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IMDbPro

Nat Pendleton(1895-1967)

  • Actor
  • Writer
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Nat Pendleton
From a slab in the morgue, a dead young woman tells the bizarre tale of how she got there, through a maze of murder involving a hypnotist, a midget and a mysterious figure in a green mask.
Play trailer1:41
Scared to Death (1946)
7 Videos
99+ Photos
Brawn won out over brain as well when it came to wrestler athlete Nat Pendleton's professional movie career. For two decades, this massively-built, dark-haired, good-looking lug played a number of kind-hearted lunkheads, goons, henchmen and Joe Palooka-like buffoons.

Nathaniel Greene Pendleton was born on August 9, 1895 on a farm close to Davenport, Iowa. The son of Nathaniel G. Pendleton, a lawyer, and mother Adelaide Elizabeth Johnson, the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio when Nat was a mere two months of age. His uncle was well-known Cincinnati-born D.W. Griffith silent player Arthur V. Johnson.

After the family's move from Ohio to New York, Nat became star of Brooklyn's Poly Prep High School wrestling team and later went to Collumbia University where he became a popular athletic presence, never losing a match in college and serving on the 1915 team as their captain. Following a couple of national titles, he competed at the Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium in 1920 and won the heavyweight silver medal in what many say was a controversial decision (to Pendleton's advantage). Nat turned pro after this and was undefeated in his two years of competition. He grew disillusioned when he was unable to arrange money bouts with Jack Dempsey and Ed Lewis aka "Strangler" reportedly due to his lack of a flashy enough reputation.

With his athletic image intact, Nat decided to follow his Uncle Arthur into acting in the mid-20s, making his debut in the film The Hoosier Schoolmaster (1924). Several other films followed, mostly in sports-minded themes. He also set his powerful frame on the Broadway stage, with roles in "Naughty Cinderella" (1925), "The Grey Fox" (1928) and as Marcel the Great in the hit comedy "His Girl Friday" (1929). A truckload of films came his way by the early 1930s, including The Spirit of Notre Dame (1931) in which he played an assistant coach, and in both the Marx Bros.' farcical comedy Horse Feathers (1932) with Thelma Todd, and Deception (1932), again with Todd, based on a story Pendleton himself wrote. He played football stars in both. In addition, he and Ward Bond played wrestlers in the Wallace Beery starrer Flesh (1932).

Among Pendleton's other film highlights include his gangsters in Sing and Like It (1934) with Zasu Pitts and The Gay Bride (1934) with Carole Lombard; his policemen in The Thin Man (1934) and Another Thin Man (1939); strongman Sandow in The Great Ziegfeld (1936); another dimbulb wrestler in Swing Your Lady (1938) starring Humphrey Bogart and Louise Fazenda; a barkeep in Northwest Passage (1940) starring Spencer Tracy; _a haranguing officer/nemesis to Abbott and Costello in Buck Privates (1941) and several Dr. Kildare medical dramas as hunky ambulance driver/comedy relief Joe Wayman. A rare prime starring role was the title part as Top Sergeant Mulligan (1941) for Poverty Row's Monogram Pictures.

Following his final film part reprising the badgering sergeant in Buck Privates Come Home (1947), Nat turned to TV before retiring in 1956. The twice-married actor/wrestler died of a heart attack on October 12, 1967 at age 72.
BornAugust 9, 1895
DiedOctober 12, 1967(72)
BornAugust 9, 1895
DiedOctober 12, 1967(72)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

Photos104

Donald MacBride and Nat Pendleton in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
Bud Abbott, Chuck Hamilton, Nat Pendleton, and Buddy Roosevelt in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
Bud Abbott, Tom Brown, Lou Costello, Ralph Dunn, Nat Pendleton, and Charles Sullivan in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
Lou Costello and Nat Pendleton in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
Don Beddoe, Donald MacBride, and Nat Pendleton in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
Lou Costello and Nat Pendleton in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
Donald MacBride and Nat Pendleton in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
Donald MacBride and Nat Pendleton in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
Frank Mayo and Nat Pendleton in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, and Nat Pendleton in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
Nat Pendleton and Don Porter in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
Jimmie Dodd, Nat Pendleton, and Robert J. Wilke in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)

Known for

Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, and William Powell in The Thin Man (1934)
The Thin Man
7.9
  • Lt. John Guild
  • 1934
Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, and William Powell in Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
Manhattan Melodrama
7.1
  • Spud
  • 1934
Bela Lugosi, Molly Lamont, and George Zucco in Scared to Death (1946)
Scared to Death
4.1
  • Bill Raymond
  • 1946
Myrna Loy, William Powell, and Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
The Great Ziegfeld
6.6
  • Sandow
  • 1936

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Hal Baylor, Hans Conried, and Chuck Hicks in Schlitz Playhouse (1951)
    Schlitz Playhouse
    • Otto 'Bitsy' Lamb
    • TV Series
    • 1956
  • Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, and Joan Shawlee in Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
    Buck Privates Come Home
    • Sergeant Collins
    • 1947
  • Bela Lugosi, Molly Lamont, and George Zucco in Scared to Death (1946)
    Scared to Death
    • Bill Raymond
    • 1946
  • Helen Gilbert and Nat Pendleton in Death Valley (1946)
    Death Valley
    • Jim Ward
    • 1946
  • Kay Kyser and Marilyn Maxwell in Swing Fever (1943)
    Swing Fever
    • 'Killer' Kennedy
    • 1943
  • Donna Reed and Michael Duane in Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case (1943)
    Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case
    • Joe Wayman
    • 1943
  • Lionel Barrymore and Susan Peters in Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant (1942)
    Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant
    • Joe Weyman
    • 1942
  • Lionel Barrymore, Donna Reed, Phil Brown, and Philip Dorn in Calling Dr. Gillespie (1942)
    Calling Dr. Gillespie
    • Joe Wayman
    • 1942
  • Lionel Atwill, Claire Dodd, Una Merkel, and Nat Pendleton in The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942)
    The Mad Doctor of Market Street
    • Red Hogan
    • 1942
  • Anne Gwynne, Warren Hymer, Horace McMahon, Robert Paige, and Nat Pendleton in Jail House Blues (1942)
    Jail House Blues
    • Sonny McGann
    • 1942
  • Sterling Holloway, Carol Hughes, Nat Pendleton, and Marjorie Reynolds in Top Sergeant Mulligan (1941)
    Top Sergeant Mulligan
    • Top Sgt. Herman Mulligan
    • 1941
  • Bud Abbott, Laverne Andrews, Maxene Andrews, Patty Andrews, Lou Costello, and The Andrews Sisters in Buck Privates (1941)
    Buck Privates
    • Sgt. Michael Collins
    • 1941
  • Robert Taylor and Ruth Hussey in Flight Command (1940)
    Flight Command
    • C.P.O. 'Spike' Knowles
    • 1940
  • Dr. Kildare's Crisis (1940)
    Dr. Kildare's Crisis
    • Joe Wayman
    • 1940
  • Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore, and Laraine Day in Dr. Kildare Goes Home (1940)
    Dr. Kildare Goes Home
    • Wayman
    • 1940

Writer

  • Leo Carrillo, Nat Pendleton, and Thelma Todd in Deception (1932)
    Deception
    • Writer
    • 1932

Soundtrack

  • Humphrey Bogart, Louise Fazenda, Allen Jenkins, Frank McHugh, Nat Pendleton, Penny Singleton, June Weaver, Frank Weaver, and Leon Weaver in Swing Your Lady (1938)
    Swing Your Lady
    • performer: "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain When She Comes" ("Dig Me a Grave in Missouri" (1937), uncredited)
    • 1938
  • Charles Butterworth and Una Merkel in Baby Face Harrington (1935)
    Baby Face Harrington
    • performer: "Hiking, Hiking, Hiking" (uncredited)
    • 1935

Videos7

Trailer
Trailer 1:41
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:42
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:35
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:38
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:11
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:19
Official Trailer
The Thin Man
Trailer 3:16
The Thin Man

Personal details

Edit
  • Height
    • 6′ (1.83 m)
  • Born
    • August 9, 1895
    • Davenport, Iowa, USA
  • Died
    • October 12, 1967
    • San Diego, California, USA(heart attack)
  • Spouses
      Juanita Alfonzo1920 - 1924 (divorced)
  • Other works
    Stage Play: Naughty Cinderella. Farce/romance.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Interview
    • 2 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Wrestled for the United States at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium, earning a silver medal, and lost 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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