Gordon Hessler(1925-2014)
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Gordon Hessler was born in Germany, the son of a Danish mother and an
English father. Educated in England, he moved to the US while in his
late teens and spent several years working in documentaries. At
Universal, "I guess because I had an English accent", Hessler was
placed under contract to
Alfred Hitchcock and went to
work on the master director's TV series
Alfred Hitchcock présente (1955)
and
Suspicion (1962),
climbing the ladder from story reader to associate producer and finally
to producer in the series' final year. A novelette rejected for the
show became the basis for
Catacombs (1965), Hessler's first
feature film as director. When production of the AIP
Edgar Allan Poe series was
shifted to Britain, Hessler collaborated with producer
Louis M. Heyward and horror enthusiast/
screenwriter Christopher Wicking on
three Poe films and on the sci-fi shocker
Lâchez les monstres (1970).
Carrying on in the fantasy field, he also directed the
Ray Harryhausen stop-motion swashbuckler
Le voyage fantastique de Sinbad (1973)
and additional small-screen suspensers like the
Psychose (1960)-inspired
Scream, Pretty Peggy (1973)
with Bette Davis.
