Bert I. Gordon

Bert Ira Gordon born September 24 1922 in Kenosha WI was an American film director most famous for such science fiction and horror Bmovies as The Amazing Colossal Man and Village of the Giants Most of Gordons work was in the idiom of giant monster films for which he used rearprojection to create the special effects His nickname Mister BIG was a reference both to his initials and to his preferred technique for making supersized creatures Gordon held a degree from the University of WisconsinMadison He began his career directing television commercials before moving to film in 1954 to produce Serpent Island In 1957 he began his prolific association with American International Pictures In 1960 he wrote produced and directed The Boy and the Pirates starring then active and popular child star Charles Herbert alongside Gordons own daughter Susan The trio appeared together in the celebrity lineup at the 2006 Monster Bash in Pittsburgh as The Walt Disney Companys Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Mans Chest 2006 spiked interest in previous pirate films Empire of the Ants 1977 featured a preDynasty Joan Collins who later said of the film that it was her worst acting experience but by then the looselybased modernized H G Wells tale had been elevated to cult film status While none of his films received significant critical attention his work attained popularity in some circles Cult TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000 MST3K has featured several of his films which the accompanying episodes are often regarded as some of the shows best Gordon passed away on March 8 2023 at 100 years old Description above from the Wikipedia article Bert I Gordon licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia