Colin Gordon

[vladpyre]

Does anyone know anything about the later years of actor Colin Gordon? (died 1972) particularly the cause of death please?

[smudge]

Moor Larkin might well have some info to hand, given his interests. If he doesn't turn anything up I'll look in the bottom of the cupboard for some ancient material on THE PRISONER which may have more details...



Smudge

[wearysloth]

The esteemed Mr Quinlan does not offer a cause of death, but does note that Mr Gordon made his West End stage debut as the rear end of a horse...

[tonymima]

I think Colin Gordon died of cancer in the early seventies.



Regards



Tony

[stevie boy]

a good actor, effective as number 2 in the Prisoner, but surely the worst laugh of all the number 2s. He worked well with Steve Forrest in the Baron also. Another actor that crops up all the time,sad that he died relatively early

[Moor Larkin]

Theatre Who's Who:

Gordon, Colin

educated Marlborough College & Christ Church Oxford

First appeared on stage in repertory at the Palace, Watford, 1934

1934 - Hind legs of horse, Toad of Toad Hall

1935- Peter, Closing at Sunrise

Director with Fred Melvile Rep at Brixton 1936-39

Seved in the Army 1940 -46

1948- won Clarence Derwent Award as Rupert Billings, The Happiest Days of your Life

1951 - Col desmond de S. Rinder-Sparrow, The Love of the Four Colonels

1953 - Sir Horace Duncan, The White Carnation

1953 - NewYork Coronet - Henry, The Little Hut

1955 - Julius Ring, Misery Me!

1955 - Seymour Verity, Wild Thyme

1956 - Alec Barnes, The Touch of Fear

1957 - Percy Trellis, The Wit to Woo

1959 - Director and Actor with Guildford Repertory

first appeared in films - 1947

Club: Green Room

Address: c/o Derek Glynne,Shaftesbury Avenue



Nothing nearer his death I'm afraid. He must have died relatively suddenly because he was in a TV show (Hine) as late as '71. I would have thought 'papers like the Telegraph/Grauniad would have done an obit. He was still quite famous then. His date of death seems posted all over the internet!!



He was a brilliant 'Number Two' for McGoohan's Prisoner. Interesting that he was in the army for so long.

[mariocki]

He was also in one of the colour episodes of Steptoe & Son (Live Now, P.A.Y.E. Later?) which I think would've been around '72.

[cornershop15]

a good actor, effective as number 2 in the Prisoner, but surely the worst laugh of all the number 2s. He worked well with Steve Forrest in the Baron also. Another actor that crops up all the time,sad that he died relatively early

I agree with you entirely about Colin's (slightly!) forced laugh. It would be interesting to hear it incorporated in famous records where there is laughter. How about the moment in Where Do You Go To My Lovely where Peter Sarstedt sings " ... for a laugh. Ha ha ha ha". With all this modern technology available, circa 1920, we could have Colin's crazy laughter 'pasted' over the original? Hence: " ... For a laugh, ".



Of course, that wasn't Colin's laugh on The Prisoner soundtrack - it was a playback of The Laughing Policeman (by Charles Penrose)! That was from the 1920s!



I will return with a more serious tribute to this wonderful actor who still regularly turns up on our screens. His role in The Pink Panther may be familiar to younger generations.



EDIT - Here he is, with a telephone, of a kind, in The Prisoner episode A, B & C:







You know how much I like to show my favourites with a 'phone!

[TomDaws]

I remember him in a very brief, but very funny, scene in a b&w film : he's a policeman demonstrating to one of his colleagues a spectacular move he'd seen in a football match. Does anyone have any idea what film this might have been ?

[darrenburnfan]

According to the IMDb, he played a station constable in Laughter in Paradise (1951)

[wearysloth]

Mr. Gordon seems to have cornered the market in "Being on the telephone"

from Doctor Who: The Faceless Onesand The Pink Panther

[cornershop15]

Great pictures, Wearysloth! We should team up to create a thread with nothing else but pictures of 'Actors on the Telephone'!



This isn't some weird perversion of mine, you understand, just something I've noticed - actors always seem to look good when they're on the 'phone. Don't know why. Hopefully that goes for the two screenshots here from Colin's other appearance as No. 2 in The Prisoner, in the episode The General.





Having a 'chatette' with The General's wife

Obeying instructions from the mysterious Number 1

Those were the days! Actor's don't look so good these days with (increasingly smaller) mobile phones, which are sometimes hidden away in their hand - particularly silly when they're playing villains. Another reason for preferring the past to now?



Didn't realise, until I saw his filmoraphy, that Colin Gordon had recurring roles in The Baron and, just before his sadly premature death, the forgotten series Hine. A great loss to British acting.

[TomDaws]

According to the IMDb, he played a station constable in Laughter in Paradise (1951)

I think that might be one. Many thanks.

[TomDaws]

THE one is what I meant !

[EHV_Emmetts]

The Green Man (1956)



Played Reginald Willoughby-Cruft as the fiancée of Ann Vincent (Jill Adams).

[dpgmel]

He was also very good as the imprisoned bank manager in Vernon Sewell's fabulous Strongroom, imprisoned withe lovely Ann Lynn by dastardly Derren

[Harbottle]

He was also very good as the imprisoned bank manager in Vernon Sewell's fabulous Strongroom, imprisoned withe lovely Ann Lynn by dastardly Derren

Yes excellent, nice cameo in that cracking second feature Seven Keys too.

[cornershop15]

Having a 'chatette' with The General's wife

I meant the Professor's wife, as played by Betty McDowell. 'The General' was a computer. I'm surprised no-one corrected me! The Professor himself was Peter Howell.

[cornershop15]

See what I mean! Keifer has presence, like father Donald, but he'd surely look better with one of these ...







Much more entertaining! Did wonders for Colin!

[Lord Brett]

A bit difficult to fit in the inside pocket, though. It'd ruin the line of your jacket.