Gordon Harker's lugubrious features graced British cinema for over 30 years. As star or featured player he was rarely anything other than a Cockney crook, landlord or copper but he never seemed to mind the typecasting.
He was born into a theatrical family. His grandmother was an actress and his father was a renowned scene painter. Harker and his brothers joined the family scene-painting business but Gordon had the urge to tread the boards as a player. He first took to the stage in 1903 for a walk on in Ellen Terry's Much Ado About Nothing. For the next decade he did bits and bobs until war broke out. He served with the 8th Hampshires at Gallipoli and Palestine. He was wounded in 1917 which left him with a limp and when he was invalided out of the army he resumed his theatrical career.
The play that catapulted him to fame was Edgar Wallace's The Ringer. Harker was recommended by Nigel Bruce to the director Gerald du Maurier who was looking for a Cockney to play one of the featured characters. The play was a hit and Harker was a big factor in its success. Wallace was to write several more plays with roles for Harker.
Now cinema came calling. He had made one minor film before, General John Regan, but The Ring was an important production from rising director Alfred Hitchcock and Harker had a showy role as a boxer's second. From this point on, Harker was never far down the cast list of his films.
His next two were also by Hitchcock and when sound arrived he appeared in Hitchcock's segment of Elstree Calling (by far the worst part of the film). 1930s cinema took to the works of Edgar Wallace with enthusiasm, and Harker benefitted hugely from this craze. In common with many other actors of this period, he continued his stage work while filming. As well as his Edgar Wallace successes he brought other stage roles to the screen such as in The Phantom Light and Warn That Man. Perhaps his biggest stage success was Acacia Avenue (filmed as 29 Acacia Avenue)
His career was cut short by a fall in 1958, but he left behind a solid legacy as one of the great character actors in British cinema.
| 1921 | General John Regan |
| 1927 | The Ring |
| 1928 | The Farmer's Wife |
| 1928 | Champagne |
| 1929 | The Return of the Rat |
| 1929 | The Flying Scotsman |
| 1929 | The Crooked Billet |
| 1929 | Taxi for Two |
| 1929 | The Wrecker |
| 1930 | Elstree Calling |
| 1930 | All Riot on the Western Front |
| 1930 | The W Plan |
| 1930 | The Squeaker |
| 1930 | Escape! |
| 1931 | Third Time Lucky |
| 1931 | The Sport of Kings |
| 1931 | The Gaunt Stranger |
| 1931 | The Man they Couldn't Arrest |
| 1931 | Bachelor's Folly |
| 1931 | The Stronger Sex |
| 1931 | The Professional Guest |
| 1931 | Shadows |
| 1932 | Condemned to Death |
| 1932 | Whiteface |
| 1932 | Love on Wheels |
| 1932 | Rome Express |
| 1932 | The Lucky Number |
| 1933 | Friday the Thirteenth |
| 1933 | This is the Life |
| 1933 | Britannia of Billingsgate |
| 1934 | My Old Dutch |
| 1934 | Road House |
| 1934 | Dirty Work |
| 1935 | The Lad |
| 1935 | Squibs |
| 1935 | Admirals All |
| 1935 | Boys Will Be Boys |
| 1935 | The Phantom Light |
| 1935 | Hyde Park Corner |
| 1936 | The Amateur Gentleman |
| 1936 | Wolf's Clothing |
| 1936 | Two's Company |
| 1936 | The Story of Papworth |
| 1937 | Beauty and the Barge |
| 1937 | The Frog |
| 1937 | Millions |
| 1938 | No Parking |
| 1938 | Return of the Frog |
| 1938 | Lightning Conductor |
| 1938 | Blondes for Danger |
| 1938 | Inspector Hornleigh |
| 1939 | Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday |
| 1940 | Saloon Bar |
| 1940 | Channel Incident |
| 1941 | Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It |
| 1941 | Once a Crook |
| 1943 | Warn That Man |
| 1945 | 29 Acacia Avenue |
| 1948 | Things Happen By Night |
| 1950 | The Second Mate |
| 1950 | Her Favourite Husband |
| 1952 | Derby Day |
| 1954 | Bang! You're Dead |
| 1955 | Out of the Clouds |
| 1956 | A Touch of the Sun |
| 1957 | Small Hotel |
| 1959 | Left Right and Centre |
