In Remembrance: Gordon Kay

     Gordon Kay, the producer who oversaw numerous films for both Republic Pictures and Universal, has passed away on March 8, 2005 in Woodland Hills, CA. He was 88.

     Born September 6, 1916 in Montreal, Canada, Kay grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and attended Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. After graduating from Williams College, he worked as a reader and gofer on Broadway before landing a job at Republic Studios.

     By 1947, Kay had worked his way up Republic’s ladder to Associate Producer, with his first producing credit being The Wild Frontier, the first in Republic’s series of westerns starring Allan “Rocky” Lane. He stayed with the series through its first 26 installments, leaving after 1951’s Wells Fargo Gunmaster.

     In 1954, Kay helped start a summer stock theatre program in Williamstown, which would eventually develop into the Williamstown Theater Festival.

     Kay returned to motion picture production in 1956 at Universal International. His first assignment was the mystery The Unguarded Moment starring Esther Williams. During his 12-year tenure, Williams produced a total of 18 films for Universal including the thrillers Man Afraid (1957), Twilight Of The Gods (1958) with Rock Hudson and Voice In The Mirror (1958) with Julie London and Walter Matthau and the Tony Randall comedy Fluffy (1965). A majority of Kay’s films at Universal, however, were westerns, including Day Of The Bad Man (1958) with Fred MacMurray and seven with Audie Murphy. His last film was the 1967 war film The Young Warriors.