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| - He became so associated with Ball that a script for a second season Sesame Street insert called for Lucille to obey the words on a blackboard and MOP, eventually sticking the mop in the face of Gale Gordon (who "grandly erases" the M, adds ST, and produces a gong to draw her attention to the word STOP). Gordon began his career on old-time radio, sometimes playing dramatic parts (such as Flash Gordon or the district attorney on Big Town), but he soon became known for playing pompous stuffed shirts who would simmer before exploding. The tongue-tied Mayor LaTrivia on Fibber McGee and Molly (1941-1942, again from 1945- 1953) set the pace, followed by Rexall sponsor Mr. Scott on The Phil Harris and Alice Faye Show (1948-1950), antagonistic neighbor Rumson Bullard on The Great Gildersleeve (1948-1952), and banker Rudolph Atterbury on My Favorite Husband (1948-1951), his first collaboration with Lucille Ball. All of these windbag roles culminated in a long stint as pompous principal Mr. Osgood Conklin opposite Eve Arden as Our Miss Brooks (on radio from 1948-1954, TV from 1952-1956, and the 1956 film). In fact, Gordon was the first choice for Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy, but had to decline due to his Our Miss Brooks commitment. He did appear twice on Lucy, as club owner Mr. Littlefield, and again as a judge on The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. He became the second Mr. Wilson on Dennis the Menace (1962-1963), before re-teaming with Ball. Gordon's film work took a backseat to radio and television, but his occasional ventures were mostly in such oddly assorted titles as Here Come the Nelsons (a vehicle for Ozzie and Harriet), Francis Covers the Big Town (with the talking mule), The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (Lou Costello's only solo movie), the Elvis vehicle Speedway, Sergeant Deadhead (reunited with Eve Arden as foils to Frankie Avalon), and being annoyed by Jerry Lewis in Don't Give Up the Ship and Visit to a Small Planet. His final film was Joe Dante's The 'Burbs (1989), as dog-loving neighbor Walter.
- Gordon is best known for the role of cantankerous bank executive Mr. Mooney on Lucille Ball's second television sitcom, The Lucy Show.
- Gordon turned up as Rudolph Atterbury on My Favorite Husband, which starred Lucille Ball in a precursor to I Love Lucy." Gordon and Ball previously worked together on "The Wonder Show" starring Jack Haley from 1938 to 1939. The two had a longterm friendship as well as recurring professional partnership. The widely acknowledged master of the "slow-burn" temper explosion in character, Gordon was actually the first pick to play Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy, but he was committed to Our Miss Brooks and had to decline the offer in favor of William Frawley. But he did make two guest shots on the show as Ricky Ricardo's boss, Alvin Littlefield, owner of the Tropicana Club where Ricky's band played, and later played a judge on a The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour episode. In 1962, Ball created The Lucy Show and planned to hire Gordon to play Mr. Mooney, the banker who was first Lucy Carmichael's executor and subsequently her employer, when she went to work in his bank. Gordon, however, was still under contract to play the second Mr. Wilson (after the death of Joseph Kearns) on Dennis the Menace. When that show ended in spring 1963, Gordon joined The Lucy Show as Mooney for the 1963-64 season. In the interim, Charles Lane played the similar Mr. Barnsdahl character for the 1962-63 season. The somewhat portly Gordon was not only adept at physical comedy, but could do a perfect cartwheel. He did this once on The Lucy Show, and again as a guest on The Dean Martin Show. After the sale of Desilu studios, Ball shut down The Lucy Show in 1968 and retooled it into Here's Lucy. She used Gordon yet again---this time as her irascible boss (and brother-in-law) Harry Carter, at an employment agency that specialized in unusual jobs. It was really the Lucy Carmichael/Mr. Mooney relationship continued with new names and a new setting. Gordon all but retired when Here's Lucy ended (although he did reprise his role of Mr. Mooney in the first aired episode of Hi Honey, I'm Home!), but in the 1980s he came out of retirement to join Ball one last time, for the short-lived Life With Lucy. When Lucille Ball finally called it a career, Gale Gordon turned out to be the only actor to have co-starred or guest-starred in every weekly series, radio or television, she had done since the 1940s.
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