Nat Pendleton

Nat Pendleton
As Eugen Sandow from the trailer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Born	Nathaniel Greene Pendleton August 9, 1895 Davenport, Iowa, U.S.
Died	October 12, 1967 (aged 72) San Diego, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1913–1956
Spouse(s)	Barbara Evelyn (?-1967) (his death) Juanita Alfonzo (?-?)

Olympic medal record
Men's freestyle wrestling
	1920 Antwerp	heavyweight

Nathaniel Greene "Nat" Pendleton (August 9, 1895 – October 12, 1967) was an American Olympic wrestler and film actor.

Biography

Early life

Pendleton was born August 8, 1895,^[1] in Davenport, Iowa to Adelaide E. and Nathaniel G. Pendleton. He studied at Columbia University where he began his wrestling career. He was twice Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) champion in 1914 and 1915. Chosen to compete in the US wrestling team at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, Pendleton lost only one match during the competition, and was awarded a silver medal.^[2] Returning to the US he became a professional wrestler, and with the celebrity status he had achieved, drifted into films in the late 1920s.

Film career

Pendleton appeared in over 100 films. His early roles were largely uncredited, then he was chosen to appear in Horse Feathers (1932) with the Marx Brothers as one of the two college football players who kidnap Harpo and Chico, and his career began to develop. His role as circus strongman Eugen Sandow in The Great Ziegfeld (1936) brought him the strongest reviews of his career. Pendleton was most often cast in supporting roles as thugs, gangsters, or policemen and was usually typecast playing characters that depended on their brawn but were "none too bright".

He appeared as a circus strongman again in At the Circus (1939), again with the Marx Brothers. He had recurring roles in two MGM film series of the late 1930s and 1940s - as Joe Wayman, the ambulance driver in the Dr. Kildare series, and its spin-off, the Dr. Gillespie series. He made his final film appearances in Scared to Death with Bela Lugosi, and Buck Privates Come Home (both 1947).

Pendleton died in San Diego, California in 1967 from a heart attack.

Filmography

• The Battle of Gettysburg (1913) (unconfirmed)
• Hoosier Schoolmaster (1924)
• Monsieur Beaucaire (1924)
• Let's Get Married (1926)
• The Laughing Lady (1929)
• The Big Pond (1930)
• La grande mare (1930)
• The Last of the Duanes (1930)
• The Sea Wolf (1930)
• Crazy House (1930)
• Seas Beneath (1931)
• Fair Warning (1931)
• The Secret Witness (1931)
• The Star Witness (1931)
• The Spirit of Notre Dame (1931)
• The Ruling Voice (1931)
• Mr. Lemon of Orange (1931)
• Blonde Crazy (1931)
• The Star Witness (1931)
• Manhattan Parade (1931)
• The Pottsville Palooka (1931)
• Taxi! (1932)
• The Beast of the City (1932)
• A Fool's Advice (1932)
• Hell Fire Austin (1932)
• The Big Timer (1932)
• Play-Girl (1932)
• Girl Crazy (1932)
• State's Attorney (1932)
• Attorney for the Defense (1932)
• The Tenderfoot (1932)
• By Whose Hand? (1932)
• Horse Feathers (1932)
• Exposure (1932)
• The Night Club Lady (1932)
• Deception (1932)
• The Sign of the Cross (1932)
• Flesh (1932)
• Whistling in the Dark (1933)
• Parachute Jumper (1933)
• Goldie Gets Along (1933)
• Child of Manhattan (1933)
• The White Sister (1933)
• The Nuisance (1933)
• Baby Face (1933)
• Lady for a Day (1933)
• Penthouse (1933)
• I'm No Angel (1933)
• The Chief (1933)
• College Coach (1933)
• Lazy River (1934)
• Fugitive Lovers (1934)
• Sing and Like It (1934)
• Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
• The Thin Man (1934)
• The Defense Rests (1934)
• The Cat's-Paw (1934)
• The Girl from Missouri (1934)
• Straight Is the Way (1934)
• Death on the Diamond (1934)
• The Gay Bride (1934)
• Times Square Lady (1935)
• Baby Face Harrington (1935)
• Reckless (1935)
• Murder in the Fleet (1935)
• Calm Yourself (1935)
• Here Comes the Band (1935)
• It's in the Air (1935)
• The Garden Murder Case (1935)
• The Great Ziegfeld (1935)
• Trapped by Television (1936)
• Sworn Enemy (1936)
• The Luckiest Girl in the World (1936)
• Two in a Crowd (1936)
• Sing Me a Love Song (1936)
• Under Cover of Night (1937)
• Song of the City (1937)
• Gangway (1937)
• Life Begins in College (1937)
• Swing Your Lady (1938)
• Arsène Lupin Returns (1938)
• Fast Company (1938)
• The Shopworn Angel (1938)
• The Chaser (1938)
• The Crowd Roars (1938)
• Young Dr. Kildare (1938)
• Burn 'Em Up O'Connor (1939)
• Calling Dr. Kildare (1939)
• It's a Wonderful World (1939)
• 6,000 Enemies (1939)
• On Borrowed Time (1939)
• At the Circus (1939)
• Another Thin Man (1939)
• The Secret of Dr. Kildare (1939)
• Northwest Passage (1940)
• The Ghost Comes Home (1940)
• Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940)
• Phantom Raiders (1940)
• New Moon (1940)
• The Golden Fleecing (1940)
• Dr. Kildare Goes Home (1940)
• Dr. Kildare's Crisis (1940)
• Flight Command (1940)
• Buck Privates (1941)
• Top Sergeant Mulligan (1941)
• Jail House Blues (1942)
• The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942)
• Calling Dr. Gillespie (1942)
• Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (1942)
• Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case (1943)
• Swing Fever (1943)
• Death Valley (1946)
• Scared to Death (1947)
• Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
• Schlitz Playhouse (1951-1959 TV series) in 1956 episode "The Big Payoff" as Otto "Bitsy" Lamb

References

1. Rainho, Manny (August 2015). "This Month in Movie History". Classic Images (482): 24–26.
2. "Nat Pendleton Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 2013-09-01.

External links

• Nat Pendleton at the Internet Movie Database
• Nat Pendleton at the Internet Broadway Database

Nat Pendleton at Find a Grave