Film Forum

In THE NARROW MARGIN (1952), Gordon Gebert played Tommy Sinclair, the son of Ann Sinclair (portrayed by Jacqueline White). Traveling by train from Chicago to Los Angeles, they find themselves drawn into a tense and uncertain situation alongside Detective Sgt. Walter Brown, played by Charles McGraw, as the journey gradually reveals a more dangerous set of circumstances. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Gordon began his acting career by being chosen for a role in a play for Drake University, receiving acting lessons through the university theater. In Summer of 1948, Gordon and his parents moved to Los Angeles where Gordon started at Pasadena Playhouse in a production of Life With Father, opposite Victor Jory. An agent saw him and he was given a bit part in COME TO THE STABLE (1949), which starred Loretta Young and Celeste Holm. His next film was HOLIDAY AFFAIR (1949), where he had the pivotal role as Janet Leigh’s son, costarring with Robert Mitchum and Wendel Cory. He made more films with stars such as Dan Duryea, Lorraine Day, Marjorie Lord, Charles McGraw, Joel McCrea, Ray Milland, Jill St. John, and John Wayne. As a teenager, he portrayed young Audie Murphy in the autobiographical film, TO HELL AND BACK (1955). In all, he appeared in 14 feature films, numerous TV film series episodes, live TV, radio, and theater. As he grew up, he became interested in architecture and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a bachelors’ degree and Princeton University where he received a masters’ degree. He never returned to acting. He became a practicing architect and a professor of architecture, first at Princeton and later at the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York, where he continues to teach advanced computational design and heads the Spitzer robotics laboratory. Gordon currently lives in New York City and is married to Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, a professor of Literature, Culture and Environment at Vassar College. He is the father of three—two girls and a boy—and grandfather of six.

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