Vera Gordon

Vera Gordon

Born: June 9, 1886
Died: May 8, 1948
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vera Pogorelsky Gordon (June 11, 1886 - May 8, 1948) was a stage and screen actress.

Vera Pogorelsky was born in Ekaterinoslav, Russia, on June 11, 1886, the daughter of Boris Pogorelsky and Teigan Nemirovsky. She emigrated with her family to the United States when she was seven years old.

Pogorelsky was a child actor but she was fired by the directors of the Shevchenko Imperial Company when they learned she was of Jewish heritage. After immigrating in the United States, Pogorelsky, now Gordon, appeared in smaller theater like The Liberty and The Lyric in New York’s Lower East Side.

In 1916 Gordon went on a tour in England, appearing in vaudeville and theatre. Gordon starred in several motion pictures such as Humoresque and The Cohens and Kellys. She represented the archetypical Jewish mother.

She contributed to newspapers and magazines on marriage and children, and supported Jewish children orphanages. She was a member of Actors' Equity Association, Russian-American Art Club of Los Angeles, Grand Street Boys, New York.

Movies for Vera Gordon...

Abie's Irish Rose
Title: Abie's Irish Rose
Character: Mrs. Cohen
Released: December 27, 1946
Type: Movie
Cultures clash when a Jewish boy wants to marry an Irish girl.
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Stage Door Canteen
Title: Stage Door Canteen
Character: Vera Gordon
Released: June 24, 1943
Type: Movie
A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of the theater and films appear and host a recreational center for servicemen during the war. The soldier meets a pretty young hostess and they enjoy the many entertainers and a growing romance
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The Big Street
Title: The Big Street
Character: Mrs. Lefkowitz
Released: August 13, 1942
Type: Movie
Meek busboy Little Pinks is in love with an extremely selfish showgirl who despises and uses him.
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The Living Ghost
Title: The Living Ghost
Character: Sister Lapidus
Released: August 11, 1942
Type: Movie
A detective investigating kidnapping case discovers the victim, who may be a zombie.
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You and Me
Title: You and Me
Character: Mrs. Lewine
Released: June 1, 1938
Type: Movie
Mr. Morris, the owner of a large metropolitan department store, gives jobs to paroled ex-convicts in an effort to help them reform and go straight. Among his 'employed-prison-graduates' are Helen Roberts and Joe Dennis, working as sales clerks. Joe is in love with Helen and asks her to marry him, but she is forbidden to marry as she is still on parole, but she says yes and they are married. In spite of their poverty-level life, their marriage is a happy one until Joe discovers she has lied about her past, in order to marry him. Disillusioned, he leaves, goes back to his old gang and plans to rob the department store.
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Michael O'Halloran
Title: Michael O'Halloran
Character: Mrs. Levinsky
Released: May 15, 1937
Type: Movie
A wealthy woman's wild lifestyle finally drives her husband to take their two children, move out of the house and file for divorce. Positive she'll lose her children unless she shows the judge that she's changed her wild ways, she takes in two poor street kids, a brother and sister.
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The Cohens and the Kellys in Africa
Title: The Cohens and the Kellys in Africa
Character: Mrs. Cohen
Released: December 21, 1930
Type: Movie
Cohen and Kelly families go to Africa to buy elephant tusks.
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The Cohens and the Kellys in Scotland
Title: The Cohens and the Kellys in Scotland
Character: Mrs. Cohen
Released: March 1, 1930
Type: Movie
The Cohens and the Kellys travel to Scotland to buy plaid in the hopes that a prince will start a new fashion trend.
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Four Walls
Title: Four Walls
Character: Benny's Mother
Released: August 11, 1928
Type: Movie
After completing his prison sentence for killing a rival gang leader in self-defence, Benny Horowitz decides to go straight.
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The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris
Title: The Cohens and the Kellys in Paris
Released: January 15, 1928
Type: Movie
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An Affair of the Follies
Title: An Affair of the Follies
Released: February 13, 1927
Type: Movie
Young husband Jerry, a clerk, loses his job, and in order to bring money into the house, his wife Tamara goes back to her old job as a dancer in the Follies. The husband doesn't like the idea at all, and they wind up separating. One night the clerk and his friend, an inventor, are dining at a restaurant, and the inventor is lamenting that he has a great invention but can't get in to see a millionaire named Hammersley in order get get financial backing. They don't know that Hammersley happens to be sitting at the next table. The three strike up a conversation and become friends. However, there's another thing Jerry also doesn't know--Hammersley is in love with Tamara and, in fact, she is going to his house that night to see him.
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Private Izzy Murphy
Title: Private Izzy Murphy
Character: Sara Goldberg
Released: October 30, 1926
Type: Movie
Isadore "Izzy" Goldberg changes his name to I. Patrick Murphy because his store is in an Irish-neighborhood in New York City. He meets Eileen Cohannigan, the daughter of a meat-packer, and he tells her he is Irish and a romance begins. When America enters World War I, "Izzy" enlists, is sent to France, and is wounded while engaged in a heroic rescue during a big battle. While recovering in an overseas hospital, he writes Eileen and tells her he is Jewish and not Irish. Returning home, he is parading with his regiment and he sees Eileen with Robert O'Malley, his old rival. He thinks she has thrown him over because he is Jewish. An Irish lodge comes to bestow an honor on the man they think is Patrick Murphy, an Irish hero. But O'Malley tells them his real name is Goldberg. But Eileen tels him it is he she loves, and they head for the marriage-license bureau.
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Millionaires
Title: Millionaires
Character: Esther Rubens
Released: October 1, 1926
Type: Movie
Meyer Rubens and his wife, Esther, own a pressing-shop in New York's Lower East Side. Esther wants to move on up to the Upper West Side. She has a rich sister, Reba, who persuades Meyer to invest in the worthless oil stock sold by her husband. The stock proves to be not worthless and Meyer and Esther become overnight millionaires. But Reba thinks Meyer, who has no taste for high society, is holding her sister back socially, so she devises some schemes that involve catching Meyer in a compromising situation with other women, so her sister can file for a divorce.
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Kosher Kitty Kelly
Title: Kosher Kitty Kelly
Character: Mrs. Feinbaum
Released: September 5, 1926
Type: Movie
The story is a variation on the Abie's Irish Rose theme, detailing the marriage between an Irish Catholic and a Jew.
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Sweet Daddies
Title: Sweet Daddies
Character: Rose Finklebaum
Released: June 12, 1926
Type: Movie
Stage comedian Patrick O'Brien is fired from his job because of his drinking celebration of his son, Jimmy, graduating from college. After the show he meets his son on a cabaret and there meets Abel Finklestein and his daughter, Miriam, and the two fathers form a business alliance, suspected of being bootlegging. They are arrested but are released after it is found they were importing molasses - but Miriam has to promise to marry Sam Berkowitz to secure the release. Jimmy and both fathers are unhappy with this turn of events.
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The Cohens and Kellys
Title: The Cohens and Kellys
Character: Mrs. Cohen
Released: February 28, 1926
Type: Movie
Jacob Cohen, who owns a dry goods store, and Patrick Kelly, an Irish cop, are constantly at loggerheads, feuding over anything and everything. Kelly's son, Tim, and Cohen's daughter, Nannie, fall in love despite the bickering of their parents; when they cannot get parental consent for their marriage, they secretly wed.
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In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter
Title: In Hollywood with Potash and Perlmutter
Character: Rosie Potash
Released: September 28, 1924
Type: Movie
A sequel of sorts, the Jewish ethnic comedy characters of Potash and Perlmutter return from their 1923 debut film, also produced by Goldwyn, but with a different actor for Potash.
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Potash and Perlmutter
Title: Potash and Perlmutter
Character: Rosie Potash
Released: September 10, 1923
Type: Movie
The film is based on an ethnic Jewish comedy with characters created by Montague Glass and Charles Klein.
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The Good Provider
Title: The Good Provider
Released: April 2, 1922
Type: Movie
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Your Best Friend
Title: Your Best Friend
Character: Mrs. Esther Meyers
Released: March 26, 1922
Type: Movie
A Jewish mother in New York finds herself at odds with her son's new wife, a pretty Gentile girl.
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The Greatest Love
Title: The Greatest Love
Character: Mrs. Lantini
Released: December 1, 1920
Type: Movie
Director Henry Kolker's silent romantic melodrama starred Vera Gordon, who was billed as "The 'Mother' of 'Humoresque'", Bertram Marburgh, Yvonne Shelton, Hugh Huntley, and William H. Tooker
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Humoresque
Title: Humoresque
Character: Mama Kantor
Released: May 29, 1920
Type: Movie
Young Leon Kanter dreams of being a great violinist. His parents scrape up the money for a violin and for lessons, and Leon rewards them by becoming a great player. But as an adult, Leon finds that people want more from him than just music.