- Gordon Gebert
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Gordon Gebert Born Gordon Alan Gebert
October 17, 1941
Des Moines, IowaOccupation Child Actor, Professor Years active 1949–1960 Spouse Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert (3 children) Gordon Alan Gebert (b. October 17, 1941) was a child actor who is predominantly known for having smaller roles, in such films as Holiday Affair. He later turned away from acting and became a college professor.
Biography
Gebert was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1941. His father, Gordon Gebert, Sr., was a salesman for Freuhauf Trailer Co. and eventually handled Iowa truck and bus fleet sales for Ford Motor Co.[1] He was a "frustrated actor" who performed in theatre productions and plays, but never had a huge break.
In 1946, a boy was needed for a play and Gebert took the role, taking acting lessons through the theatre to be able to play it. In the spring of 1948, near the end of first grade, the family took off for Los Angeles and almost immediately young Gordon found himself performing in a Pasadena Playhouse production of Life With Father.[1] Agent Lola Moore saw and signed him, and he soon had a small part in Come to the Stable.
His break was Holiday Affair in 1949. He appeared with well-known stars and stood out, being written about in editorials and reviews. It got him spots on radio programmes and in television work, such as Cavalcade of America, Gunsmoke and Pursuit. He continued his acting career in The Flame and the Arrow and The Flying Leathernecks, but never passed the part of a son. Eventually, in 1955, he got the role as the World War II hero Audie Murphy as a boy, in To Hell and Back.[1]
His last movie was Summer Love and after a few television appearances, his adult acting career never left the ground. Instead, he found an interest in architecture; he enrolled at UCLA, switched to USC and eventually went to MIT for a bachelor's degree. He now is a professor of architecture at New York's City College School of Architecture.[1]
Gebert met Lizabeth Paravisini, a professor of Spanish and Hispanic culture at Vassar College in 1986 while both were waiting for a flight to Cuba, to fill educational speaking engagements. They married and have a son, Gordon Jr. (b.1992); he has two grown daughters from an earlier marriage.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e "Famous Iowans". The Des Moines Register. 2009. http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/FAMOUSIOWANS/704080335. Retrieved December 10, 2009.
Categories:- 1941 births
- American child actors
- Architecture educators
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni
- University of Southern California alumni
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
- City University of New York faculty
- Living people
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