Gordon Alan Gebert (born October 17, 1941) is a former child actor who is predominantly known for having smaller roles, in such films as Holiday Affair. He later turned away from acting and became an architect and teacher.

Biography

Gebert was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1941. His father, Gordon Gebert, Sr., was a salesman for Freuhauf Trailer Co. and eventually handled Iowa truck and bus fleet sales for Ford Motor Co. He was a "frustrated actor" who performed in theatre productions and plays, but never had a huge break.

In 1946, a boy was needed for a play and Gebert took the role, taking acting lessons through the theatre to be able to play it. In the spring of 1948, near the end of first grade, the family took off for Los Angeles and almost immediately young Gordon found himself performing in a Pasadena Playhouse production of Life With Father. Agent Lola Moore saw and signed him, and he soon had a small part in Come to the Stable.

His break was Holiday Affair in 1949. He appeared with well-known stars and stood out, being written about in editorials and reviews. It got him spots on radio programmes and in television work, such as Cavalcade of America, Gunsmoke and Pursuit. He continued his acting career in The Flame and the Arrow and The Flying Leathernecks, but never passed the part of a son. Eventually, in 1955, he got the role as the World War II hero Audie Murphy as a boy, in To Hell and Back.

His last movie was Summer Love and after a few television appearances, his adult acting career never left the ground. Instead, he found an interest in architecture; he enrolled at UCLA, switched to the University of Southern California and eventually went to MIT for a bachelor's degree. He received his master of architecture degree from Princeton University. He is now a professor of architecture and acting dean at New York's City College Spitzer School of Architecture.

Gebert met Lizabeth Paravisini, a professor of Spanish and Hispanic culture at Vassar College in 1986 while both were waiting for a flight to Cuba, to fill educational speaking engagements. They married and have a son, Gordon Jr. (b. 1992). Gebert has two adult daughters, Carrie and D'Arcy, from his earlier marriage to Phyllis Dereamer.