Gale Gordon
Gale Gordon was born Charles T. Aldrich, Jr. on 20th February 1906. He grew up in New York City as the son of two actors. His mother was a British actress Gloria Gordon who appeared in the soap My Friend Irma, and his father was a star on vaudeville.
Gordon had his first work in the golden age of radio. He starred as Mayor La Trivia on Fibber McGee and Molly. He went on to play in the spin-off of that show called The Great Gildersleeve. On The Great Gildersleeve he played the character Rumson Bullard.
In 1935, he played the lead role in the juvenile science fiction series Flash Gordon. In 1946 he took the lead part of amateur detective Gregory Hood in The Casebook Of Gregory Hood, which replaced Sherlock Holmes and began in the same way as Sherlock Holmes with Gregory Hood retelling one of his cases to Harry Bartell. The series had the same sponsors as Sherlock homes Petri Wines and also the same scriptwriters.
In July and August 1950 he played John Granby on the radio show Granby’s Green Acres, which led to the television show Green Acres.
He starred on the radio show Our Miss Brooks playing principal Osgood Conklin. He later starred on the television version of the show as the same character in 1952. And while he is well known and respected for his work in radio as an accomplished actor, he was made more famous by a role he would play later on television.
Gordon starred as Rudolph Atterbury on the show My Favorite Husband that also starred Lucille Ball. This was before the show I Love Lucy had captured America’s hearts. Ball and Gordon developed a friendship that would later turn into a major role for Gordon.
Gale Gordon was the first choice to play Fred Mertz in I Love Lucy, but he already had another professional commitment as Mr. Scott on the well-known radio show The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. However, he did have some guest appearances on I Love Lucy.
Other radio shows that he appeared on and, which can be found on RUSC include Burns and Allen, The Judy Canova Show, the audition show of The Halls of Ivy, The Shadow of Fu Manchu and Lux Radio Theater.
He went on to play Mr. Wilson on Dennis the Menace for a short while after Joseph Kearns the original actor passed away on 17th February 1962. In 1962, Lucille Ball went back to television and created The Lucy Show. After his role on Dennis the Menace ended, he joined her to play Mr. Mooney.
He also played her boss on the show that followed called Here’s Lucy and he also appeared with her in her next television show called Life With Lucy. His professional relationship and friendship with Lucille Ball meant that he performed in every show she ever did during her career.
On his own, Gale Gordon was a tremendous talent in radio and television acting. His partnership with Lucille Ball made him famous because of the chemistry the two shared on screen. You’ll still be amazed by his work listening to and watching it today.
Gale Gordon died of cancer on the 30th June 1995 one month after his wife of 60 years. In 1999, Gordon was inducted posthumously into the Radio Hall of Fame, and for his contribution to radio he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6340 Hollywood Blvd.
Happy listening my friends,
