Biography for
Stuart Gordon (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

11 August 1947, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Mini Biography

Stuart Gordon is a creative horror film director who started his directing career in 1985. After graduating from Lane Technical High School, Gordon worked as a commercial artist prior to enrolling at the University of Wisconsin as Madison as an Anthropology major. Unable to get in with the film teaching classes, he enrolled in the theater class. Gordon then pursued his own theater troupe called Screw Theater.

In 1969, he started a counter-culture adoption of Peter Pan as a political statement and form of protest. Gordon dropped out of the university and moved his theater group to Chicago where he organized the Organic Theater, which put on satire shows with comic and violent themes. The group performed in theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and even in Europe. Gordon's Organic Theater troupe performed in a play by David Mamet titled "Sexual Perversity in Chicago," which launched Mamet's playwriting career. The improv-based comedy "Bleacher Bums" ran for seven years in Los Angeles. And the short-lived hospital comedy play, "E/R" (1984) became a short-lived TV series produced by Norman Lear.

He joined with Charles Band and his Empire Pictures to make the company's first big hit, Re-Animator (1985), a modern-day version of the H.P. Lovecraft story with Jeffrey Combs in the lead role. Gordon stayed with Empire and helmed another Lovecraft film, From Beyond (1986), and tackled the murderous Dolls (1987) the same year. He directed Robot Jox (1990), but it was a disappointment and Empire Pictures folded after the release of that film. Gordon found work writing the script and creating the story for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), a major hit of 1991. He then returned with Band and his new company Full Moon Pictures for the remake and more graphic version of The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) the same year. Other works of his include Fortress (1992), a major hit of 1994, and the screenplay for The Dentist (1996).

In 2001, Gordon returned to the H.P. Lovecraft territory with Dagon (2001), and in 2003, directed King of the Ants (2003/I), a comic thriller about a painter-turned-hit man, and the David Mamet Edmond (2005).

In 2005, he contributed to be one of the directors for an episode of the horror anthology series "Masters of Horror" (2005) with the episode "Dreams in the Witch House," another horror story based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft. He returned to the series in 2007 with the episode "The Black Cat," based on Edgar Allan Poe's story by the same name.

His wife, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, was used in a supporting role in his films.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Blythe379@cs.com

Mini Biography

Stuart Gordon started his film directing career in 1985. After graduating from Lane Technical High School, Gordon worked as a commercial artist apprentice prior to enrolling at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Unable to get into the film classes, he enrolled in an acting class and ended up majoring in theater. In 1968, he directed a psychedelic adaptation of Peter Pan as a political satire. He was arrested on obscenity charges and Gordon dropped out of the university. He and his wife Carolyn formed the Organic Theater and moved the group to Chicago.

The Organic performed their work on and off-Broadway, in Los Angeles, and toured Europe. Among their productions were the world premiere of David Mamet's "Sexual Perversity in Chicago," which launched Mamet's playwriting career, the improv-based comedy "Bleacher Bums," which ran for over ten years in Los Angeles, and the hospital comedy "E/R" (1984), which became a TV series produced by Norman Lear.

He joined with Brian Yuzna and Charles Band's Empire Pictures to create the company's first major hit, Re-Animator (1985), based on the story by H.P. Lovecraft, which won a Critics' Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Gordon then helmed another Lovecraft adaptation From Beyond (1986) and tackled the murderous Dolls (1987) followed by Robot Jox (1990). Gordon co-created the story for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) a major hit for Disney. The same year, he directed the remake and more graphic version of The Pit and the Pendulum (1991). Other works include Fortress (1992), and the screenplay for The Dentist (1996) and Body Snatchers (1993), which he co-wrote with long-time writing partner Dennis Paoli.

In 2001, Gordon returned to the H.P. Lovecraft territory with Dagon (2001), and in 2003, directed King of the Ants (2003/I) about a housepainter-turned-hit man, and brought the David Mamet play Edmond (2005) to the screen.

He contributed to the horror anthology series "Masters of Horror" (2005) with the episode "Dreams in the Witch House," based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft. He returned to the series in 2007 with the episode "The Black Cat," based on Edgar Allan Poe's story. And in 2008, he directed "Eater" for the NBC series "Fear Itself" (2008).

He is also known for frequently murdering his wife, actress 'Carolyn Purdy-Gordon' in many of his films.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Spouse

Carolyn Purdy-Gordon

(20 December 1968 - present)

Trivia

Graduated from Lane Technical High School in Chicago, Illinois

Was originally going to direct Lurking Fear (1994).

One of the founders of the Organic Theater Company in Chicago.

While searching around in film reels, he had found the uncut reels of From Beyond (1986) and gave MGM permission to release the uncut version to DVD.

He was nominated for the 1974 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Director for "Bloody Bess", at the Organic Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois.

He was nominated for the 1974 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Director for "The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit", at the Organic Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois.

He was awarded the 1975 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Director of a Play for "Huckleberry Finn 1", at the Organic Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois.

He was nominated for the 1975 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Director of a Play for "Huckleberry Finn 2", at the Organic Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois.

He was nominated for the 1976 Joseph Jefferson Award for Director of a Play for "Switch Bitch", at the Organic Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois.

He was nominated for the 1977 Joseph Jefferson Award for Director of a Play for "Bleacher Bums", at the Organic Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois.

He was nominated for a 1982 Joseph Jefferson Award for Director of a Play for "E/R", at the Organic Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois.

Personal Quotes

The Lovecraft purists are always very upset with me because I'm always throwing all of this nudity into these movies, and there is no nudity in Lovecraft. But my argument is that there is a tremendous sexuality about Lovecraft, and a fear of sex, taking the reproductive act and turning it into something monstrous. Although he doesn't get explicit with it, he'll refer to it constantly in his stories. And in a movie, you have to use images to show things.

There are always people who think that horror movies are just kind of one half-step away from porno to begin with.

I always say that fine acting is the best special effect. If you have a good actor, they can make you believe anything. My movies have always been about the casts, really.