Keith Gordon

Keith Gordon

Born 1961-02-03 (age 65) New York City, New York, USA
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Biography

Keith Gordon (born February 3, 1961) is an American actor and film director. He was born in New York City, the son of Mark, an actor and stage director, and Barbara Gordon. He grew up in an atheist Jewish family. Gordon was inspired to become an actor at the age of twelve, after seeing James Earl Jones in a Broadway production of Of Mice and Men.

As an actor, Gordon's first feature film role was that of class clown Doug in Jaws 2 (the 1978 sequel to the blockbuster hit Jaws). In 1979 Gordon appeared in Bob Fosse's semi-autobiographical All That Jazz as the teenage version of the film's protagonist Joe Gideon (played by Gordon's Jaws 2 co-star Roy Scheider). Gordon then appeared in two films by Brian De Palma: as a film student in Home Movies (1979) and in the 1980 erotic thriller Dressed to Kill as the son of Angie Dickinson's character. Gordon played Arnie Cunningham, the main character (who buys the titular car Christine), in the 1983 horror film Christine, directed by John Carpenter from the novel by Stephen King. In the 1985 cult film The Legend of Billie Jean Gordon played Lloyd Muldaur, the son of a District Attorney who aspires to be Attorney General. He was in the 1986 Mark Romanek film Static, and he wrote the screenplay. In the 1986 comedy movie Back to School, Gordon played Jason Melon, the son of Rodney Dangerfield's character.[4] In most of these films, he played a nerd. He was named number 1 in Cinematicals' Top 7 Most Convincing Nerds. His most recent onscreen film appearance was in 2001, in the movie Delivering Milo.

Gordon left acting for directing, making his debut in 1988 with the movie The Chocolate War, about a student who rebels against the rigid hierarchies in his Catholic school. His other films include the 1992 anti-war film A Midnight Clear, about a group of American soldiers in the Ardennes just before and during the Battle of the Bulge, as well as Mother Night (adapted from the novel by Kurt Vonnegut), Waking the Dead, and the film The Singing Detective. He also directed some of the mini-series Wild Palms and appeared in the 2006 Iraq War documentary Whose War?. His directing credits for television include Homicide: Life on the Street, Gideon's Crossing, Dexter, The Bridge, House and the second and third seasons of Fargo.

Photos

Known For

Jaws 2
Jaws 2

1978

as Doug Fetterman

Christine
Christine

1983

as Arnie Cunningham

Dressed to Kill
Dressed to Kill

1980

as Peter Miller

The Legend of Billie Jean
All That Jazz
All That Jazz

1979

as Young Joe

Back to School
Back to School

1986

as Jason Melon

Kent State
Kent State

1981

as Jeff Miller

I Love Trouble
I Love Trouble

1994

as Andy

Combat Academy
Combat Academy

1986

as Maxwell 'Max' Mendelsson

Home Movies
Home Movies

1980

as Denis Byrd

Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come

2012

as Self

Delivering Milo
Delivering Milo

2001

as Dr. Baumgartner

The 'Scarface' Phenomenon
Big John
Big John

2006

as Self

Hoggs' Heaven
Hoggs' Heaven

1994

as William Hogg

Silent Rebellion
Silent Rebellion

1982

as Chris

Hitchcocked!
Hitchcocked!

2006

as Self

It's Richard I Love
It's Richard I Love

1988

as Richard

Single Bars, Single Women