Barry Gordon (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and political talk show host.
Early life
Gordon was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, United States.
Gordon is Jewish.
His stepfather, Bob Manning, was a
crooner of popular love songs in the 1940s and 1950s, most known for his rendition of
Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You".
Acting
Childhood career
Gordon began performing at age three; in his television debut, he won second place on Ted Mack's
Amateur Hour singing
Johnnie Ray's "Cry". At six, Gordon recorded "Nuttin' for Christmas".
He was the youngest performer to hit a pre-Hot 100
Billboard chart when that song hit No. 6 in 1955.
It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.
The next year, he charted his second and final single "Rock Around Mother Goose". In circa 1956, Bill Haley recorded a private demo recording "Six Year Olds Can Rock and Roll". He begins the recording (released in 1990) by dedicating it to Barry Gordon.
[Bill Haley & His Comets, "Six Year Olds Can Rock and Roll" (1956), The Decca Years and More (Bear Family Records, BCD 15506, 1990)]
As a child actor, Gordon also appeared on The Jackie Gleason Show,
In 1962, he played the part of the childhood version of "Patient" in Pressure Point. At 13, Gordon began a career on Broadway as Nick in Herb Gardner's A Thousand Clowns, a role for which he earned a Tony Award nomination. He later reprised that role in the film version opposite Jason Robards and Martin Balsam in 1965. The film gave him "introducing" billing, but he had actually been in several films already, most notably his actual film debut in 1956's The Girl Can't Help It as a newspaper boy in which, after seeing Jayne Mansfield, he uttered the line: "If that's a girl, I don't know what my sister is."
Adult roles
As a teen, Gordon starred alongside
Sid Caesar and
Vera Miles in the 1967 comedy-horror film
The Spirit Is Willing. In the 1970s, Gordon appeared in the
Barney Miller spin-off
Fish, starring
Abe Vigoda, and from 1973 to 1974 was a regular on
The New Dick Van Dyke Show. He also played a waiter in "Horror in the Heights", a 1974 episode of
. In 1976, he appeared in an episode of
The Practice.
Character actor
Primarily as a character actor, Gordon became a familiar face in numerous feature films and television series. In the last two seasons of the sitcom
Archie Bunker's Place, Gordon had the recurring role of Gary Rabinowitz, Archie's Jewish attorney and love interest of Barbara Lee "Billie" Bunker (played by
Denise Miller, who had also co-starred with Gordon in
Fish). Gordon also had notable guest-starring roles on
Barney Miller as an embezzler, and later in season seven as an attorney, on
Fish as a social worker, on
as a Ferengi businessman, and on as Ardon Broht, an alien publisher. More recently, he appeared as the Rabbi in
Larry David's
Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Voice work
Gordon worked extensively as a voice actor. His most notable voice roles were Donatello and Bebop in
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and as Jake "Razor" Clawson in
(1993). Gordon's voice was also featured in other animated series, mostly Hanna-Barbera shows such as Jabberjaw (as Clamhead), Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! (as Captain Marvel Jr.), Meatballs & Spaghetti (as bassist Clyde), Pac-Man (as Inky), Mighty Orbots (as Robert Simmons), Pole Position, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, The Adventures of the American Rabbit (as the titular character), Superman, Snorks (as Junior Wetworth), Gravedale High (as Reggie Moonshroud), Space Cats, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (as Englebert Newton), Darkwing Duck (as Dr. Fossil), Tom & Jerry Kids and its spin-off Droopy, Master Detective, (as the Penguin's henchman Sheldrake),
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters,
Timon & Pumbaa,
Fantastic Max, and
The Pirates of Dark Water. Gordon also provided the voice of "Quicky" the
Nesquik Bunny in television commercials for Nestlé.
In May 2009, Gordon played the Cocker Spaniel in the Webkinz Pet of the Month Music Video for May 2009. He reprised the roles as the original Donatello and Bebop in three seasons of Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
On April 20, 2022, it was revealed that Gordon would reprise his role as Donatello for the video game, . This marks the first time that he would play Donatello for a video game and his first video game role in general.
Other pursuits
In his mid-30s, in 1984, Gordon returned to school; he graduated summa cum laude as a political science major from California State University, Los Angeles and went on to Loyola Law School, receiving his J.D. in 1991.
Gordon became the longest-serving president of the Screen Actors Guild, holding the office for seven years.
In 1998, Gordon was the Democratic Party nominee for the United States Congress from the Pasadena, California area. He was defeated by Republican Party incumbent James Rogan.
In 2004, when the local Air America Radio affiliate in Los Angeles went off the air, for a then-unspecified period of time, Gordon started a live, call-in progressive political talk show on Pasadena's public-access television cable TV channel 56. It continues to be cablecast and webcast live
In 2005, Gordon hosted a weekly radio talk show heard on KRLA in Los Angeles, California.
In 2006 and early 2007, Gordon hosted Barry Gordon from Left Field, a weekly talk show broadcast throughout the 25th largest U.S. radio market—the San Bernardino/Riverside region of Southern California—on KCAA Radio in Loma Linda, California. With live streams and podcast archives, the show was notable for featuring nationally known guests, including senators, congressmen, bestselling authors, and entertainment figures.
Since 2007, Gordon has taught courses in politics and the media at the California State University, Los Angeles.
In 2008, Gordon debuted his daily Internet talk show Left Talk on BlogTalkRadio.
Personal life
Gordon's first marriage to Sally Julian, a television host, ended in divorce.
He married Gail Schaper, a business psychologist, in 1993; they have two children.
Filmography
Film
-
The Girl Can't Help It (1956) - Barry the Paperboy
-
Cinderfella (1960) - Young Fella
-
Hands of a Stranger (1962) - Skeet
-
Pressure Point (1962) - Boy Patient
-
A Thousand Clowns (1965) - Nick Burns
-
The Spirit Is Willing (1967) - Steve Powell
-
Double-Stop (1968) - Art Student
-
Out of It (1969) - Paul
-
Love at First Bite (1979) - Flashlight Vendor
-
Gallavants (1984) - Edil, Bok, Gank (voices)
-
The Adventures of the American Rabbit (1986) - American Rabbit, Rob, Punk Jackal (voices)
-
Body Slam (1986) - Sheldon Brockmeister
-
Repairs (1987) - Lew the Studio Exex
-
Grüne Wüste (1999) - Alex
-
Losing Control (2011) - Frank
Television
-
The Jack Benny Program (1954–1961) - Child Jack Benny, Harry Johnson
-
The Danny Thomas Show (1956) - Herbie
-
Sally (1957) - Humberto
-
The Ann Sothern Show (1958) - Donald Carpenter
-
General Electric Theater (1959) - Etienne
-
Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1959) - Tommy
-
Start Time (1959) - Larry
-
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) (Season 5 Episode 20: "The Day of the Bullet") - Ignace 'Iggy' Kovacs
-
Philip Marlowe (1960) - Jamie
-
Leave It to Beaver (1960) - Chopper Cooper
-
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) (Season 6 Episode 4: "The Contest for Aaron Gold") - Aaron Gold
-
Dennis the Menace (1960) - Buzzy Hanson
-
Thriller (1961) - Slip-Slip
-
The DuPont Show with June Allyson (1961) - Pepe
-
Dr. Kildare (1961) - Billy Hoffman
-
Arrest and Trial (1963) - Bobby Randolph
-
Summer Playhouse (1964) - Kid
-
The Smothers Brothers Show (1966) - Lester
-
Love, American Style (1969) - Bill
-
The Don Rickles Show (1972) - Conrad Musk
-
The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1973–1974) - Dennis Whitehead
-
Mannix (1974) - Todd Corvin
-
(1974) - Barry the Waiter
-
The Bob Crane Show (1975) - Gordon
-
Good Heavens (1976) - Harold
-
Jabberjaw (1976) - Clamhead (voice)
-
The Practice (1976) - Dr. Byron Fisk
-
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1976–1979) - Additional voices
-
Fish (1977–1978) - Charlie Harrison
-
The Incredible Hulk (1979) - Harold Milburn
-
Supertrain (1979) - Billy
-
Barney Miller (1979–1982) - David Fingler, Stanley Fine
-
Three's Company (1980) - Gilbert Larwin
-
Mr. & Mrs. Dracula (1980) - Cousin Anton
-
Good Time Harry (1980) - Stan
-
I'm a Big Girl Now (1981) - Jerry
-
The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! (1981) - Freddy Freeman / Captain Marvel Jr. (voice)
-
Warp Speed (1981) - David Ingalls
-
Time Warp (1981) - M.U.D. (voice)
-
The Perfect Woman (1981) - Emo
-
Archie Bunker's Place (1981–1983) - Gary Rabinowitz
-
Christmas Comes to Pac-Land (1982) - Inky (voice)
-
Meatballs & Spaghetti (1982–1983) - Clyde (voice)
-
Pac-Man (1982–1983) - Inky (voice)
-
Mighty Orbots (1984) - Robert Simmons (voice)
-
Gallavants (1984) - Edil, Bok, Gauk (voice)
-
Pole Position (1984) - Additional voices
-
Snorks (1984–1988) - Junior Wetworth (voice)
-
The Jetsons (1985) - Tiny Terror, Betting Machine, Lenny Lase, Mechanic, Sneak (voices)
-
The Smurfs (1985) - The Gamemaster, Additional voices
-
Stark: Mirror Image (1986) - Lee Vogel
-
Throb (1987) - Josh
-
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987–1996) - Donatello, Bebop, Additional voices
-
Superman (1988) - Additional voices
-
CBS Summer Playhouse (1988) - Newton Hobbs
-
A Family for Joe (1990) - Roger Hightower
-
His & Hers (1990) - Bruno Chernak
-
Gravedale High (1990) - Reggie Moonshroud (voice)
-
Darkwing Duck (1991) - Dr. Fossil (voice)
-
Space Cats (1991) - Incidental characters (voices)
-
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1991) - Englebert Newton (voice)
-
Civil Wars (1992–1993) - Mel Wittnauer
-
Tom & Jerry Kids (1992) - Additional voices
-
(1993) - Nava
-
L.A. Law (1993–1994) - Seth Shumay
-
Droopy, Master Detective (1993) - Additional voices
-
(1993) - Sheldrake (voice)
-
(1993–1994) - Jake "Razor" Clawson, Evil Razor (voices)
-
NYPD Blue (1994–2000) - Preston Ross, Dr. Berger, Philip Fox
-
Empty Nest (1995) - Earl
-
The Pink Panther (1995) - Bongo Cereal Founder (voice)
-
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (1997) - Nerdy Monster, Korbutokov (voices)
-
Over the Top (1997) - Marty
-
Caroline in the City (1998) - Rabbi Katz
-
Arli$$ (1999) - Doctor
-
The Hughleys (1999–2000) - The Judge
-
(2001) - Arden Broht
-
Becker (2002) - Mr. Levin
-
Dragnet (2003) - Alan Sperry
-
Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004–2005) - Rabbi
-
Brothers & Sisters (2011) - Rabbi
-
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012–2017) - '87 Donatello, '87 Bebop (voices)
-
Forked Up (2015) - Mr. Goodman
-
NewsRap (2018–2019) - Host
Video games
-
- Donatello, Bebop
-
- Donatello
-
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 - Donatello
Discography
Album
-
Bright Idea / A Fairy Tale (1965) - Attributed to Richard Hoh, Liz Seneff & Barry Gordon
-
Yes Sir, That's My Baby (1966)
-
Pieces Of Time (1971)
-
Distant Songs (1989)
-
Santa Swings (1997)
-
The World Is Mine / The Pop Recordings 1964-1971 (2019) (Compilation Album)
Singles & EP's
-
I Can Whistle (1956)
-
Rock Around Mother goose (1956)
-
Rock Little Chillun (1956)
-
10 Years To Go (1956)
-
I Like Christmas (I Like It, I Like It) / Zoomah, The Santa Claus From Mars (1956)
-
Yes! We Have No Bananas / The Thief (1957)
-
They / Katy (1958)
-
Rabbit Habit / The Bluebird Song (1958)
-
She's Got Soul (1961)
-
You Can't Lie To A Liar / You Can't See The Trees (For The Forest) (1962)
-
Go Back Little Tear (1964)
-
Sealed With A Kiss (1965)
-
Let Me Try (1965)
-
True Love Can Never Die (1965)
-
Angelica (1967)
-
The Girl I Left Behind / A House Built On Sand (1968)
-
The Days Of Pearly Spencer (1968)
-
You Can't Love A Child Like A Woman (1969)
Video games
-
- Donatello, Bebop
-
- Donatello
-
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 - Donatello
External links
