Monster movie icon Bert I. Gordon dead at 100

There are only so many monster movie icons, and we lost a big one today. R.I.P. Bert I. Gordon, a pioneer in presenting huge monsters on the silver screen, and a stepping stone for all those who came after him. Gordon was 100.

Gordon was given the nickname “Mr. B.I.G.” a moniker that matched not only his initials but his propensity for creating gigantic monsters – giant rats, spiders, huge grasshoppers, enormous chickens; the list goes on and on. His death was confirmed by his daughter Patricia Gordon to The New York Times.

Gordon’s heyday was during the anxiety of the nuclear age, and he made movies with mutated monsters that cashed in on the hysteria. He is one of those rare directors that cultivated a cult following from the esoteric nature of his craft. His movies featured crude special effects like locusts overtaking a model city, or a woman being eaten by worms.

He had a guerrilla-style attitude when it came to making movies and would often finish them in a fortnight. Throughout the start of his movie career in 1955 he made 20-plus films over six decades. His most well-known movies were The Cyclops from 1957, Village of the Giants in 1965, Necromancy in 1972, and Empire of Ants from 1977.

Gordon was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sept. 24, 1922. He joined the Air Force during World War II. His first showbiz job was as a production assistant on Racket Squad, a CBS show from the early ’50s.

In a 2011 interview with Media Mikes, Gordon said the animals were the hardest part about making movies of that era.

“The creatures were fun. They gave me a little problem at the beginning when we started to train them! But we finally got to be friends.” Gordon also said that making movies was the only thing he ever wanted to do with his life.

“From the time I was a very young kid I didn’t want to do anything but make movies the rest of my life. My aunt gave me a movie camera when I was 9 and I started to make home movies…not family stuff but movies…I’d write the stories. My family and friends would act them out and I would film them. When I got to university I started a campus newsreel, shot on 35 mm and the theatres in the town would play them. After that I started making television commercials and industrial films. I thought I was happy because I was making movies. But one day while shaving I looked in the mirror and said to myself, “Hey…you’re not making movies…movies are made in Hollywood.”

Gordon is survived by his wife, three daughters, six grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren.