Nat Pendleton
Actor
- Born
- August 7, 1895 · Davenport, Iowa, USA
- Died
- October 12, 1967 (age 72)
Nathaniel Greene 'Nat' Pendleton was an American former Olympic wrestler turned actor.
Two-time Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) champion (1914-1915) in the 175-lb. class at Columbia University, Pendleton graduated Class of 1916. He wrestled for the United States at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium, earning a silver medal, losing only one match due to a controversial point decision. After the Games he became a professional wrestler and was a big fan favorite, which led to Hollywood.
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In the 1920 census he was living in Manhattan with his first wife Juanita Alfonzo (age 22) and her brother Ramon Alfonso (age 13). He was working as a sports manager.
Pendleton was usually cast as a circus strongman, brutish thug, dumb cop, or dense buffoon, but he had a college degree and in 1933 wrote the script for Deception (1932), in which he starred - not surprisingly - as a wrestler.
Upon his death from a heart attack, his remains were interred at Cypress View Mausoleum and Crematory in San Diego, California.
Nat Pendleton was inducted into the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame inaugural class in 2006.
Known for
The Thin Man
May 25, 1934
Horse Feathers
August 19, 1932
Baby Face
July 13, 1933
The Great Ziegfeld
April 8, 1936
Another Thin Man
November 17, 1939
At the Circus
October 20, 1939
Lady for a Day
September 13, 1933
Manhattan Melodrama
May 4, 1934
Buck Privates
January 31, 1941
Northwest Passage
February 23, 1940
I'm No Angel
October 6, 1933
The Sign of the Cross
December 13, 1932
Acting110
- 2003Complicated Women as Self (archive footage)
- 1994Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld as Self (archive footage)
- 1991Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook as Bill Raymond (archive footage)
- 1965The World of Abbott and Costello as Sergeant Michael Collins in Buck Privates (archive footage)
- 1964The Big Parade of Comedy as William T. Magiz in 'The Gay Bride' (archive footage)
- 1947Buck Privates Come Home as Sgt. Michael Collins
- 1947Scared to Death as Bill 'Bull' Raymond
- 1946Death Valley as Jim Ward
- 1943Swing Fever as 'Killer' Kennedy