Bert I. Gordon

Bert Ira Gordon born September 24 1922 in Kenosha WI was an American film director most famous for such science fiction and horror Bmovies as The Amazing Colossal Man and Village of the Giants Most of Gordons work was in the idiom of giant monster films for which he used rearprojection to create the special effects His nickname Mister BIG was a reference both to his initials and to his preferred technique for making supersized creatures Gordon held a degree from the University of WisconsinMadison He began his career directing television commercials before moving to film in 1954 to produce Serpent Island In 1957 he began his prolific association with American International Pictures In 1960 he wrote produced and directed The Boy and the Pirates starring then active and popular child star Charles Herbert alongside Gordons own daughter Susan The trio recently appeared together in the celebrity lineup at the 2006 Monster Bash held June 2325 at the Pittsburgh PA Airport Four Points as The Walt Disney Companys Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Mans Chest 2006 spiked interest in previous pirate films To that end Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released a Midnite Movies double DVD set with the rarely seen The Boy and the Pirates and the more recent Crystalstone 1988 on June 27 2006 His 1977 Empire of the Ants featured a preDynasty Joan Collins who later said of the film that it was her worst acting experience but by then the looselybased modernized H G Wells tale had been elevated to cult film status While none of his films received significant critical attention his work attained popularity in some circles Cult TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000 MST3K has featured several of his films which the accompanying episodes are often regarded as some of the shows best Description above from the Wikipedia article Bert I Gordon licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia