed nearly 100 features and shorts, including five features alone that were released in 1950, and four more in 1951.
- Slid 15 feet from the top of the Old Woman's Shoe and tore ligaments in his left leg during the filming of March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934), on which he worked as an assistant director.
- Often used counter diving angles with camera, for instance when cars or wagons roll.
- Directed one Oscar-nominated performance: Gig Young in Come Fill the Cup (1951).
- [re the enormous number of films he directed] I have a large family to feed and it's only occasionally that I find a story that interests me.
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