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.

According to Mike Chapman in his article on Pendleton in Classic Images (May 2015), Nat was a direct descendant of Revolutionary War hero General Nathanael Greene, who won key victories over the British. It also is reported that Pendleton is a distant relative of "Star-Spangled Banner" composer Francis Scott Key.

He 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.

A voracious reader, he wrote poetry, played the banjo and was an avid chess player.

On the 1920 census he was living in Manhattan with his Puerto Rican first wife Juanita Alfonzo (age 22) and her brother Ramon Alfonso (age 13). He was working as a sports manager.

Auditioned for the role of Tarzan for MGM but lost out to Johnny Weissmuller.

Former Olympic wrestler turned actor.

Never smoked and seldom drank.

Two-time Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) champion (1914-1915) in the 175-lb class while at Columbia University, from which he graduated in 1916.

Was in three Oscar Best Picture nominees: Lady for a Day (1933), The Thin Man (1934) and The Great Ziegfeld (1936), with The Great Ziegfeld winning in 1936.

Inducted into the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006 (inaugural class).

Member of the Delta Epsilon fraternity at Columbia University.

Upon his death, his remains were interred at Cypress View Mausoleum and Crematory in San Diego, California. His location plot is Corridor A NW, #9 on the inside of the door frame on the left side.

Two brothers: Steven Gaylord and Edmund.

The chef in 'Crazy House' (1930) is played by Karl Dane, and not Pendleton.