Nat Pendleton

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Nathaniel "Nat" Greene Pendleton (born August 9, 1895 in Davenport , Iowa , † October 11, 1967 in San Diego ) was an American wrestler and actor . He won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Antwerp in 1920 in free style in the heavyweight division , after the end of his sports career he became a successful supporting actor in over 100 Hollywood films.

Life

Nat Pendleton was the son of an Iowa farmer. Shortly after his birth, his family moved first to Cincinnati , Ohio and a little later to New York City . Nat began wrestling in New York. Thanks to his figure, he soon became a good heavyweight who preferred the free style.

In New York, Nat attended Columbia University and became a member of the New York Athletic Club. In 1914 and 1915 he won the championship of the states lying on the American east coast (Eastern Championships) and in 1916 was USA champion of the Amateur Athletes Union (AAU) in free style in the heavyweight division.

In 1920 he took part in the Olympic Games in Antwerp . He started first in the for him unfamiliar Greco-Roman style in light heavyweight and retired after a defeat against the Dane Johannes Erikssen after the first round. In free style, he competed in the heavyweight division. He defeated the Finn Sven Mattsson on points and shouldered the Swede Ernst Nilsson in the next fight . In the final battle for the gold medal, he was then subject to the Swiss wrestling king Robert Roth controversial on points and won the silver medal. After his return to the United States Nat Pendleton was pro - wrestler . He practiced this sport for seven years.

In 1924 he began a film career in Hollywood . After his early roles were mostly small in nature, Pendleton was able to establish himself as a supporting actor in the early 1930s with appearances such as in the Marx Brothers film Blooming Nonsense - where he kidnapped famous comedians as a football player. Pendleton mostly embodied masculine and muscular roles as gangster, henchman or policeman, although the mental capacity of many of his characters was rather limited. In 1936 he embodied the famous power athlete and bodybuilder Eugen Sandow in the Oscar-winning biopic The Great Ziegfeld . He had other appearances, among others, in the crime comedy The Thin Man (1934) with William Powell and in Top and Bottom (1939) alongside James Stewart and Claudette Colbert . In the 1940s, he played ambulance driver Joe Wayman in the Dr. Kildare series of films. In 1947, Nat Pendleton retired from Hollywood after making over 110 films.

International success

  • 1920: 12th place , Olympic Games in Antwerp , wrestling , Greco-Roman style, light heavyweight (up to 82.5 kg body weight), after a defeat by Johannes Eriksson, Denmark ;
  • 1920: Silver medal , Olympic Games in Antwerp, wrestling, free style, heavyweight (over 82.5 kg body weight), with victories over Sven Mattsson, Finland and Ernst Nilsson , Sweden and one defeat against Robert Roth , Switzerland

Filmography (selection)

swell

  • Documentation of FILA's International Wrestling Championships, 1976,
  • Ivy League website,
  • Website SLAM Sports - Wrestling

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Pendleton, Nat
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pendleton, Nathaniel Greene
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American wrestler and film actor
DATE OF BIRTH August 9, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Davenport
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1967
Place of death San Diego