Acting
Susan Gordon
Born 1949-07-27 · Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
Susan Lynn Gordon (July 27, 1949 — December 11, 2011) was an American child actress who appeared in films and numerous episodes of television programs such as The Twilight Zone, My Three Sons, and The Donna Reed Show. Gordon was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the daughter of film director Bert I. Gordon and his wife Flora (Lang). Susan began her career, at age eight, as a last-minute substitute for another young actress in 1958's Attack of the Puppet People, directed by her father, who subsequently directed her in three additional films — The Boy and the Pirates, Tormented (both 1960) and 1966's Picture Mommy Dead, her final film. In 1959, she acted and sang in the semi-biographical film, The Five Pennies, playing the daughter of musician, composer and bandleader Red Nichols, portrayed by Danny Kaye. On television, Gordon appeared in The Twilight Zone episode "The Fugitive", as Jenny, a child with a leg brace who befriends an alien. Other series included Gunsmoke, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, My Three Sons, The Danny Thomas Show, Route 66, Ben Casey, 77 Sunset Strip and The Donna Reed Show. On November 27, 1959, Gordon appeared in the live NBC Television broadcast of Miracle on 34th Street.
Acting credits
5.7Susan Shelley is released from an asylum where she's been confined to after the shock suffered over the fiery death of her mother. Her father has a new wife, who has only married him for the money left to him by his dead wife. Susan is still haunted by her mother's memory, and her step-mother is conspiring with her lover to get the troubled girl to lead them to her mother's missing diamond necklace.
Picture Mommy Dead
1966
4.9A jazz pianist is haunted by his dead ex-lover's crawling hand and floating head.
Tormented
1960
5.2An artist living in a quiet Connecticut town is the main suspect in the disappearance of his shrew wife. Things turn ugly when the townsfolk attempt to take the law into their own hands.
The Man in the Net
1959
5.1A deranged scientist creates a ray that can shrink people down to doll size.
Attack of the Puppet People
1958
6.9Dixieland cornetist Red Nichols runs into opposition to his sound, but breaks through to success. He marries a warm, patient woman and even finds time to raise a family. Then tragedy strikes when their daughter contracts polio.
The Five Pennies
1959
6.0A TV pilot masterminded by B movie auteur Bert I. Gordon and cable production company Herts-Lion International. Vincent Price hosts as a poltergeist introducing the ghost story to follow. It's really an edited version of Gordon's 1960 film Tormented, starring Richard Carlson as a jazz musician haunted by the spirit of an old flame he let fall from a lighthouse.
Famous Ghost Stories
1961
5.7Jimmy desires to be a pirate when one day he discovers a magic bottle on the beach. He makes a wish and suddenly finds himself aboard Blackbeard's ship. Soon he realizes that being a pirate isn't what he expected.
The Boy and the Pirates
1960
7.3In this charming TV adaptation of the 1947 film classic, a kindly old gentleman (Ed Wynn) working as a Macy's department store Santa causes a commotion when he claims to be the real St. Nick. Forced to prove his sanity, he is taken to court where he must convince the judge and his friends that he actually is Santa Claus. The faith of one skeptical little girl (Susan Gordon) and a Christmas miracle are the keys to his true identity.
Miracle On 34th Street
1959