Part 2

Q: You've worked with a large variety of directors on the spaghetti western front. Mario Pinzauti (LET'S GO AND KILL SARTANA '71), Gianni Crea (SEVEN DEVILS ON HORSEBACK '70, THE MAGNIFICENT WEST '71), Giuliano Carnimeo (I AM SARTANA, YOUR ANGEL OF DEATH '69), Alfonso Brescia (CRY OF DEATH '68), Aldo Florio (ALL ON THE RED '68), and Giorgio Stegani (BEYOND THE LAW '67) are all directors you've done films for from this genre. More than any spaghetti western director, you've worked with Demofilo Fidani on a number of films, including COFFIN FULL OF DOLLARS (1970), STRANGER THAT KNEELS BESIDE THE SHADOW OF A CORPSE (1970), DJANGO AND SARTANA ARE COMING...IT'S THE END (1970), LOBO THE BASTARD (1971), and BALLAD OF DJANGO (1971), Why did you choose to do films with Fidani so often? Was he a good director to get along with?

GORDON: Well to be very truthful with you I worked with him on a couple of other films, but I built a film studio in Rome and I did things people couldn't believe that I did, because no one would think. Here's a stupid American making a film studio. To have a film studio you have to have all kinds of stuff according to the laws of the Italian government. And you must work in Italian film city or laboratories that is recognized by the government and you have to come up to all the rules and regulations, and la, la, and nobody did think I could do it. Well to make the story short, I did it. You come work in my studio, you will get your money from the government. I mean they give you a percent of your money loans. You work in one of the studios recognized by the government. Well, Fidani was my first customer, and he made many, many westerns with me up in my studios, up there in Rome. And that's why I did it, because he kept working (laughs) and doing the films. I would say he was very, very original and he knew how to take parts from one film and put them onto another one, and another one, another one, and another one. Basically that was the reason I worked so much, because he'd do a lot more films in my production place than most of the other studios.

Q: While we're at it, how did you enjoy working with the great Klaus Kinski on COFFIN FULL OF DOLLARS?

GORDON: That was in my film studio when I was doing COFFIN FULL OF DOLLARS. A lot of people don't like him but I liked him in a sense he knew what he was doing. I mean as an actor. In his private life I don't care about what he did or didn't do, but as an actor he was very well prepared and that I can say for him. He was very well prepared.

Q: Of all of the directors you've worked with over the years, who's work and dedication did you respect the most?

GORDON: Well, see I did films with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando, REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE, with John Huston directing. But these guys have big names. I mean they all liked me, I liked them. Ah, Fellini as far as my Italian ones. I did SATYRICON . I knew him for years and years before, I knew him for, well almost ten years before I did SATYRICON for him. And I had a wonderful relationship with him. I could almost do anything I wanted to because he knew what I was doing because almost all directors, I won't ever tell them, I won't do this, I won't do that. I say here's an idea, if you want it OK we're still friends. So I wasn't getting along very well with him. And probably the people who made it more, you respected more, like Fellini or Huston. Actually there was not too many directors...I mean almost all the directors I've worked with I get along with very well. I liked them, I did my work. For me it was doing the scene and I find have a good relationship with a lot of these directors, you'll be working with them again. And this is a lot of the problems with a lot of the guys that don't work because they think of the big time and they make problems. I never made problems for a production. I was there before even the workmen got there and ready to go to work.

Q: In 1968 you starred in an early Ruggero Deodato film called PHENOMENAL AND THE TREASURE OF TUTANKAMEN, along side Mario Parenti, Lucretia Love, and John Karlsen. What are your memories of working with Deodato in his pre-CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST days?

GORDON: Well, I liked the film because I had been in Egypt before working at the pyramids, SON OF THE SHEIK. And I know Parenti was producing something. This film he worked as an actor and he put his wife in with it, and John. They got the story across as much as they could but it was a low-budget film and they got it done. But a lot of these films I've never seen them. You ask me something, you know, I've only seen a fraction of the films I ever did. I just did them and walked away. I had no idea. Only about 1990 I started looking up and I didn't realize I had done so many films. Because I was you know, making one or two films a day just sitting in my own studio. So I was working as a guest star in all of these films (laughs). One minute I'd be on a bulldozer, the next minute I'd get off and put my pistol on and jump off and become a cowboy in a scene and get off and get back on a bulldozer.

Q: In 1974 you ventured away from Italy to shoot a film in Hong Kong called LITTLE GODFATHER FROM HONG KONG. How did this role come about and how was the experience different for you?

GORDON: No, all these films were shot in Rome. LITTLE GODFATHER FROM HONG KONG was all made around in Rome or the scenes were made to look like they were some other city but I made all these films with the productions.

Q: Disaster films were all the rage at one point in the seventies and as with everything else, the Italians caught on to the trend. One of these was the Mircea Dragan Italian/Romanian co-production THE BILLION DOLLAR FIRE in which you appeared. Any fond memories of shooting this film along side veterans like your old friend Tony Kendall, Ray Milland, Stuart Whitman, Woody Strode, and William Berger? Seems like a fun cast.

GORDON: I did this and this film we had to go to Romania because all my friends I knew, actually can't think of his name right now (laughs). He still lives in Rome, he's married to a woman judge there. And another friend of mine, Yon Maller, they're all from Romania, I knew them all. And of course, Tony Kendall started his first film with me in BRENNO, THE ENEMY OF ROME. And Ray Milland...Stuart Whitman I knew, Ray I didn't know. Woody Strode, I was good friends with him the whole time, and Bill Berger of course, we're all good friends. And I had a lot of fun there, I actually went around, I really didn't have too much to do in the film because I was ah, running around swimming at the beach, having a good time with all the Swedish girls there. The film was not much of anything I don't think. I never did see it (laughs). And they were very strict by the way. Now I can give you an idea about Romania. Here this is the mid 70's and I meet this beautiful Swedish girl and the next day I was leaving I told her, because I was going back to Rome. I was finished and had to do another film back in Rome. I took her to a club, and in the club you have to have dollars. They only want Americans with money there. Then after a while we were on the beach making love and she lived right across the street from the other hotel and that was my hotel. And the police arrested us and they were going to throw me in jail because I was fooling around with a Romanian girl. I said look at her passport she's Swedish and she can do what she wants. But this is how they were. When we did scenes on that picture, the Romanian extras had to mix with us. When the scene was over they had to move over to the right and we kept to the left. That's how screwed up they were. I don't like telling many stupid stories like that, but anyway.

Q: Throughout the eighties you appeared in various obscure films of all shapes and sizes. HOLOCAUST 2: THE EXPERIMENT (1980), Joe D'Amato's ENDGAME (1983), WHITE FIRE (1984), the Fabrizio De Angelis film COBRA MISSION (1985), SHE (1985), Mino Guerrini's last film THE MINES OF KILIMANJARO (1987), CROSS OF THE SEVEN JEWELS (1987), and the highly sought after Sergio Bergonzelli film BLOOD DELIRIUM (1988) are just some of these. Are there any lesser known films from your filmography that you find underrated?

GORDON: BLOOD DELIRIUM was one of the weirdest films I ever...I liked it because (laughs), I'm in love with this girl, I kill her, and then I'm told to throw the body parts to the dogs, and I start to throw her heart in there, and then I love her so much I start crying and I start eating her heart. (laughs) I thought that was one of the best scenes I ever did. And they cut it out because it was too far out. MINES OF KILIMANJARO could have been a lot better, but anyway. It was wonderful to work right there at the foot, at the bottom of Kilimanjaro was incredible there. And the film SHE, they got mixed up in there too. The girl was the lead and they try to make her...the girl could never do all the stuff they wanted her to do and I tried to explain it. COBRA MISSION, the De Angelis film, it was alright. WHITE FIRE, the ENDGAME, all of them, they got lost in a lot of it. I love them all.

Q: While I'm on the subject, why was CROSS OF THE SEVEN JEWELS never released theatrically? I'm not only a big fan of yours but of the lovely Annie Belle also who starred with you in this. Why did the film never receive proper distribution?

GORDON: I don't know if it was ever released (laughs), I just know it was a really weird, weird film. He (Marco Andolfi) made money making films in directing and producing so I helped him out with this film because I thought it was so weird being a devil. I've played gods and played Moses...and Moses, but now I played the devil (laughs).

Q: Recently you did a film for director and well known Italian movie buff Mike Martinez. Mike is well respected among collectors and enthusiasts for his knowledge of European cult cinema and is a good friend among several of us at the Mobius Home Video Forum. How did you enjoy working with Mike on AN ENRAGED NEW WORLD (2002)?

GORDON: Yeah, these are the kids that helped me out at school. They're from Alaska or UFC. I did the film for them then helped them sell it, an ah, if I can help the kids out, you know being young directors and producers, I'll help them out because they're in school.

Q: Why did you prefer to do films in Europe rather than North America?

GORDON: Well they had me here and they never got me. They checked me out in Rome and they liked me, and they would never let me go. All over Europe they liked me and they kept me doing their films. I never did work as a lead in any films here, so that's the way it goes.

Q: How did it feel to win the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award at the 4th Annual LAIFA Awards in L.A.?

GORDON: Of course, it was wonderful to have my Lifetime Achievement Award with the Italian government. It was really nice.

Q: Was there ever a time when Gordon Mitchell just wanted to walk away from it all?

GORDON: No, I never (laughs)...It's all a part of what you want to do. Either doing something or doing nothing. And I think it's very, very important, just like what you're doing, is keep yourself busy, you know, life is very short. You find most people at 65, most who make it to 65, get their pension and then all of the sudden, after working 65 years, or 40 years, or whatever it happens to be, they have nothing to do and they get bored. And they get bored and the brain stops. So you've got to keep yourself busy. I don't care if you're 100 years old, keep moving as long as you can. And that's why I love the business, and now I'm painting, and abstracts, and I love it. I'm mixing them together, abstracts, and my film, this film I'm making now called KILLER MUSIC, that's right.

Q: On a final note, what advice would you give to someone trying to break into the acting business?

GORDON: Well, some people have a lot of luck and some people don't, but you have to be prepared. I think the most important thing most people think back, and maybe you know something about sports or that you know how to even type or write...the more things you can do. The computers or whatever you do. Just being an actor, saying some words means nothing. You've got to be expressive, the people gotta believe what you're saying, but have a thing. Can you swim, can you run, can you jump? You have to have a car. I mean there's a million things. If you can play a harmonica, or play accordion. More and more things you can do, not great but enough to pass. Or you can always fake it out a little bit with you, but do it. But just try not to be the big actor. Don't try to act, just be yourself and try to make the scene what you would think. If you feel bad, you try to be the bad that you feel. Don't try to act some other actor out like a lot of people do. What I can say is keep your health, take care of your health, all of you guys that are gonna try and be in the film business, or in front of the camera, behind the camera. Take care of your health, keep yourself busy, and don't think that you're God's gift to the film business. Just do your work, and the people that have made it, let them make it, and you make it your own way. Anything in my life I wanted to do it because I did it, I won't say the hard way, but at least I did it. I went to high school, I went to University, I did everything, I didn't get great grades but I did it. I learned how to do a lot of things my way. You kids learn how to be good in gymnastics, learn how to run and jump, tumble because if you want to be a good actor you've got to do a lot of rolling in front of the camera and running. They can't just put you in the front and have some back up or double doing your stuff. Try to be more you then just another face on that wall.

Once again thank you for everything Gordon. You are a true film icon and we appreciate everything you've done.

GORDON: I say God bless all of you. Thank you very much.

Interview conducted with Gordon Mitchell by Devin Kelly (Cinema Nocturna staff writer) on August 12, 2002