Barry Gordon, born in 1948, is an American actor known for his role in Hands of a Stranger (1962), where he delivers a compelling performance in this cult classic. His involvement in the film highlights the era's fascination with psychological horror and the exploration of identity. Beyond acting, Gordon's influence extended to his tenure as the longest-serving president of the Screen Actors Guild, shaping the industry while contributing to the unique landscape of exploitation cinema.
Hands of a Stranger
Concert pianist Vernon Paris is on the verge of stardom after years of hard work in combination with the support of his manager, George Britton, and his sister, Dina Paris, the latter who has sacrificed her personal life in the process, it which she intends to focus on once Vernon crosses into that next echelon. Beyond the work, Vernon takes care to protect his hands, his most valuable assets, with his trademark gray gloves which he treats as his lucky charms. Vernon has enjoyed his success in leading a playboy life, Eileen, the woman on his arm more often than others, who in turn enjoys the trappings of his success. At this important time, Vernon is involved in a serious vehicular accident which damages his hands beyond ever being functional. Knowing Vernon's situation and with time against them, the attending surgeon, Dr. Gil Harding, is able to receive the reluctant okay from George to perform an experimental surgery, the only possible way, however remote, for Vernon to resume his career: to graft the hands of a just deceased John Doe that died on his operating table onto Vernon's limbs. Dr. Harding does not want Vernon to know what has happened to his hands until the bandages are removed so as not to block psychologically in his recovery. An initially horrified Dina comes around after the bandages are removed and sees that Dr. Harding's hope of the muscle and nerve function in the hands do materialize. What happens with Vernon is largely directed by Vernon himself as he wants to repay those tho got him to this position, arguably in combination with Dina's initial fear that the soul of the John Doe was something else transferred to Vernon in the process.
