Childhood career Gordon began performing at age three; in his television debut, he won second place on
Ted Mack's
Amateur Hour singing
Johnnie Ray's "Cry". At six, Gordon recorded "
Nuttin' for Christmas". It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a
gold disc. The next year, he charted his second and final single "Rock Around Mother Goose". In circa 1956,
Bill Haley recorded a private demo recording "Six Year Olds Can Rock and Roll". He begins the recording (released in 1990) by dedicating it to Barry Gordon. As a child actor, Gordon also appeared on
The Jackie Gleason Show,
The Jack Benny Program,
Richard Diamond, Private Detective,
The Danny Thomas Show,
Alfred Hitchcock Presents and
Star Time with
Benny Goodman. Gordon was cast as Humberto in an episode of the sitcom
Sally, starring
Joan Caulfield, and as Chopper in
Leave It to Beaver (episode 119: "Beaver's House Guest"). Gordon guest starred on the sitcoms
The Ann Sothern Show and
Dennis the Menace. In 1962, he played the part of the childhood version of "Patient" in
Pressure Point. At 13, Gordon began a career on Broadway as Nick in Herb Gardner's
A Thousand Clowns, a role for which he earned a
Tony Award nomination. He later reprised that role in the film version opposite
Jason Robards and
Martin Balsam in 1965. The film gave him "introducing" billing, but he had actually been in several films already, most notably his actual film debut in 1956's ''
The Girl Can't Help It'' as a newspaper boy in which, after seeing
Jayne Mansfield, he uttered the line: "If that's a girl, I don't know what my sister is."
Adult roles As a teen, Gordon starred alongside
Sid Caesar and
Vera Miles in the 1967 comedy-horror film
The Spirit Is Willing. In the 1970s, Gordon appeared in the
Barney Miller spin-off
Fish, starring
Abe Vigoda, and from 1973 to 1974 was a regular on
The New Dick Van Dyke Show. He also played a waiter in "Horror in the Heights", a 1974 episode of
Kolchak: The Night Stalker. In 1976, he appeared in an episode of
The Practice.
Character actor Primarily as a character actor, Gordon became a familiar face in numerous feature films and television series. In the last two seasons of the sitcom ''
Archie Bunker's Place'', Gordon had the recurring role of Gary Rabinowitz, Archie's Jewish attorney and love interest of Barbara Lee "Billie" Bunker (played by
Denise Miller, who had also co-starred with Gordon in
Fish). Gordon also had notable guest-starring roles on
Barney Miller as an embezzler, and later in season seven as an attorney, on
Fish as a social worker, on
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a
Ferengi businessman, and on
Star Trek: Voyager as Ardon Broht, an alien publisher. More recently, he appeared as the Rabbi in
Larry David's
Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Voice work Gordon has worked extensively as a voice actor. His most notable voice roles were
Donatello and
Bebop in
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and as Jake "Razor" Clawson in
SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron (1993). Gordon's voice was also featured in other
animated series, mostly
Hanna-Barbera shows such as
Jabberjaw (as Clamhead),
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle,
The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! (as
Captain Marvel Jr.),
Meatballs & Spaghetti (as bassist Clyde),
Pac-Man (as Inky),
Mighty Orbots (as Robert Simmons),
Pole Position,
The Jetsons,
The Smurfs,
The Adventures of the American Rabbit (as the titular character),
Superman,
Snorks (as Junior Wetworth),
Gravedale High (as Reggie Moonshroud),
Space Cats,
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (as Englebert Newton),
Darkwing Duck (as Dr. Fossil),
Tom & Jerry Kids and its spin-off
Droopy, Master Detective,
Batman: The Animated Series (as
the Penguin's henchman Sheldrake),
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters,
Timon & Pumbaa,
Fantastic Max, and
The Pirates of Dark Water. Gordon also provided the voice of "Quicky" the
Nesquik Bunny in
television commercials for
Nestlé. In May 2009, Gordon played the Cocker Spaniel in the
Webkinz Pet of the Month Music Video for May 2009. He reprised the roles as the original Donatello and Bebop in three seasons of Nickelodeon's
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. On April 20, 2022, it was revealed that Gordon would reprise his role as Donatello for the video game, ''
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge''. This marks the first time that he would play Donatello for a video game and his first video game role in general. ==Other pursuits==