Austin Pendleton

Austin Campbell Pendleton (born March 27, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor. He is known as a prolific character actor on the stage and screen who has appeared in films including ''Catch-22'' (1970); '' What's Up, Doc?'' (1972); '' The Front Page'' (1974); ''The Muppet Movie'' (1979), ''Short Circuit'' (1986); '' Mr. and Mrs. Bridge'' (1990); ''My Cousin Vinny'' (1992); '' Amistad'' (1997); '' A Beautiful Mind'' (2001), which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture nomination; and ''Finding Nemo'' (2003).

Pendleton received a Tony Award nomination for Best Direction of a Play for the Broadway revival of '' The Little Foxes'' in 1981. He has received two Drama Desk Award nominations and the recipient of a Special Drama Desk Award in 2007. He also received a Obie Award for Best Director for the 2011 off-Broadway revival of '' Three Sisters''. Recent Broadway credits include ''Choir Boy'' in 2016 and '' The Minutes'' in 2022.

Early life and education

Pendleton was born in Warren, Ohio, the son of Thorn Pendleton, who ran a tool company, and Frances (' Manchester) Pendleton, a professional actress. He graduated from the University School, a private all-boys school in Shaker Heights, Ohio, in 1957. A childhood friend was Roger Ailes, later of Fox News.

Pendleton is a 1961 graduate of Yale University, and as a member of the Yale Dramatic Association, collaborated in 1958 with lyricist Peter Bergman in writing two musical plays that starred Philip Proctor: ''Tom Jones'' and '' Booth Is Back In Town''. Proctor and Bergman later formed half of The Firesign Theatre comedy group.

Career

Pendleton first received critical acclaim in 1964 for his performance as Motel in the original Broadway cast of ''Fiddler on the Roof''. He appeared in '' The Last Sweet Days of Isaac'' (for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance and an Obie Award), ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', ''Goodtime Charley'', and ''Up from Paradise'', and many other plays. In August 2006, Pendleton played the Chaplain in Bertolt Brecht's ''Mother Courage and Her Children'' with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline in the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater production directed by George C. Wolfe at the Delacorte Theater. In 2007, he appeared as Friar Lawrence in the Public Theater's production of Shakespeare's ''Romeo and Juliet'' at the Delacorte.

Pendleton wrote the plays ''Uncle Bob'', ''Booth'', and ''Orson's Shadow'', all of which were staged off-Broadway. ''Uncle Bob'' had its off-Broadway premiere in 2001 at The SoHo Playhouse, starring George Morfogen—for whom the role of Bob was written—and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, making his New York theatre debut. The critically acclaimed production was directed by Courtney Moorehead and produced by Steven Sendor.

As a director, Pendleton has worked extensively on and off Broadway. His direction of Elizabeth Taylor and Maureen Stapleton in Lillian Hellman's '' The Little Foxes'' garnered him a Tony Award nomination in 1981. Additional directing credits include ''The Runner Stumbles'' by Milan Stitt (1977), ''Spoils of War'' by Michael Weller (1988), and ''The Size of the World'' by Charles Evered (1996).

Pendleton is also a member of The Mirror Theater Ltd's Mirror Repertory Company, directing the company's 1984 production of Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, starring Geraldine Page, Sabra Jones, and Victor Slezak. His play ''H6R3'', a compilation of '' Henry VI'' and ''Richard III'' intended to make the story line clearer and strengthen the women's parts, became a benefit production of The Mirror Theater Ltd at the then Promenade Theater in New York. Pendleton played Richard in this performance, Sabra Jones performed Elizabeth, Lynn Redgrave played Mad Margaret, Charles McAteer was Lord Rutland, Geraint Wyn Davies played Henry VI, Daniel Gerroll played Buckingham, and Lisa Pelikan played Lady Anne.

In 2009, Pendleton directed ''Uncle Vanya'', starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, at the Classic Stage Company. The same year he directed Tennessee Williams's '' Vieux Carré'' at The Pearl Theatre Company. In 2010, Pendleton directed two plays, ''Bus Stop'' at the Olney Theater and ''Golden Age'' at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. His 2011 directing of '' Three Sisters'' won him an Obie Award. In 2012, he directed a production of ''Detroit'' at the National Theatre in London.

Pendleton served as artistic director of the Circle Repertory Company with associate artistic director Lynne Thigpen. The company closed in 1996. He teaches acting at HB Studio and directing at The New School. Pendleton has been involved with the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago since directing Ralph Pape's ''Say Goodnight, Gracie'' for the 1979-80 season, and is an ensemble member there. His acting credits at Steppenwolf include ''Uncle Vanya'', '' Valparaiso'', and ''Educating Rita''.

Pendleton is the subject of ''Starring Austin Pendleton'', a documentary in which colleagues including Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Olympia Dukakis, and Ethan Hawke discuss his life and legacy.

As a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Pendleton starred in Tracy Letts's play '' The Minutes'' in Chicago, which has since transferred to Broadway.

Work

Theatre

Filmography

Television

References

External links

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Austin Pendleton Talks about Stuttering and Acting
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pendleton, Austin
1940 births
Living people
American acting coaches
Male actors from Ohio
Male actors from New York City
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American male voice actors
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
American theatre directors
The New School faculty
People from Warren, Ohio
Yale University alumni
Writers from Ohio
Writers from Manhattan
Steppenwolf Theatre Company players