Don Gordon found steady work in the 1960s, '70s and '80s as a supporting actor on television and in the movies, often playing tough guys. In 1962, he was nominated for an Emmy for his role as Joey Tassili, a troubled young man, on The Defenders, a CBS courtroom drama that starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed.

Early on, Mr. Gordon appeared on shows like Space Patrol, in the 1950s, and on McQueen’s CBS Western, Wanted: Dead or Alive, in 1959 and 1960. He was also cast as Lt. Hank Bertelli on the short-lived 1960s show The Blue Angels.

His most memorable film roles were alongside McQueen in Bullitt (1968); Papillon (1973), which also starred Dustin Hoffman; and The Towering Inferno (1974), a disaster film with Paul Newman and Faye Dunaway.