:dance: gale gordon is a fantastic actor the way he gets stressed and angry it is probably the best bit of acting i've seen even when i thought a section was adlibbed he didn't miss a beat :clap :clap :clap

I agree. Gale is one of the best actors that I have seen. I enjoy watching his work in both Here's Lucy and The Lucy Show. It's too bad that his work is not shown often anymore and he's an underrated actor. What a shame. One good talent going down the tubes literally. :(

He was actually nominated for an Emmy for his role as Uncle Harry on this show in 1970-71, but lost the bid to Ed Asner for MTM. Not that Ed isn't a good actor, but I personally think Gale was robbed of the Emmy he so deserved. He very obviously put lots of heart, effort, and charisma into his roles on Lucy's shows. Whether he was playing Mr. Littlefield, Mr. Mooney, or Uncle Harry, he was always a thorough professional and wonderful actor, and it's a shame he wasn't more readily recognized and applauded for his work...:(

Great actor, and it's a shame that more don't appreciate what he brought to Lucy's show.

Yeah, he brought two things to the show, YELLING AND SCREAMING, i think he never won an Emmy because his character was so one dimensional. Even HE admitted that his slow burn never had anywhere to go because he did it too harsh too fast. BUT, although i hated him yelling at my Lucy all those years, i am madly in love with his character now, i see those shows now and see what Burton meant when he said he could have done the classics, he was an excellent actor and especially on the later Here's Lucy where he was allowed to show another side to his gruff character, like when Lucy was in the wheelchair, or when he showed some other rare moments of compassion, well, like i said, i LOVE their interaction.

Gale was brilliant, there is no way around that. Just like vivian, when he played a scene. Like Lucy said about Vivan "she played everything with such truth." IMO, same applies to Gale, watch him, I can't really put it into words, but watch him and you'll see it.

Lucy was very fortunate to work with both Viv and Gale. Then again, they were both damn fortunate to work with Lucille Ball.

Exactly, Lucy sang both their praises for years, she had been around long enough and KNEW talent when she saw it, she only did the last series because she got HIM to star in it with her, even the writers did not want him anymore, and how could the public warm up to a man who was never given a chance to show all of what he was capable of doing?

Umm, I have to disagree a little...while it's true that Lucy was constantly praising and speaking of her close friendship with Viv, she rarely went out of her way to do the same for Gale. I own just about every Lucy book there is, and none of them really quote her saying anything about Gale. There's the occasional "Gale's still around..God bless 'im", but Lucille did not give him the same kind of public merit she consistently gave to Vivian. While there's no one like Vivian Vance, the fact of the matter is, Gale is technically the one who worked with Lucy the longest. He was with her from 1963-74 and again in 1986. Viv was at Lucy's side for years, but it was Gale who was there the longest and most continually, yet he really wasn't recognized by Lucille or the public as having been that. Same with Mary Jane Croft. She appeared on the shows for years, but Lucille never said a word about her and all she got was a "With" billing in the end credits, like she's just some sort of background support...I just find it to be a little unfair...:o

BTW, That Other Fan, when did she say that about Viv? I don't really recall having heard that...

Let me quote Lucy to you, Gale is my Rock and i never would have done the show without him and so on, many many times she sang his praises which is why we hate the Lucy books, they never focus on anything after I Love Lucy, if they did, you would hear her sing his praises a lot! Anybody that starred with her had an uphill battle anyway, to be second banana to the Queen means people rarely notice you in the first place. And the writers did not focus on Gale or Mary Jane because people tuned in to see Lucy, the others were just a great fringe benefit.

I agree Gale Gordon is COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL