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{{short description|Israeli-American writer and producer}}

{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Dan Gordon
| name = Dan Gordon
| birth_name =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = May 5, 1947
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|5|5}}
| birth_place = [[United States]]
| birth_place = [[Southern California]], U.S.
| nationality = [[Israelis|Israeli]], [[Americans|American]]
| death_date =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| death_place =
| occupation = {{flatlist|
| occupation = [[Film director|Director]], [[Film producer|Producer]],[[Screenwriter]], [[Playwright]], [[Novelist]], [[Soldier]]
* Writer
⚫
| spouse = Jo-Ann Gordon
* producer
⚫
| children = 3
* director
}}
⚫
| spouse =
⚫
| children =
}}
}}


'''Dan Gordon''' is an [[Israeli Americans|Israeli-American]] [[screenwriter]], [[film director]], [[film producer]], [[novelist]], [[playwright]], and [[Reserve duty (Israel)|reserve duty]] captain in the [[Israel Defense Forces]].
'''Dan Gordon''' ({{langx|he|דן גורדון}}; born {{birth date|1947|5|5}}) is an [[Israeli-American]] writer, producer and director.


As a [[screenwriter]], he has written films including ''[[Wyatt Earp (film)|Wyatt Earp]], [[Passenger 57]], [[Murder in the First (film)|Murder in the First]],'' ''[[The Hurricane (1999 film)|The Hurricane]],'' and developed the story for ''[[Rambo: Last Blood]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/7hmblyrpde8ptiu/Main%20Title%20Draft%201z9.pdf?dl=0|title=Main Title Draft 1z9.pdf|website=Dropbox|language=en|access-date=2019-09-14}}</ref> He has been the producer, screenwriter and story editor for over 200 hours of television, including ''[[Highway to Heaven]], [[Highlander: The Series|Highlander]],'' and ''[[Soldier of Fortune, Inc.]]'' <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0330108/|title=Dan Gordon|website=IMDb|access-date=2019-09-14}}</ref> He has also written stage adaptations of ''[[Terms of Endearment]]'' and ''[[Rain Man]]'',<ref name="Blogcritics">{{Cite news|url=http://blogcritics.org/theatre-review-london-rain-man-adapted/|title=Theatre Review (London): ''Rain Man'' (Adapted for the Stage by Dan Gordon)|work=Blogcritics|access-date=2017-03-27|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Dan-Gordon/47275688|title=Dan Gordon|website=Simon & Schuster|language=en|access-date=2017-03-27}}</ref> and novels based on his screenplays as well as his own experiences fighting in the [[Gaza War (2008–09)|Gaza War]].<ref name="hollywoodreporter">[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/a-hollywood-screenwriter-experiences-real-737476 A Hollywood Screenwriter Experiences the Real Gaza War], ''The Hollywood Reporter'', October 3, 2014.</ref>
As a [[screenwriter]], he has written films including ''[[Wyatt Earp (film)|Wyatt Earp]]'', ''[[Passenger 57]]'', ''[[Murder in the First (film)|Murder in the First]]'', and ''[[The Hurricane (1999 film)|The Hurricane]]'', and developed the story for ''[[Rambo: Last Blood]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/7hmblyrpde8ptiu/Main%20Title%20Draft%201z9.pdf?dl=0|title=Main Title Draft 1z9.pdf|website=Dropbox|language=en|access-date=2019-09-14}}</ref> He has been the producer, screenwriter and story editor for over 200 hours of television, including ''[[Highway to Heaven]], [[Highlander: The Series|Highlander]],'' and ''[[Soldier of Fortune, Inc.]]''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0330108/|title=Dan Gordon|website=IMDb|access-date=2019-09-14}}</ref> He has also written stage adaptations of ''[[Terms of Endearment (play)|Terms of Endearment]]'' and ''[[Rain Man]]'',<ref name="Blogcritics">{{Cite news|url=http://blogcritics.org/theatre-review-london-rain-man-adapted/|title=Theatre Review (London): ''Rain Man'' (Adapted for the Stage by Dan Gordon)|work=Blogcritics|access-date=2017-03-27|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Dan-Gordon/47275688|title=Dan Gordon|website=Simon & Schuster|language=en|access-date=2017-03-27}}</ref> and novels based on his screenplays as well as his own experiences fighting in the [[Gaza War (2008–09)|Gaza War]].<ref name="hollywoodreporter">[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/a-hollywood-screenwriter-experiences-real-737476 A Hollywood Screenwriter Experiences the Real Gaza War], ''The Hollywood Reporter'', October 3, 2014.</ref>


==Biography==
==Early life==
⚫
Dan Gordon was born in [[Southern California]], to a [[Jewish]] family. He grew up in [[Bell Gardens, CA]], and at 16 went to [[Israel]] where he attended high school at the [[Ginegar]] [[kibbutz]].<ref name="hollywoodreporter"/><ref name="bhcourierhouse">'Gaza Wars Veteran, 17-Old Documentarian Among Guests For Temple of the Arts Yom Kippur Services', ''The Beverly Hills Courier'', October 03, 2014, Vol. XXXXVIIII, No. 39, p. 13</ref> After high school he returned to Southern California and studied at [[East Los Angeles College|East LA Junior College]] for a year, before transferring to [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] as a film and television major.<ref name="slashfilm">Harris, Blake. [http://www.slashfilm.com/sketchiest-movie-ever-made/ HDTGM: The Sketchiest Movie Ever (Kinda) Made: A Tale of Mobsters, Money-Laundering & Movie-Making], ''Slashfilm.com'', March 1, 2017.</ref>


===Early life===
===Military career===
⚫
Gordon joined the Israeli Army in the early 1970s. He served for almost a decade, including during the [[Yom Kippur War]] of 1973.<ref name="slashfilm"/>
⚫
Dan Gordon was born, May 5, 1947, in [[Southern California]]. He grew up in [[Bell Gardens, CA]], and at 16 went to [[Israel]] where he attended high school at the [[Ginegar]] [[kibbutz]].<ref name="hollywoodreporter"/><ref name="bhcourierhouse">'Gaza Wars Veteran, 17-Old Documentarian Among Guests For Temple of the Arts Yom Kippur Services', ''The Beverly Hills Courier'', October 03, 2014, Vol. XXXXVIIII, No. 39, p. 13</ref> After High School he returned to Southern California, and studied at [[East Los Angeles College|East LA Junior College]] for a year, before transferring to [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] as a film and television major.<ref name="slashfilm">Harris, Blake. [http://www.slashfilm.com/sketchiest-movie-ever-made/ HDTGM: The Sketchiest Movie Ever (Kinda) Made: A Tale of Mobsters, Money-Laundering & Movie-Making], ''Slashfilm.com'', March 1, 2017.</ref>


⚫
He served as an escort officer in the Military Spokesperson's Unit during the [[2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.californiarepublic.org/archives/Columns/Gordon/20060901GordonSoldiers.html | title=Soldiers, Dogs and Mosques | work=CaliforniaRepublic.org blog | date=2006-09-01 | access-date=2006-10-23 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928063527/http://www.californiarepublic.org/archives/Columns/Gordon/20060901GordonSoldiers.html | archivedate=September 28, 2007 | url-status=dead}}</ref>
⚫
===Film and Television career===

⚫
While at UCLA, Dan pitched a one-act play he had written, ''Once I Was'', as a film to [[Universal Studios]], and they hired him as a writer. But he was fired by Studio Chair [[Lew Wasserman]] for stealing office supplies.<ref name="slashfilm"/>
⚫
He is a captain in the [[Israel Defense Forces]] Reserves.<ref name="bhcourierhouse"/>

⚫
==Film and television career==
⚫
While at UCLA, Dan pitched a one-act play he had written, ''Once I Was'', as a film to [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]], and they hired him as a writer. But he was fired by Studio Chair [[Lew Wasserman]] for stealing office supplies.<ref name="slashfilm"/>


In 1971, Gordon began directing the film ''Potluck'', based on a screenplay he had written. They shot the film guerrilla style in New York, without obtaining film permits. As Gordon soon discovered, the film's independent financiers were [[American Mafia|Mafia]]-connected. Although the film was coming in under its $100,000 budget, they claimed the financing had dried up. Gordon and his collaborators tried to raise the funds to finish the film, but the Mafia needed the film to fail, as part of a money laundering scheme. The film was never finished.<ref name="slashfilm"/>
In 1971, Gordon began directing the film ''Potluck'', based on a screenplay he had written. They shot the film guerrilla style in New York, without obtaining film permits. As Gordon soon discovered, the film's independent financiers were [[American Mafia|Mafia]]-connected. Although the film was coming in under its $100,000 budget, they claimed the financing had dried up. Gordon and his collaborators tried to raise the funds to finish the film, but the Mafia needed the film to fail, as part of a money laundering scheme. The film was never finished.<ref name="slashfilm"/>


Fearing the Mafia, due to the fallout from trying to make ''Potluck'', Gordon fled to Israel, where he served in the Israeli Army. After more than a decade, Gordon returned to Hollywood to continue his screenwriting career in the early 1980s.<ref name="slashfilm"/>
Fearing the Mafia, due to the fallout from trying to make ''Potluck'', Gordon fled to Israel, where he served in the Israeli Army. While there, he wrote the screenplay for ''[[Train Ride to Hollywood]]'', the 1975 pop musical starring the Kansas City R&B band [[Bloodstone (band)|Bloodstone]], though he would return briefly to the United States to rewrite it prior to filming.<ref name="SlashFilm">{{cite web|last1=Harris|first1=Blake|title=How Did This Get Made: A Conversation With The Producer And Editor Of ''The Boyfriend School''|date=July 2020 |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/575087/the-boyfriend-school|publisher=SlashFilm|accessdate=January 6, 2024}}</ref> After more than a decade, Gordon returned to Hollywood to continue his screenwriting career in the early 1980s.<ref name="slashfilm"/>


Gordon was hired to be the head writer for the TV Show ''[[Highway to Heaven]]'' (1984–88), for which he also directed three episodes. He wanted to write for both Film and Television, which was uncommon at the time.<ref name="slashfilm"/> Gordon went on to write numerous screenplays including ''[[Passenger 57]]'' (1992), ''[[Wyatt Earp (film)|Wyatt Earp]]'' (1994), ''[[Murder in the First (film)|Murder in the First]]'' (1995), ''[[The Assignment (1997 film)|The Assignment]]'' (1997) and ''[[The Hurricane (1999 film)|The Hurricane]]'' (1999).<ref name="bhcourierhouse"/> Dan's most recent work includes a "story by" credit for [[Rambo: Last Blood]] (2019).<ref name=":0" />
Gordon was hired to be the head writer for the TV show ''[[Highway to Heaven]]'' (1984–88), for which he also directed three episodes. He wanted to write for both film and television, which was uncommon at the time.<ref name="slashfilm"/> Gordon went on to write numerous screenplays including ''[[Passenger 57]]'' (1992), ''[[Wyatt Earp (film)|Wyatt Earp]]'' (1994), ''[[Murder in the First (film)|Murder in the First]]'' (1995), ''[[The Assignment (1997 film)|The Assignment]]'' (1997) and ''[[The Hurricane (1999 film)|The Hurricane]]'' (1999).<ref name="bhcourierhouse"/> Gordon's most recent work includes a "story by" credit for ''[[Rambo: Last Blood]]'' (2019).<ref name=":0" />


His play, ''[[Irena's Vow]]'', premiered at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, New York, in September 2008. Starring [[Tovah Feldshuh]], it is the true story of [[Irena Gut]], who hid twelve Jews in a cellar during World War II.<ref>Hampton, Willborn. [http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/theater/reviews/26iren.html Review: Hiding Innocents and Keeping Evil at Bay], ''The New York Times'', September 26, 2008.</ref> The play is scheduled to open on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] at the [[Walter Kerr Theatre]] in previews starting March 10, 2009, officially March 29, 2009, with the same cast from off-Broadway.<ref>Gans, Andrew. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/124530.html Feldshuh to Return to Broadway in March in Irena's Vow] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225003521/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/124530.html |date=2008-12-25 }}, playbill.com, December 22, 2008.</ref> His stage adaptation of [[Barry Morrow|Barry Morrow's]] ''[[Rain Man]]'' premiered at the [[Apollo Theatre]] in London's West End in 2009 and was subsequently performed in places like Prague (Czech Republic), Stuttgart (Germany), Brussels (Belgium) and Utrecht (The Netherlands).
His play, ''[[Irena's Vow]]'', premiered at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, New York, in September 2008. Starring [[Tovah Feldshuh]], it is the true story of [[Irena Gut]], who hid twelve Jews in a cellar during World War II.<ref>Hampton, Willborn. [http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/theater/reviews/26iren.html Review: Hiding Innocents and Keeping Evil at Bay], ''The New York Times'', September 26, 2008.</ref> The play opened on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] at the [[Walter Kerr Theatre]] in previews starting March 10, 2009, officially March 29, 2009, with the same cast from off-Broadway.<ref>Gans, Andrew. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/124530.html Feldshuh to Return to Broadway in March in Irena's Vow] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225003521/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/124530.html |date=2008-12-25 }}, playbill.com, December 22, 2008.</ref> His stage adaptation of [[Barry Morrow|Barry Morrow's]] ''[[Rain Man]]'' premiered at the [[Apollo Theatre]] in London's West End in 2009, and was subsequently performed in Prague (Czech Republic), Stuttgart (Germany), Brussels (Belgium) and Utrecht (The Netherlands).


=== The Zaki Gordon Institute (ZGI) ===
=== The Zaki Gordon Institute (ZGI) ===
Gordon is also a co-founder of the [[Sedona Film School|Zaki Gordon Institute]] (ZGI), a film school in [[Sedona, Arizona]]. The institute is named for his eldest son, Zaki Gordon, who died in a traffic accident in 1998 at the age of 22 years. Gordon taught part-time at the institute. He also teaches at [[Columbia University School of the Arts]], [[USC School of Cinematic Arts]] and [[UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television|UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television]],<ref>{{cite web | work = Biography on the Faculty page of the ZGI website| title = Dan Gordon | date = | url=http://zgi.yc.edu/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=8&MMN_position=8:8 | accessdate = 2006-10-23 }}</ref> to which he donates an annual [[United States dollar|$]]5,000 prize to screenwriting students in honor of his son.<ref>{{cite web |work=Article by Jun Okada in the [[Daily Bruin]] |title=Father honors son's memory with screenwriting award |url=http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/DB/issues/00/02.25/ae.gordon.html |accessdate=2006-10-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050101052649/http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/db/issues/00/02.25/ae.gordon.html |archivedate=2005-01-01 }}</ref>
Gordon is the co-founder of the [[Sedona Film School|Zaki Gordon Institute]] (ZGI), a film school in [[Sedona, Arizona]]. The institute is named for his eldest son, Zaki Gordon, who died in a traffic accident in 1998 at the age of 22 years. Gordon taught part-time at the institute. He also teaches at [[Columbia University School of the Arts]], [[USC School of Cinematic Arts]] and [[UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television|UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television]],<ref>{{cite web | work = Biography on the Faculty page of the ZGI website| title = Dan Gordon | date = | url=http://zgi.yc.edu/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=8&MMN_position=8:8 | accessdate = 2006-10-23 }}</ref> to which he donates an annual $5,000 prize to screenwriting students in honor of his son.<ref>{{cite web |work=Article by Jun Okada in the [[Daily Bruin]] |title=Father honors son's memory with screenwriting award |url=http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/DB/issues/00/02.25/ae.gordon.html |access-date=2006-10-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050101052649/http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/db/issues/00/02.25/ae.gordon.html |archive-date=2005-01-01 }}</ref>


In 2012, he left the Zaki Gordon Institute after founding the [[Liberty University#Zaki Gordon Cinematic Arts Center|Zaki Gordon Center for Cinematic Arts]] at [[Liberty University]] in 2011.<ref name=libertyu>{{cite web|last=Bible|first=Mitzi|title=Liberty to add Zaki Gordon Center for the Cinematic Arts|url=http://www.liberty.edu/news/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=29765|publisher=Liberty University News Service|accessdate=22 August 2013}}</ref> After Gordon left, The Zaki Gordon Institute changed its name to the [[Sedona Film School]].<ref name=zgi-to-sfs>{{cite web|title=Zaki Gordon Becomes Sedona Film School|url=http://www.ifpphx.org/2012/08/zaki-gordon-becomes-sedona-film-school/|accessdate=22 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904072847/http://www.ifpphx.org/2012/08/zaki-gordon-becomes-sedona-film-school/|archive-date=4 September 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Gordon was also a close friend of [[Tim Buckley]], collaborating with him on an unfilmed movie script called "Fully Air-conditioned Inside."<ref>{{cite web|work=timbuckleyandfriends |title=Mary Guibert's Room 109 Chat Session |date=1999-05-05 |url=http://www.timbuckleyandfriends.com/MaryGuibert.html |accessdate=2009-06-25 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901164332/http://www.timbuckleyandfriends.com/MaryGuibert.html |archivedate=2009-09-01 }}</ref> He also played the role of a homeless man in the independent film. ''[[Waiting for Mo]]'' (1996), which he produced with his son, Zaki, who wrote and directed the film.
In 2012, he left the Zaki Gordon Institute after founding the [[Liberty University#Zaki Gordon Cinematic Arts Center|Zaki Gordon Center for Cinematic Arts]] at [[Liberty University]] in 2011.<ref name=libertyu>{{cite web|last=Bible|first=Mitzi|title=Liberty to add Zaki Gordon Center for the Cinematic Arts|date=2 May 2011|url=http://www.liberty.edu/news/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=29765|publisher=Liberty University News Service|access-date=22 August 2013}}</ref> After Gordon left, The Zaki Gordon Institute, in Arizona, changed its name to the [[Sedona Film School]].<ref name=zgi-to-sfs>{{cite web|title=Zaki Gordon Becomes Sedona Film School|url=http://www.ifpphx.org/2012/08/zaki-gordon-becomes-sedona-film-school/|access-date=22 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904072847/http://www.ifpphx.org/2012/08/zaki-gordon-becomes-sedona-film-school/|archive-date=4 September 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Gordon was also a close friend of [[Tim Buckley]], collaborating with him on an unfilmed movie script called "Fully Air-conditioned Inside."<ref>{{cite web|work=timbuckleyandfriends |title=Mary Guibert's Room 109 Chat Session |date=1999-05-05 |url=http://www.timbuckleyandfriends.com/MaryGuibert.html |access-date=2009-06-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901164332/http://www.timbuckleyandfriends.com/MaryGuibert.html |archive-date=2009-09-01 }}</ref> He also played the role of a homeless man in the independent film. ''[[Waiting for Mo]]'' (1996), which he produced with his son, Zaki, who wrote and directed the film.


He has been a member of the [[Directors Guild of America]] since 1985.
He has been a member of the [[Directors Guild of America]] since 1985.


⚫
== Personal life ==
===Military career===
Gordon married his wife Jo-Ann while he was in Israel (and they divorced in 1995). They have three sons Zaki, Yoni and Adam. Zaki, his eldest, died in a traffic accident in 1998 at the age of 22. During the summer of 2019, Gordon married Leah Denmark in Rome in a small private ceremony.
⚫
Gordon joined the Israeli Army in the early 1970s. He served for almost a decade, including during the [[Yom Kippur War]] of 1973.<ref name="slashfilm"/>

⚫
He served as an escort officer in the Military Spokesperson’s Unit during the [[2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.californiarepublic.org/archives/Columns/Gordon/20060901GordonSoldiers.html | title=Soldiers, Dogs and Mosques | work=CaliforniaRepublic.org blog | date=2006-09-01 | accessdate=2006-10-23 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928063527/http://www.californiarepublic.org/archives/Columns/Gordon/20060901GordonSoldiers.html | archivedate=September 28, 2007 | url-status=dead}}</ref>

⚫
He is a captain in the [[Israel Defense Forces]] Reserves.<ref name="bhcourierhouse"/>


⚫
Gordon is Jewish, and has acted as a [[Keynote Speaker|keynote speaker]] at Jewish and Christian religious conferences.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://outreach.com/events/christian-speakers/Dan-Gordon.aspx|title=Dan Gordon - Christian Speaker - Israeli Defense Force Captain, Sniper and Screenwriter|website=outreach.com|language=en|access-date=2017-03-27}}</ref>
⚫
=== Personal life ===
⚫
Gordon married his wife Jo-Ann while he was in Israel. They have three sons Zaki, Yoni and Adam. Zaki, his eldest, died in a traffic accident in 1998 at the age of 22. Gordon is Jewish, and has acted as a [[Keynote Speaker|keynote speaker]] at Jewish and Christian religious conferences.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://outreach.com/events/christian-speakers/Dan-Gordon.aspx|title=Dan Gordon - Christian Speaker - Israeli Defense Force Captain, Sniper and Screenwriter|website=outreach.com|language=en|access-date=2017-03-27}}</ref>


==Filmography ==
==Filmography ==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}


=== Movies ===
=== Film ===
* ''[[Train Ride to Hollywood]]'' (1975)
* ''Train Ride to Hollywood'' (1975)
* ''[[Tank (film)|Tank]]'' (1984)
* ''[[Tank (film)|Tank]]'' (1984)
* ''[[Gotcha! (1985 film)|Gotcha!]]'' (1985)
* ''[[Gotcha! (1985 film)|Gotcha!]]'' (1985)
Line 64: Line 73:
* ''[[Let There Be Light (2017 film)|Let There Be Light]]'' (2017) (co-written with [[Sam Sorbo]])
* ''[[Let There Be Light (2017 film)|Let There Be Light]]'' (2017) (co-written with [[Sam Sorbo]])
*''[[Rambo: Last Blood]]'' (2019) (story by)
*''[[Rambo: Last Blood]]'' (2019) (story by)
* ''[[Heart of a Lion (2023 film)|Heart of a Lion]]'' (2023)
* ''[[Irena's Vow (film)|Irena's Vow]]'' (2023)
* ''[[Warrior Strong]]'' (2023)
{{col-break}}


=== Television ===
=== Television ===
* ''[[Highway to Heaven]]'' (1984) (also director)
* ''[[Highway to Heaven]]'' (1984) (also director)
* ''[[Gulag (film)|Gulag]]'' (1985) (also executive producer)
* ''[[Gulag (film)|Gulag]]'' (1985) (also executive producer)
* [[Sidekicks (TV show)]] (1987)
* ''Sidekicks'' (1987)
* ''[[Zorro (1990 TV series)|Zorro]]'' (1989)
* ''[[Zorro (1990 TV series)|Zorro]]'' (1989)
* ''[[Highlander: The Series]]'' (1992)
* ''[[Highlander: The Series]]'' (1992)
* ''[[Taking the Heat]]'' (1993)
* ''[[Taking the Heat]]'' (1993)
* ''[[Nowhere to Hide (1994 film)|Nowhere to Hide]]'' (1994)
* ''[[Nowhere to Hide (1994 film)|Nowhere to Hide]]'' (1994)
* ''[[New Eden]]'' (1994)
* ''New Eden'' (1994)
* ''[[Soldier of Fortune, Inc.]]'' (1997) (creator)
* ''[[Soldier of Fortune, Inc.]]'' (1997) (creator)
* ''[[Terror in the Mall]]'' (1998) (story)
* ''[[Terror in the Mall]]'' (1998) (story)
* ''[[Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles]]'' (1999)
* ''[[Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles]]'' (1999)
* ''[[October 7, 2023 (2024 TV series)|October 7, 2023]]'' (2024)
{{col-end}}


==Novels==
==Novels==
Line 88: Line 103:


==Plays==
==Plays==
* ''Terms of Endearment'' (2007)
* ''[[Terms of Endearment (play)|Terms of Endearment]]'' (2007)
* ''[[Irena's Vow]]'' (2008)
* ''[[Irena's Vow]]'' (2008)
* ''Rain Man'' (2009)
* ''Rain Man'' (2009)
Line 98: Line 113:
==External links==
==External links==
* {{IMDb name|id=0330108|name=Dan Gordon}}
* {{IMDb name|id=0330108|name=Dan Gordon}}
* {{Amg name|217305|Dan Gordon}}


{{USC Scripter Awards — Film}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


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[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:American male screenwriters]]
[[Category:American television writers]]
[[Category:American male television writers]]
⚫
[[Category:American screenwriters]]
[[Category:Columbia University faculty]]
[[Category:Columbia University faculty]]
[[Category:Israeli Air Force personnel]]
[[Category:Israeli Air Force personnel]]
[[Category:Israeli Jews]]
[[Category:Jewish Israeli writers]]
[[Category:Male television writers]]
[[Category:Jewish American screenwriters]]
[[Category:Novelists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Novelists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Screenwriting instructors]]
[[Category:Screenwriting instructors]]
[[Category:UCLA Film School alumni]]
[[Category:UCLA Film School alumni]]
⚫
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]

Latest revision as of 23:50, 22 December 2024

Dan Gordon
Born (1947-05-05) May 5, 1947 (age 77)
Southern California, U.S.
NationalityIsraeli, American
Occupations
  • Writer
  • producer
  • director

Dan Gordon (Hebrew: דן גורדון; born (1947-05-05)May 5, 1947) is an Israeli-American writer, producer and director.

As a screenwriter, he has written films including Wyatt Earp, Passenger 57, Murder in the First, and The Hurricane, and developed the story for Rambo: Last Blood.[1] He has been the producer, screenwriter and story editor for over 200 hours of television, including Highway to Heaven, Highlander, and Soldier of Fortune, Inc.[2] He has also written stage adaptations of Terms of Endearment and Rain Man,[3][4] and novels based on his screenplays as well as his own experiences fighting in the Gaza War.[5]

Early life

[edit]

Dan Gordon was born in Southern California, to a Jewish family. He grew up in Bell Gardens, CA, and at 16 went to Israel where he attended high school at the Ginegar kibbutz.[5][6] After high school he returned to Southern California and studied at East LA Junior College for a year, before transferring to UCLA as a film and television major.[7]

Military career

[edit]

Gordon joined the Israeli Army in the early 1970s. He served for almost a decade, including during the Yom Kippur War of 1973.[7]

He served as an escort officer in the Military Spokesperson's Unit during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.[8]

He is a captain in the Israel Defense Forces Reserves.[6]

Film and television career

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While at UCLA, Dan pitched a one-act play he had written, Once I Was, as a film to Universal Studios, and they hired him as a writer. But he was fired by Studio Chair Lew Wasserman for stealing office supplies.[7]

In 1971, Gordon began directing the film Potluck, based on a screenplay he had written. They shot the film guerrilla style in New York, without obtaining film permits. As Gordon soon discovered, the film's independent financiers were Mafia-connected. Although the film was coming in under its $100,000 budget, they claimed the financing had dried up. Gordon and his collaborators tried to raise the funds to finish the film, but the Mafia needed the film to fail, as part of a money laundering scheme. The film was never finished.[7]

Fearing the Mafia, due to the fallout from trying to make Potluck, Gordon fled to Israel, where he served in the Israeli Army. While there, he wrote the screenplay for Train Ride to Hollywood, the 1975 pop musical starring the Kansas City R&B band Bloodstone, though he would return briefly to the United States to rewrite it prior to filming.[9] After more than a decade, Gordon returned to Hollywood to continue his screenwriting career in the early 1980s.[7]

Gordon was hired to be the head writer for the TV show Highway to Heaven (1984–88), for which he also directed three episodes. He wanted to write for both film and television, which was uncommon at the time.[7] Gordon went on to write numerous screenplays including Passenger 57 (1992), Wyatt Earp (1994), Murder in the First (1995), The Assignment (1997) and The Hurricane (1999).[6] Gordon's most recent work includes a "story by" credit for Rambo: Last Blood (2019).[1]

His play, Irena's Vow, premiered at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, New York, in September 2008. Starring Tovah Feldshuh, it is the true story of Irena Gut, who hid twelve Jews in a cellar during World War II.[10] The play opened on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre in previews starting March 10, 2009, officially March 29, 2009, with the same cast from off-Broadway.[11] His stage adaptation of Barry Morrow's Rain Man premiered at the Apollo Theatre in London's West End in 2009, and was subsequently performed in Prague (Czech Republic), Stuttgart (Germany), Brussels (Belgium) and Utrecht (The Netherlands).

The Zaki Gordon Institute (ZGI)

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Gordon is the co-founder of the Zaki Gordon Institute (ZGI), a film school in Sedona, Arizona. The institute is named for his eldest son, Zaki Gordon, who died in a traffic accident in 1998 at the age of 22 years. Gordon taught part-time at the institute. He also teaches at Columbia University School of the Arts, USC School of Cinematic Arts and UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television,[12] to which he donates an annual $5,000 prize to screenwriting students in honor of his son.[13]

In 2012, he left the Zaki Gordon Institute after founding the Zaki Gordon Center for Cinematic Arts at Liberty University in 2011.[14] After Gordon left, The Zaki Gordon Institute, in Arizona, changed its name to the Sedona Film School.[15] Gordon was also a close friend of Tim Buckley, collaborating with him on an unfilmed movie script called "Fully Air-conditioned Inside."[16] He also played the role of a homeless man in the independent film. Waiting for Mo (1996), which he produced with his son, Zaki, who wrote and directed the film.

He has been a member of the Directors Guild of America since 1985.

Personal life

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Gordon married his wife Jo-Ann while he was in Israel (and they divorced in 1995). They have three sons Zaki, Yoni and Adam. Zaki, his eldest, died in a traffic accident in 1998 at the age of 22. During the summer of 2019, Gordon married Leah Denmark in Rome in a small private ceremony.

Gordon is Jewish, and has acted as a keynote speaker at Jewish and Christian religious conferences.[17]

Filmography

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Novels

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  • Wyatt Earp (1994)
  • Murder in the First (1994)
  • The Assignment (1997)
  • Davin (with Zaki Gordon) (1997)
  • Postcards from Heaven (2010)
  • Day of the Dead: Book One - Gaza (2015)
  • Day of the Dead: Book Two - America (2016)

Plays

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Main Title Draft 1z9.pdf" (PDF). Dropbox. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
  2. ^ "Dan Gordon". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-09-14.
  3. ^ "Theatre Review (London): Rain Man (Adapted for the Stage by Dan Gordon)". Blogcritics. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
  4. ^ "Dan Gordon". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
  5. ^ a b A Hollywood Screenwriter Experiences the Real Gaza War, The Hollywood Reporter, October 3, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c 'Gaza Wars Veteran, 17-Old Documentarian Among Guests For Temple of the Arts Yom Kippur Services', The Beverly Hills Courier, October 03, 2014, Vol. XXXXVIIII, No. 39, p. 13
  7. ^ a b c d e f Harris, Blake. HDTGM: The Sketchiest Movie Ever (Kinda) Made: A Tale of Mobsters, Money-Laundering & Movie-Making, Slashfilm.com, March 1, 2017.
  8. ^ "Soldiers, Dogs and Mosques". CaliforniaRepublic.org blog. 2006-09-01. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved 2006-10-23.
  9. ^ Harris, Blake (July 2020). "How Did This Get Made: A Conversation With The Producer And Editor Of The Boyfriend School". SlashFilm. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
  10. ^ Hampton, Willborn. Review: Hiding Innocents and Keeping Evil at Bay, The New York Times, September 26, 2008.
  11. ^ Gans, Andrew. Feldshuh to Return to Broadway in March in Irena's Vow Archived 2008-12-25 at the Wayback Machine, playbill.com, December 22, 2008.
  12. ^ "Dan Gordon". Biography on the Faculty page of the ZGI website. Retrieved 2006-10-23.
  13. ^ "Father honors son's memory with screenwriting award". Article by Jun Okada in the Daily Bruin. Archived from the original on 2005-01-01. Retrieved 2006-10-23.
  14. ^ Bible, Mitzi (2 May 2011). "Liberty to add Zaki Gordon Center for the Cinematic Arts". Liberty University News Service. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  15. ^ "Zaki Gordon Becomes Sedona Film School". Archived from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  16. ^ "Mary Guibert's Room 109 Chat Session". timbuckleyandfriends. 1999-05-05. Archived from the original on 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  17. ^ "Dan Gordon - Christian Speaker - Israeli Defense Force Captain, Sniper and Screenwriter". outreach.com. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
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