Nathaniel Greene Pendleton (August 9, 1895 – October 12, 1967) was an American
Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...
wrestler
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...
,
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
actor, and stage performer. His younger brother,
Edmund J. Pendleton (1899-1987), was a well-known music
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Def ...
and choir master and organist for the
American Church in Paris
The American Church in Paris (formerly the American Chapel in Paris) was the first American church established outside the United States. It traces its roots back to 1814, and the present church building - located at 65 Quai d'Orsay in the 7th ...
.
Early life and wrestling career
Nat Pendleton was born as Nathaniel Greene Pendleton in 1895 in
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and ...
to Adelaide E. and Nathaniel G. Pendleton, who was reportedly a descendant of American Revolutionary general
Nathanael Greene
Nathanael Greene (June 19, 1786, sometimes misspelled Nathaniel) was a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. He emerged from the war with a reputation as General George Washington's most talented and dependab ...
.
["Nat Pendleton, Movie Character Actor, Dies", '']Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'', October 13, 1967, section II, p. 8. ProQuest
ProQuest LLC is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based global information-content and technology company, founded in 1938 as University Microfilms by Eugene B. Power. ProQuest is known for its applications and information services for libraries, provid ...
Historical Newspapers. Nat studied at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, where he began his
wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...
career and served as captain of the school's team in that sport.
He was twice
Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) champion in 1914 and 1915. Chosen to compete on the United States wrestling team at the
1920 Summer Olympics
The 1920 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1920; nl, Olympische Zomerspelen van 1920; german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1920), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIe olympiade; nl, Spelen van ...
in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, ,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
, Pendleton lost only one match during the competition and was awarded a
silver medal
A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, et ...
.
Some controversy continues to surround that outcome. Both Pendleton's Olympic coach, George Pinneo, and his teammate, Fred Meyer, insisted that he won his final match and should have been awarded the gold medal. Pinneo later recalled that loss as the "most unpopular of many unsatisfactory decisions," and Meyer stated, "Pendleton was the winner of that contest, no ifs or buts." Returning to the US he became a professional wrestler and teamed up with promoter
Jack Curley. Curley was aggressively promoting Pendleton and issued a series of haughty challenges, among them boasting that Pendleton could beat
Ed "Strangler" Lewis and any other wrestler on the same night.
John Pesek
John Pesek (February 21, 1894 – March 12, 1978) was an American professional wrestler and greyhound racing dog breeder. Nicknamed 'The Nebraska Tiger Man' for his ferocity, aggression and catlike dexterity, Olympic freestyle wrestling gold meda ...
was enlisted to face Pendleton, and in a legitimate contest held on January 25, 1923, Pesek defeated and injured Pendleton. Pendleton then began appearing in Hollywood films in uncredited parts and minor roles by the mid-1920s.
Film and stage career
Pendleton was cast in at least 94
short film
A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
s and
features
Feature may refer to:
Computing
* Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch
* Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob
* Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing characteristic of a software ite ...
, most often being
typecast in supporting roles, usually as "befuddled good guys" or as slow-witted thugs, gangsters, and policemen.
He appears, for example, in the 1932 comedy ''
Horse Feathers'' starring the
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
, performing in that film as one of two
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...
players who kidnap
Harpo and
Chico. In the 1936 production ''
The Great Ziegfeld
''The Great Ziegfeld'' is a 1936 American musical drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and produced by Hunt Stromberg. It stars William Powell as the theatrical impresario Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld Jr., Luise Rainer as Anna Held, and ...
'', he portrays the
circus strongman Eugen Sandow
Eugen Sandow (born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller, ; 2 April 1867 – 14 October 1925) was a German bodybuilder and showman from Prussia. Born in Königsberg, Sandow became interested in bodybuilding at the age of ten during a visit to Italy. After a ...
, a role that brought him the best reviews of his career.
Pendleton appears again as a circus strongman in the Marx Brothers' 1939 feature ''
At the Circus''. He can be seen as well in recurring roles in two MGM film series from the 1930s and 1940s. He is Joe Wayman, the ambulance driver, in MGM's ''
Dr. Kildare'' series and in its
spin-off
Spin-off may refer to:
*Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity
* Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...
series ''
Dr. Gillespie
Dr. James Kildare is a fictional American medical doctor, originally created in the 1930s by the author Frederick Schiller Faust under the pen name Max Brand. Shortly after the character's first appearance in a magazine story, Paramount Pictur ...
''. He also portrays New York police lieutenant John Guild in ''
The Thin Man'' series. The former wrestler's final screen appearances are the 1947 releases ''
Scared to Death'' with
Bela Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...
and ''
Buck Privates Come Home'' starring
Abbott and Costello
Abbott may refer to:
People
* Abbott (surname)
*Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), American painter and naturalist
* Abbott and Costello, famous American vaudeville act
Places Argentina
* Abbott, Buenos Aires United States
* Abbott, Arkansas ...
.
Although Pendleton's professional career outside the wrestling ring was predominantly devoted to film work, he also performed in some stage productions, including in the
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
plays ''Naughty Cinderella'' in 1925 and ''The Gray Fox'' in 1928.
Death
Pendleton died in a
San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...
hospital in 1967 after suffering a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
.
Legacy
Pendleton is a member of several
halls of fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...
: the Glen Brand Wrestling Hall of Fame in Waterloo, Iowa, the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame in Cresco, Iowa, and the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2015, his biography was published. Written by Mike Chapman, a veteran wrestling author and historian, it is titled ''Pendleton: The Amazing Story of Columbia’s Wrestling Olympian and Star of Hollywood.''
Filmography
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pendleton, Nat
1895 births
1967 deaths
20th-century American male actors
Male actors from Iowa
American male film actors
American bodybuilders
Sportspeople from Davenport, Iowa
People associated with physical culture
Wrestlers at the 1920 Summer Olympics
American male sport wrestlers
Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Actors from Davenport, Iowa
Olympic silver medalists for the United States in wrestling
Columbia Lions wrestlers