Gavin Gordon's rich, cultivated voice suited aristocrats and professional men, and his theatricality found a good home in horror. We rate the supporting player more highly than the romantic lead, particularly when James Whale gives his formality room to be funny.
Fi1m perspective
In the stormy prologue to Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Gavin Gordon's Lord Byron speaks with a theatrical relish that suits James Whale's willingness to let horror be funny. His rich, polished voice makes the literary aristocrat sound accustomed to an audience. We were moved by Boris Karloff's creature because Whale allows laughter without treating him as a joke; Gordon belongs to the film's more playful side. It is a good use of an actor whose formality could become stiff elsewhere. Here, a little excess is welcome.
Romance (1930), opposite Greta Garbo, was the early test of Gordon as a leading man, and his stiffness drew criticism. A rich speaking voice could not supply all the warmth a romantic lead needed. The move into supporting and character parts during the 1930s gave his cultivated delivery more suitable work, including George Winton in Michael Curtiz's Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933).
His Dr Robert 'Bob' Strike in Frank Capra's The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932) belongs to the professional men that polished delivery made plausible. We recommend the film cautiously, chiefly for Barbara Stanwyck and Joseph Walker's cinematography: its treatment of desire has force, but its patronising characterisation makes the central relationship harder to believe. Later, uncredited appearances in Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941) and Notorious (1946) show how small Gordon's place in major productions could become.
The Bat (1959) gave him a larger later part as the investigating Lieutenant Andy Anderson, while television guest work helped sustain his career into the 1960s. There is useful craft in his ability to make a supporting character sound immediately respectable, even if that polish can also keep feeling at a distance. Start with Bride of Frankenstein: Whale gives his theatrical delivery a setting that knows what to do with it.
Biography
Gavin Gordon, born Fred Gavin Gordon, was an American stage, film, television and radio actor. He appeared in supporting and uncredited roles across more than three decades.
His film credits include Romance (1930), Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), The Scarlet Empress (1934), Bride of Frankenstein (1935) as Lord Byron, Notorious (1946), White Christmas (1954), The Ten Commandments (1956) and Pocketful of Miracles (1961). He also featured in television series such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Perry Mason.
