Spoiler : Gale Gordon was famous for the "slow burn" where he would speak in calm tones then explode in anger much to the laughter of the audience. I loved him in "I Love Lucy" and his radio appearances are also great.

Spoiler : A master of the "slow burn," Gordon was heard battling blowhards on radio's Fibber McGee and Molly and The Great Gildersleeve. However, he is perhaps best known as blustery Madison High School principal Osgood Conklin on Our Miss Brooks.

Spoiler : One of my favorites!

Spoiler : Gale Gordon (born Charles Thomas Aldrich, Jr., February 20, 1906 – June 30, 1995) died 22 years ago today at the age of 89. Perhaps best remembered 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 also had starring roles in Ball's third series Here's Lucy and her short-lived fourth and final series Life with Lucy. He is remembered for his role as school principal Osgood Conklin in the early 1950s television hit show "Our Miss Brooks," starring Eve Arden. Gordon was also a respected and beloved radio actor. The widely acknowledged master of the "slow-burn" temper explosion in character, Gordon was the first pick to play Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy, but he was committed to Our Miss Brooks and declined the offer in favor of William Frawley. He appeared in three guest shots on the show: twice as Ricky Ricardo's boss, Alvin Littlefield, owner of the Tropicana Club where Ricky's band played, and later as a judge on a Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour episode. In 1958, he appeared as a regular in the role of department store co-owner Bascomb Bleacher, Sr., on the NBC sitcom Sally, starring Joan Caulfield and Marion Lorne. He also appeared on the Walter Brennan ABC sitcom, The Real McCoys. Gordon had a co-starring role in the CBS television comedy Pete and Gladys. At this time, he guest starred with Pat O'Brien in the ABC sitcom, Harrigan and Son, the story of a father-and-son lawyer team. He also appeared on the CBS/Desilu sitcom, Angel, with Annie Fargé. On The Danny Thomas Show, he guest starred in seven episodes. In five, he played the landlord of the building where the Williams family. In 1962, Gordon appeared as different characters on two episodes of another ABC sitcom, The Donna Reed Show. In 1962, Ball created The Lucy Show and planned to hire Gordon to play Theodore J. Mooney, the banker who was first Lucy Carmichael's executor and subsequently her employer, when she went to work in his bank. Gordon was under contract to play John Wilson (after the death of Joseph Kearns, who played George Wilson) on Dennis the Menace. Prior to Gordon's replacing Kearns on Dennis the Menace, the two had worked together on an old radio show, The Cinnamon Bear. When Dennis the Menace ended in spring 1963, Gordon joined The Lucy Show as Mr. Mooney for the 1963-64 season. (In the interim, Charles Lane played the similar Mr. Barnsdahl character for the 1962-1963 season.) The somewhat portly Gordon was adept at physical comedy and could do a perfect cartwheel. He did this on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy, and again as a guest on The Dean Martin Show. After the sale of Desilu Studios, Ball shut down The Lucy Show in 1968 and retooled it into Here's Lucy and became her own producer and distributor. She used Gordon again, this time as her irascible boss (and brother-in-law) Harrison Otis 'Uncle Harry' Carter at an employment agency that specialized in unusual jobs for unusual people. It was really that the Lucy Carmichael/Mr. Mooney relationship continued with new names and a new setting. Gordon had all but retired when Here's Lucy ended (he reprised the Mr. Mooney role in the first episode of Hi Honey, I'm Home!), but in the 1980s he came out of retirement to join Ball for the short-lived Life With Lucy. When Lucille Ball ended her career, Gordon was the only actor to have co-starred or guest-starred in every weekly series, radio or television, she had done since the 1940s. Beginning in 1949, Gordon and his wife lived in the tiny community of Borrego Springs, California (pop. 1,500) where he had a ranch and seven dogs. He was also honorary mayor of the town and commuted approximately 160 mi (260 km) to Los Angeles every day when working for Ball. Gordon died of lung cancer on June 30, 1995, at the Redwood Terrace Health Center in Escondido, California, aged 89. Virginia Curley, his wife of nearly 60 years, had died in the same facility one month earlier. The marriage was childless. Gordon was survived by a sister.

Spoiler : Gale Gordon is one of my favorites he was the only one who could not only match up to Lucille Ball but sometimes outshone her

Spoiler : Gordon, Gale (birth name was Charles T. Aldrich, Jr.) Born in New York City 2/2/1906; died 6/30/1995 of cancer at the Escondido, California Redwood Terrace Health Center. Son of actress Gloria Gordon. Married to actress Virginia Curley (1940- 1995 her death, a few weeks prior to his death). Screen debut in Here We Go Again (1942). Last movie was The Burbs (1989).

Spoiler : Cecil Clayton on the transcribed syndicated radio version of Tarzan (1932-1934). Flash Gordon on the 1935 syndicated transcribed Hearst newspapers radio program. Paradine (the master spy) on Stories Of The Black Chamber for NBC-Radio (1935). Leading man on Irene Rich Dramas for NBC-BLUE (1935-1936). District Attorney Miller on Big Town for CBS-Radio (1937-1942). Weary Willie the Stork and the Ostrich on The Cinnamon Bear, a 1937 syndi- cated radio program that is still broadcast yearly on some stations. Mr. Bullhammer on The Joe E. Brown Show for CBS-Radio (1938-1939). Doctor James Petrie on the transcribed syndicated radio program, Fu Manchu (1939). Mayor LaTrivia on Fibber McGee And Molly for NBC-Radio (1941-1947, again beginning in 1948 except for time Gordon served in the U.S. Coast Guard during WWII); Foggy Williams the weatherman on the program (1947-1948). The Whistler on the CBS-Radio program in 1942. Rumson Bullard on The Great Gildersleeve for NBC-Radio (1945-52). One of two actors to play Jonathan Trimble on Jonathan Trimble, Esquire for Mutual-Radio (1946). Gregory Hood on Case Book Of Gregory Hood for Mutual-Radio (1946-1948). Father Leahy on Johnny Modero: Pier 23 for Mutual-Radio (1947). Harry Graves on Junior Miss for CBS-Radio (1948-1950, again 1952-1954). Mr. Scott (representing Rexall Drug Company) on The Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show for NBC-Radio (1948-1950). Rudolph Atter- bury on My Favorite Husband for CBS-Radio (1948-1951). Osgood Conklin on Our Miss Brooks for CBS-Radio (1948-1957); CBS-TV (1952-1956). John Granby on Granby's Green Acres for CBS-Radio (1950). Judge Beshomer Grundell on The Penny Singleton Show for NBC-Radio (1950).

Spoiler : Regular performer on radio programs including Orson Welles Theater for CBS (1941-1942); Burns And Allen for NBC and CBS (1942-1950); The Judy Canova Show for CBS and NBC (1943-1953); Mr. and Mrs. Blandings for NBC (1951).

Spoiler : Harvey Box on The Brothers for CBS-TV (1956-58). Bascomb Bleacher, Sr. on Sally for NBC-TV (1957-58). Uncle Paul on Pete And Gladys for CBS-TV (1960-1962). John Wilson on Dennis The Menace for CBS-TV (1962-1963). Theodore J. Mooney and Harrison Otis Carter on The Lucy Show for CBS-TV (1963-1974). Curtis McGibbon on Life With Lucy for ABC-TV (1986). Cameo playing Mr. Mooney on Hi Honey, I'm Home for ABC-TV in 1991.