Bernard Gordon (born 1918) in New Britain, Connecticut is an American writer and producer. For much of his 27-year career, he toiled in obscurity, prevented from taking screen credit by the Hollywood Blacklist. Among his best-known works are screenplays for "Flesh and Fury," "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" and "55 Days at Peking." 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ... Flag Seal Nickname: Beehive City Location Location within the state of Connecticut Government County Hartford County Mayor Timothy T. Stewart Geographical characteristics Area     City 34. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ... Protestors opposing the jailing of the Hollywood Ten in 1950 (from the 1987 documentary Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist). ...

Professional work

Beginnging as a writer for print, Gordon moved to California and got a production job as a script reader, providing written "coverage" of screenplays submitted to studios. A political activist and, briefly in the 1940s, a member of the Communist Party, Gordon helped found the Screen Readers Guild. He married fellow activist Jean Lewin, one of the organizers of the Hollywood Canteen during the war. In modern usage, a communist party is a political party which promotes communism, the sociopolitical ideology based on Marxism. ...

His first produced screenplay was "Flesh and Fury," a gritty boxing picture starring an up-and-coming actor named Tony Curtis. A western with Rock Hudson followed ("The Lawless Breed"), but Gordon was subpoenaed to testify to the House UnAmerican Activities Commiteee investigating so-called Communist influence in Hollywood. Although subpoenaed, Gordon was never called to testify, and thus remained in a legal limbo. His producer, William Alland, had named Gordon in his own testimony to HUAC. A former left-wing sympathizer himself, Alland regularly informed the government about the political leanings of writers with whom he dealt at Universal Pictures. Roger Moore and Tony Curtis in The Persuaders! Tony Curtis (born June 3, 1925) is an American film actor. ... Rock Hudson (November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was a popular American film and television actor, noted for his good looks, and most remembered as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s. ... Universal Pictures is the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal. ...

Pseudonymous Work

In 1954, Gordon received an under-the-table assignment from producer Charles Schneer, who worked with Columbia Pictures low-budget maven Sam Katzman. Gordon adapted a play written by two friends, which became the film "The Law vs. Billy the Kid." Schneer employed Gordon many times during the 1950s, memorably as screenwriter of Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, a low budget alien invasion film with special effects by Ray Harryhausen. Gordon worked under the pen name "Raymond T. Marcus," a friend who was not in the film business. These low-paying assignments were generally B-level potboilers. Notably, one of the Schneer films was the only feature film to co-star Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Davis, Hellcats of the Navy. Reagan's political views were, of course, diametrically opposed to the still-blacklisted Gordon. The writer took ironic satisfaction in having written an introduction for the esteemed Admiral Chester Nimitz. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an American film producer. ... Henry McCarty (November 23, 1859[1] – July 14, 1881) better known as Billy the Kid, but also known by the aliases Henry Antrim and William Harrison Bonney, was a 19th century American frontier outlaw and gunman who was a participant in the Lincoln County War. ... DVD Earth vs. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... White House portrait Nancy Davis Reagan (born July 6, 1921 (or, according to herself, 1923)) is the widow of President Ronald Reagan and was First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. ... Chester William Nimitz (February 24, 1885 – February 20, 1966) was the Commander in Chief of Pacific Forces for the United States and Allied forces during World War II. He was the United States leading authority on submarines, as well as Chief of the Navys Bureau of Navigation in 1939. ...

Success in Exile

Through his friendship with writer/entreprenuer Philip Yordan. Gordon found regular work as a writer and producer in Madrid for the Samuel Bronston company, although at first he was still denied screen credit, with Yordan frequently listing himself as sole author of films like "Circus World," "Battle of the Bulge," "Custer of the West" and "Day of the Triffids." Gordon did receive on-screen credit for "55 Days at Peking," and the first screen adaptation of "The Thin Red Line." As a producer, he made a number of westerns in Spain and the well-received sci-fi thriller "Horror Express," co-starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Another film he wrote, "Cry of Battle," was playing at the theater in which Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested by Dallas police on November 22, 1963. Philip Yordan (April 1, 1914 - March 24, 2003) was a popular and talented screenwriter of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. ... The Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic 1951 novel by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. ... The Thin Red Line is a phrase or title that refers to an outgunned military unit holding firm against attack: The Thin Red Line (1854 battle), the original reference to the resistance by 93rd (Highland) Regiment in the Crimean War The Thin Red Line, 1962 novel by James Jones about... Peter Cushing OBE Cushing (left) in the television adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four in the winter of 1954 on BBC Television. ... Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was, according to four United States government investigations, responsible for the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...

Resurfacing

Returning to the US, Gordon wrote a novel, "Surfacing," adapted to film in 1981, but his blacklist-era work remained relatively anonymous until jouralist Ted Newsom happened upon the "secret idenity" of front "Raymond T. Marcus." When the Writers Guild of America took up the task of correcting pseudonyminus screenwriters from the 1950s and 1960s, Gordon received more after-the-fact credits than any other blacklisted writer. Gordon subsequently wrote two autobiographical books detailing the 20-year surveillance of him by the FBI, and often spoke publically about his experiences. He helped lead the fight against the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award to Elia Kazan, who cooperated with [HUAC] during the blacklist era. Ted Newsom (b. ... The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the collective bargaining representative, or labor union, for writers in the motion picture and television industries in the United States. ... Founded on May 11, 1927 in California, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures. ... Elia Kazan, (Greek Ηλίας Καζάν), (September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director and producer. ...

Books

• Hollywood Exile, or How I Learned to Love the Blacklist

• The Gordon File: A Screenwriter Recalls Twenty Years of FBI Surveillance (University of Texas Press, 2004)

External links

• entry
• guild retroactive credits
• [on Gordon and his career]