Flora M. Gordon

While she kept busy doing things she liked, Flora lamented in 2012 that she would wake up every morning with Susan on her mind. She said to me, "In my heart I still feel she will be home to visit again. No doubt it will be me visiting her. . . in heaven.

(Susan Lynn Gordon Aviner passed away on December 11, 2011. )At the age of 90, Flora remained active and continually participated in social activities with her long-time partner, William "Billy" Martin of Los Angeles.

Traveled with daughter Susan Gordon to the Library of Congress in 2007 to view Susan's TV performance of Miracle on 34th Street (1959) for the first time. Flora had been in the TV studio in NYC with Susan the one time it aired live on NBC in November 1959.

Contributed to the commentary track for a 2003-released DVD of Beginning of the End (1957).

She was co-producer and unit production manager of an important 1985 film drama based on the horrific effects of Alzheimer's Disease: There Were Times, Dear (1985). The film aired on PBS stations and helped to raise a few million dollars for Alzheimer's research. Working on these projects gave Flora Lang the opportunity to continue to make inroads as a trailblazer for women working in film and TV production.

Flora Lang went on to work in numerous production roles on films, and as a unit production manager (UPM) on the television series Dynasty (1981). By the end of her 4-season stint, the show had risen to #1 in the Nielsen TV ratings.

Flora Lang was one of the first women to be accepted as a member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and she was one of the founding members of the DGA Women's Committee in 1979.

(They divorced in 1979. ) Despite often working on shoestring budgets, the couple managed to create films which had giants and giant creatures terrorizing seemingly overmatched humans. The many interesting effects were created using miniatures, mattes, split screens, rear projections, and oversized props. Flora worked as production coordinator on two of the finest Bert I.

She worked as production manager on: The Great Smokey Roadblock (1977), a comedy "road film" starring Henry Fonda and featuring Susan Sarandon; and When I Am King (1981), a fantasy film loosely based on a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.

Flora's work as both assistant director and unit production manager (UPM) included: Dogs (1976), a truly terrifying horror film; The Food of the Gods (1976), a horror film based on a story by H. G.

Wells; and Acapulco Gold (1976), a satirical action-comedy film about an inept drug-smuggling ring.

Gordon productions, neither of which included their trademark giant creatures: the horror film Picture Mommy Dead (1966), and the police crime drama The Police Connection (1973), before setting out to establish herself beyond the realm of her husband's productions.

Her younger sister, Sylvia, passed away in 1963, at the age of 36; Flora was outlived by her older sister, Rose Jean.

When her daughters were children, the family had a dog named Champ and (later) a monkey named Tammy. Also, the Gordon family went on camping trips to Lake Cachuma in California. (Source: Barbara Badham's 1960/1961 Susan Gordon Fan Club Journal).

From 1955 through 1976, Flora contributed to the production of most of the first 17 films directed by her husband, Bert I. Gordon.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Flora was devoted to raising her daughters (Carol, Susan and Patricia) in a picturesque residential section of West Los Angeles. All three daughters would later demonstrate entrepreneurial vision in their chosen career endeavors and each pursued a passion for one (or more) of the creative arts of painting, photography, graphic arts, writing, music and acting. With Flora's guidance, her daughter Susan Gordon had a great deal of success as a child actress as she was cast in many movie and TV roles by directors of the ilk of Alfred Hitchcock, Rod Serling, Melville Shavelson, and Michael Curtiz. Flora Lang's 6 grandchildren (Hana, Ariel, Shira, Eitan, Lilly and Yair) and 11 great-grandchildren were a tremendous source of pride and joy for her, and are a living tribute to her daughter Susan's life.

Paul Central High School in 1942, then attended the University of Minnesota and the University of Southern California (USC).

Flora M. Lang (aka Flora M. Gordon) was born March 24, 1925, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Flora and her two sisters, Rose Jean and Sylvia, were raised in St. Paul by their parents, Harry and Lillian Lang. She graduated from St.