Gale Gordon (
February 20,
1906 –
June 30,
1995) was an
American character actor. Remembered best as
Lucille Ball's longtime television foil — and particularly as cantankerously combustible, tightfisted bank executive
Theodore J. Mooney, on Ball's second
television situation comedy,
The Lucy Show — Gordon was just as respected for his earlier career in classic American
radio, where he was once the highest-paid actor in the medium, even though he was never a top-billed radio star.
Radio
Born
Charles T. Aldrich, Jr., in
New York City, the son of British actress Gloria Gordon and her vaudevillian husband Charles Aldrich, Gordon's first big radio break came was the recurring role of Mayor La Trivia on
Fibber McGee and Molly, before playing Rumson Bullard on the show's successful spinoff,
The Great Gildersleeve.