Gordon Hessler was born on 12 December 1925 in Berlin, Germany. Lucky for him, he grew up in England. He lived there most of his life.
He was a notable director in both film and television. But we are most interested in his work for American International Pictures.
Hessler started his career as a story reader for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He leveraged this to get his first directing job for the episode “Final Arrangements.” It starred Martin Balsam and Vivian Nathan. He was associate producer when the show morphed into The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. After this, he directed two feature films and produced some TV.
He got a big break with AIP in early 1969. Michael Reeves was in pre-production for The Oblong Box. But he died from an accidental overdose of barbiturates. So AIP hired Gordon Hessler to direct and produce the film.
Hessler went on to direct three more AIP films: Scream and Scream Again, Cry of the Banshee, and Murders in the Rue Morgue. He then bounced around a bit. This culminated in his biggest film, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. It is a thankless job to direct a Ray Harryhausen film. But Hessler did a great job — showing off his usual distinct visual style.
He could have continued to direct theatrical releases. But he chose to go back into TV. He directed numerous TV movies as well as episodes of iconic TV series like Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Kung Fu, Hawaii Five-O, Wonder Woman, and CHiPs.
Let’s celebrate Gordon Hessler’s 100th birthday by watching his most psychotronic film, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.
Gordon Hessler via Mémoires de Guerre via Fair Use.