Carl Gordon, 78, who 40 years ago, nearing midlife and feeling trapped in a series of dispiriting jobs, heeded a surprising call and became a successful character actor on television and the stage, died last Tuesday at his home in Jetersville, Va. The cause was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, his family said.
To TV viewers, he was best known as the patriarch on "Roc," a situation comedy starring Charles S. Dutton about a working-class black family in Baltimore, broadcast on the Fox network for three seasons starting in 1991. In a highly unusual move, Seasons 2 and 3 were televised live, an approach to sitcoms that had been attempted rarely, if at all, since the 1950s. On Broadway, Gordon originated the part of Doaker, the upright uncle in "The Piano Lesson" (1990), by August Wilson.
He came to acting later in life. By his late 30s, he was twice divorced and stuck in unfulfilling jobs, including sheet-metal worker and department store stockroom clerk. One night, as he recounted, he fell to his knees, weeping. "Lord, tell me what I need to do," he said. From somewhere within him, an answer arose: "Try acting."
NEW YORK TIMES
