Gordon was born in
Baltimore, Maryland, to Jewish parents: Paul Luis Gordon (1876–1957), who was born in Lithuania, and Eva "Rachel" Kuhen (1885–1940), who was born in Russia. Michael was the second of three boys born to the Gordon family; first born was Bertram Ira Gordon (1914–1985), who was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, and the third born was Leo Allenby Gordon (1919–2005). Michael Gordon was a member of the
Group Theatre (1935–1940), and was
blacklisted as a
Communist in the
McCarthy era. He later joined the faculty of the UCLA Theater Department. Gordon summered at
Pine Brook Country Club in Nichols, Connecticut. Pinebrook is best known for becoming the summer home of the Group Theatre. As a result of being blacklisted, Gordon's Hollywood career fell into two phases. In 1940, he started as a dialogue director and directed
B-movies. In the late 1940s, he distinguished himself by directing action movies, melodramas, and
films noir. He also directed the 1950 film
Cyrano de Bergerac, for which
José Ferrer won a
Best Actor Academy Award. After being blacklisted, he was forced to stop directing films temporarily, but was called back to Hollywood at the end of the 1950s by producer
Ross Hunter, who wanted him to direct
Pillow Talk, a vehicle for
Doris Day and
Rock Hudson. Gordon's second creative phase was concerned with light-hearted, comedy films. Gordon and his wife Elizabeth Cohn had three children: Jonathan, Jane (mother of actor
Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and Susannah. ==Filmography==