Beyond killer sharks and killer cars: A profile of Keith Gordon
While many of the young cast members from Jaws 2 went on to great personal success, both in Hollywood and other endeavors, one actor stood out among them all with a career that continues through today. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Keith Gordon.
The son of actors Mark and Barbara Gordon, Keith got his start in an episode of the television series “Medical Center.” However, it was his role as Doug in Jaws 2 that gave him recognition and helped build his recognition, which led to him being cast in some pretty popular films over the next fifteen years.
He “reunited” with his Jaws 2 co-star Roy Scheider when he played the younger version of Scheider’s character Joe Gideon in the Oscar-winning All that Jazz. Having worked with director Brian De Palma on the film Home Movies, he reteamed with the director to play Peter Miller, a young man trying to find the person who murdered his mother in Dressed to Kill.
In 1983 he starred as Arnie, the new owner of the title character – a 1958 Plymouth Fury – in John Carpenter’s Christine. Two years later he played Lloyd, a young man who befriends the title character, played by Helen Slater, in The Legend of Billie Jean, following that up the next year as Rodney Dangerfield’s son, Jason, in the college comedy Back to School.
In 1988 he made his feature film directing debut with a film he co-wrote called The Chocolate War. While this film was received well by critics, it was his next film, A Midnight Clear, which really caught the public’s eye. A World War II drama, also co-written by Gordon, it has become one of the films I make it a priority to watch over the Christmas holidays. As his directing career took off, he took few acting roles. One role he did take was a small part – it only took one day to shoot – in the film I Love Trouble. Gordon took the role so he could get his script for his next planned project, Mother Night, to star Nick Nolte. Nolte would go on to star in the film, which was an adaptation of a novel by Kurt Vonnegut. In an odd twist of fate, Gordon’s character appears on screen with Vonnegut in Back to School.
In the past decade, Gordon has become a much sought after television director, helming multiple episodes of such popular series as “Dexter,” “Homeland,” and “Fargo.
Words by Michael A Smith. Michael is co-author of Jaws 2: The Making Of The Hollywood Sequel. You can order the book by contacting Michael at OsFanMike@aol.com.
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