Bert I. Gordon

Biography

Bert Ira Gordon (born September 24, 1922 in Kenosha, WI) was an American film director most famous for such science fiction and horror B-movies as The Amazing Colossal Man and Village of the Giants. Most of Gordon's work was in the idiom of giant monster films, for which he used rear-projection to create the special effects. His nickname "Mister B.I.G." was a reference both to his initials and to his preferred technique for making super-sized creatures. Gordon held a degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. 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 Gordon's own daughter, Susan. The trio appeared together in the celebrity lineup at the 2006 Monster Bash in Pittsburgh, as The Walt Disney Company's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) spiked interest in previous "pirate" films. Empire of the Ants (1977) featured a pre-Dynasty Joan Collins, who later said of the film that it was he…

Directed

1. The Food of the Gods (1976) — Director
2. Empire of the Ants (1977) — Director
3. Earth vs. the Spider (1958) — Director
4. Attack of the Puppet People (1958) — Director
5. Tormented (1960) — Director
6. The Magic Sword (1962) — Director
7. The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) — Director
8. War of the Colossal Beast (1958) — Director
9. Beginning of the End (1957) — Director
10. Village of the Giants (1965) — Director
11. Necromancy (1972) — Director
12. The Cyclops (1957) — Director
13. King Dinosaur (1955) — Director
14. The Mad Bomber (1973) — Director
15. The Boy and the Pirates (1960) — Director
16. The Big Bet (1985) — Director
17. Picture Mommy Dead (1966) — Director
18. Satan's Princess (1989) — Director
19. Secrets of a Psychopath (2015) — Director
20. How to Succeed with Sex (1970) — Director
21. Burned at the Stake (1981) — Director
22. Let's Do It! (1982) — Director
23. Serpent Island (1954) — Director
24. Famous Ghost Stories (1961) — Director
25. The Witching (1983) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists! (2021) — Self (archive footage)