Stuart Gordon, the filmmaker behind such films as From Beyond, Re-Animator and Dagon has died. He was 72.
Born in Chicago, Gordon began his creative life working as a commercial artist, before enrolling at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While he'd wanted to score a place in the film program, he ended up in acting classes and majored in theatre.
The stage would prove to be the driving dynamic of his life outside of his film work, as he founded his first theatre company, the Screw Theater while still studying and after. The work from the company was controversial – Screw's controversial production of Peter Pan saw Gordon and wife Carolyn, arrested for obscenity. Later in life, Gordon would found the Organic Theater Company, and continued to write and direct plays, and spearheaded new work including David Mamet's Sexual Perversity In Chicago. More recently, he directed cannibalism play Taste for Los Angeles-based theatre company Sacred Fools.
While Gordon is best known for his work in horror, he also co-created Honey, I Shrunk The Kids and was an executive producer on Honey, I Blew Up The Kid. Gordon co-wrote 1993's Body Snatchers, wrote and directed Space Truckers and produced and directed a 1998 adaptation of Ray Bradbury's The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit.
Yet it was Lovecraft and tales of terror that he'll be truly known for on the big screen. Re-Animator, which starred Jeffrey Combs, will forever be his most famous movie (he even adapted the story into a musical in 2011), but his cinematic CV even includes Dolls, Robot Jox and King Of The Ants. Other filmmakers, including Edgar Wright, paid tribute.
Gordon is survived by Carolyn, daughters Suzanna, Jillian and Margaret Gordon, four grandchildren and his brother, David George Gordon.