Keith Gordon

 ( 1961 Births ) 

Keith Gordon (born February 3, 1961) is an American actor and film director.

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Early life Gordon 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 theatre production of Of Mice and Men.

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Career 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 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. 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 , Gideon's Crossing, Dexter, The Bridge, House and the second and third seasons of Fargo.

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Filmography

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Film

1985	Static
1988	The Chocolate War
1992	A Midnight Clear
1996	Mother Night
2000	Waking the Dead
2003	The Singing Detective

Acting roles

1978	Doug Fetterman
1979	Unknown role
	Young Paulie Haggerty
	Young Joe Gideon
1980	Dennis Byrd
	Peter Miller
1981	Jeffrey Miller
1982	Chris
1983	Arnie Cunningham
1984	Lionel
1985	Lloyd Muldaur
	Ernie Blick
1986	Jason Melon
	Maxwell 'Max' Mendelsson
1994	Andy
1997	Unknown role
2001	Mr. Baumgartner

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Television

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Director

1993	Wild Palms	"Hungry Ghosts"
		"The Floating World"
1994		"Extreme Unction"
1995	Fallen Angels	"The Black Bargain"
2002	Shadow Realm/ Night Visions	"Patterns"
2005	House M.D.	"Sports Medicine"
2010	Rubicon	"In Whom We Trust"
2013	Rectify	"Always Be There" (Also executive producer)
2011–2013	The Killing	"Beau Soleil"
		"Donnie or Marie"
		"Eminent Domain"
2006–2013	Dexter	"Truth Be Told"
		"The Dark Defender"
		"Morning Comes"
		"Our Father"
		"All in the Family"
		"Do You Take Dexter Morgan"
		"Dirty Harry"
		"Lost Boys"
		"In the Beginning"
		"Beautiful Day"
2013–2014	The Bridge	"The Beetle"
		"Yankee"
2014	The Strain	"It's Not for Everyone"
	Masters of Sex	"Blackbird"
2015	The Returned	"Camille" (Also executive producer)
2014–2015	Nurse Jackie	"Nancy Wood"
		"Nice Ladies"
2014–2017	The Leftovers	"Two Boats and a Helicopter"
		"Ten Thirteen"
		"Don't Be Ridiculous"
2017	Better Call Saul	"Off Brand"
2015–2017	Fargo	"Did You Do This? No, You Did It!"
		"Loplop"
		"Aporia"
		"Somebody to Love"
2018	Legion	"Chapter 19"
2013–2020	Homeland	"Good Night"
		"Trylon and Perisphere"
		"Super Powers"
		"Fair Game"
		"The Man in the Basement"
		"False Friends"
2020	Dispatches from Elsewhere	"The Creator"

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Actor

1975	Medical Center	Herbie	"The Price of a Child"
1982	American Playhouse	Chris Panakos	"My Palikari"
1989	Miami Vice	Prof. Terrence Baines	"Leap of Faith"
1990	WIOU	George Lewis	"Do the Wrong Thing"
			"Mother Nature's Son"
1993	Cousin Herbie	"The Wild Pitch"
2009	Dexter	Kyle Butler #2	"Hello, Dexter Morgan"
2018	On Cinema	Himself	"The 5th Annual Live On Cinema Oscar Special"

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Award nominations

Independent Spirit Awards

Best Screenplay – A Midnight Clear (1992)

Best First Feature – The Chocolate War (1988)

Sitges – Catalan International Film Festival

Best Film – The Singing Detective (2003)

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External links

• MovieMaker magazine interview
• Senses of Cinema two-part interview
• interview on Kittenpants.org

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