
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. 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.

The Great Ziegfeld
MOVIE • 1936

Swing Fever
MOVIE • 1943

It's a Wonderful World
MOVIE • 1939

Baby Face
MOVIE • 1933

Two in a Crowd
MOVIE • 1936

Buck Privates
MOVIE • 1941

Death Valley
MOVIE • 1946

The Shopworn Angel
MOVIE • 1938

The Thin Man
MOVIE • 1934

The Chief
MOVIE • 1933

Horse Feathers
MOVIE • 1932

New Moon
MOVIE • 1940

Complicated Women
MOVIE • 2003

Fugitive Lovers
MOVIE • 1934

Sing Me a Love Song
MOVIE • 1936

Taxi!
MOVIE • 1932

At the Circus
MOVIE • 1939

Manhattan Melodrama
MOVIE • 1934