Don Gordon

Actor Don Gordon is best known for his affiliation with the late, great Steve McQueen, as the two appeared together in several films as well as a television series. Gordon launched his acting career during the late 1940s/early 1950s, with several small, uncredited roles in such films as "Twelve O'Clock High" and "Let's Go Navy!" By the early 1960s, Gordon began securing substantial, multi-episode roles on such television shows as "The Blue Angels" (as Lt. Hank Bertelli, from 1960 through 1962), as well as beginning his association with McQueen, via the show "Wanted: Dead or Alive." But probably his best known television role from this era remains Joey Tassili on "The Defenders," for which he received an Emmy Award nomination in 1963 (for "Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role"). During the late 1960s/early 1970s, Gordon would appear in three McQueen classics, 1968's "Bullitt," 1973's "Papillon," and 1974's "The Towering Inferno." Gordon continued to act until the early 1990s, including appearances in such titles as "Columbo," "Lethal Weapon," and "Diagnosis Murder." Gordon was also interviewed for the 2005 television documentary "Steve McQueen: The Essence of Cool."