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Nat Pendleton

Nat Pendleton

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

Born in Davenport, Iowa, Pendleton 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. Returning to the US he became a professional wrestler, and with the celebrity status he had achieved, drifted into movies in the late 1920s.

His early roles were largely uncredited, until he was chosen to appear in Horse Feathers (1932) opposite the Marx Brothers, and his career began to develop. His role as circus strongman Eugene 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.

Some of his other films include Manhattan Melodrama (1934), The Thin Man (1934), The Shopworn Angel (1938), Another Thin Man (1939), At the Circus (1939) and Northwest Passage (1940). He appeared in recurring roles in two film series of the late 1930s and 1940 - as Joe Wayman the ambulance driver in the Dr. Kildare series, and its spin-off, the Dr. Gillespie series. He made his final film appearance in 1947, and died in San Diego, California in 1967 from a heart attack.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2004.

Nat Pendleton Facts

Birth NameNathaniel Greene Pendleton
OccupationActor, Athlete
BirthdayAugust 9, 1895
SignLeo
BirthplaceDavenport, Iowa, USA
Date of deathOctober 12, 1967 (age 72)
Height6' (1m83)  How tall is Nat Pendleton compared to you?

Selected Filmography

The Thin Man
Another Thin Man
Northwest Passage
It's a Wonderful World
Reckless
Flight Command
Universal Cult Horror Collection
TCM Archives: Forbidden Hollywood Collection
Whistling in the Dark
Blonde Crazy
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