Gordon Douglas; Directed ‘Our Gang’ Films

Gordon Douglas, whose directing credits began with the spirited charm of the “Our Gang” kids and spanned eloquent melodramas and pedestrian comedies, is dead.

Douglas, who won an Academy Award for “Bored of Education,” a 1936 one-reel short subject that was among his 30 “Our Gang” films, was 85 when he died Wednesday in a Los Angeles convalescent home.

He had been in failing health, his wife, Julia Mock-Douglas, said Friday.

As a boy in New York City, he acted in some early films directed by Broadway matinee idol Maurice Costello.

From there, the man who would someday direct “Come Fill the Cup,” “Yellowstone Kelly” and “Rio Conchos” moved to Los Angeles, where he was hired at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a bookkeeper before going to work for Hal Roach as an actor.

After acting in the comedy series “The Boy Friends,” Douglas was promoted to director of such late 1930s “Our Gang” shorts as “Hearts Are Thumps,” “Three Smart Boys” and “Rushin’ Ballet.”

Douglas began directing feature films in 1940 with the Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy comedy “Saps at Sea.”

He collaborated on the “Topper” film series and in the 1950s and 1960s directed more than two dozen pictures, including “Kiss Tomorrow Goodby” with James Cagney, “Mara Maru” with Errol Flynn and “So This Is Love.”

His final film, his wife said, was “Viva Knievel!,” based on the life of daredevil Evel Knievel and released in 1977.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Gary Douglas, a daughter, Cathie Graham, and a grandson.

There will be no services, at his request. The family asks that contributions in his name be made to the Motion Picture and Television Fund or the City of Hope.