Gordon Mitchell

Gordon Mitchell (born Charles Allen Pendleton; July 29, 1923 – September 20, 2003) was an American actor and bodybuilder who made about 200 B movies.
Biography
Charles Allen Pendleton was born in Denver, Colorado, and began working out in his Denver neighbourhood to deal with his tough companions. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army in the Battle of the Bulge where he was taken prisoner of war. He later obtained a degree at the University of Southern California under the G.I. Bill. He became a high school teacher and guidance counselor in Los Angeles, where due to his physique he was given classes containing many delinquent students.
Following a return enlistment for the Korean War, he found film extra work in movies such as Prisoner of War, The Man with the Golden Arm and Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, where he and his friend Joe Gold dragged Charlton Heston's Moses to Pharaoh Yul Brynner. Mae West chose him to appear in her nightclub act as part of her "buffed all-male chorus line".
He was one of the American bodybuilder-actors who migrated to Italy in the wake of Steve Reeves' success in the 1958 film Hercules after he sent a photo to an Italian producer who signed him on a contract. Prior to going to Italy, he saw a clairvoyant who asked him if he had ever been known by the name of Gordon Mitchell. He replied no, but on arrival in Rome, Mitchell was given his new name. He found work first in sword and sandal films such as Sinbad, Seven Slaves Against the World, Treasure of the Petrified Forest (1965), then in Spaghetti Westerns such as Beyond the Law and Savage Guns. Mitchell also appeared in Fellini Satyricon (1969), directed by Federico Fellini.
From the early 1970s onwards, he started to diversify into everything from horror (Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks - 1974), Nazi exploitation (Achtung! The Desert Tigers! -1977), sexploitation (Porno-Erotic Western - 1979), French criminal comedy (The Umbrella Coup - 1980), and post-apocalyptic films (Endgame - 1983). He also appeared in the bizarre 1982 Israeli adaptation of H. Rider Haggard's She as "Hector." The film was directed by Avi Nesher and co-starred Sandahl Bergman.
Mitchell was close friends with fellow American expatriate actors Richard Harrison, Mike Monty (he appeared in a number of films with both and shared an apartment with Monty in Italy during the 1960s), and John P. Dulaney. Like Monty, Harrison and Dulaney, Mitchell acted in low-budget action films in the Philippines during the 1980s, having roles in Commando Invasion and SFX Retaliator for director John Gale.
He returned to the United States in the late 1980s and retired from acting, but kept making occasional film appearances until his death in 2003 from an apparent heart attack in Marina Del Rey, California, at age 80.
Selected filmography
Prisoner of War (1954) - Bit Role (uncredited)
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) - Police Officer (uncredited)
The Ten Commandments (1956) - Egyptian Guard (uncredited)
Around the World in 80 Days (1956) - Extra (uncredited)
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) - (uncredited)
The Enemy Below (1957) - German Sailor (uncredited)
The Young Lions (1958) - Minor Role (uncredited)
The Buccaneer (1958) - Pirate (uncredited)
Rio Bravo (1959) - Bar Cowboy Watching Fistfight (uncredited)
Li'l Abner (1959) - Muscleman Rufe (uncredited)
Spartacus (1960) - Gladiator (uncredited)
Atlas Against the Cyclops (1961) - Maciste (as Mitchell Gordon)
The Centurion (1961) - Gen. Metellus
The Giant of Metropolis (1961) - Obro
Vulcan, Son of Jupiter (1962) - Pluto
Julius Caesar Against the Pirates (1962) - Hamar, the Pirate
Kerim, Son of the Sheik (1962) - Yussuf
Invasion 1700 (1962) - Ulrich
The Fury of Achilles (1962) - Achilles
Brennus, Enemy of Rome (1963) - Brennus
Seven Slaves Against the World (1964) - Balisten
The Revenge of Spartacus (1964) - Arminio
Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens (1964) - Omar
Erik, il vichingo (1965) - Sven / Bjarni
Treasure of the Petrified Forest (1965) - Hunding
La vendetta di Lady Morgan (1965) - Roger
3 Bullets for Ringo (1966) - Frank Sanders
Star Pilot (1966) - Murdu
Thompson 1880 (1966) - Glenn Sheppard
Kill or Be Killed (1966) - Baltimore Joe
È mezzanotte... butta giù il cadavere (1966) - Van Himst
L'estate (1966) - Himself
Born to Kill (1967) - Roose
Death on the Run (1967) - The Albanian
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) - Stable Sergeant
John the Bastard (1967) - Danite
Phenomenal and the Treasure of Tutankhamen (1968) - Gregory Falco
Sapevano solo uccidere (1968) - Clayton
Cin cin... cianuro (1968) - Al Rubino
Beyond the Law (1968) - Burton
The Killer Likes Candy (1968) - Toni
All on the Red (1968) - Erikson
Radhapura - Endstation der Verdammten (1968) - Alfredo
Rita of the West (1968) - Silly Bull
Trusting Is Good... Shooting Is Better (1968) - Roy Fulton
Cry of Death (1968) - Donkey / Morgan Pitt
Seven Times Seven (1968) - Big Ben
Hour X Suicide Patrol (1969) - Sgt. Orwell Smith
Fellini Satyricon (1969) - Robber
Sartana the Gravedigger (1969) - Deguejo
Lisa dagli occhi blu (1969) - Football player
The Arizona Kid (1970) - Coyote
Django and Sartana Are Coming... It's the End (1970) - Black Burt Keller / Burt Kelly
Dead Men Don't Make Shadows (1970) - Roger Murdock
Io non spezzo... rompo (1971) - Joe il Rosso
Tre nel mille (1971)
Se t'incontro t'ammazzo (1971) - Chris Forest
A Barrel Full of Dollars (1971) - John
Giù le mani... carogna! (Django Story) (1971) - Buck Bradley
Let's Go and Kill Sartana (1971) - Greg "The Crazy Person"
Drummer of Vengeance (1971) - Deputy Norton
Le Saut de l'ange (1971) - Henry Di Fusco
Il suo nome era Pot (1971) - Ray Potter
A Fistful of Death (1971) - Ironhead Donovan / Testa di Ferro
Savage Guns (1971) - Gordon Mitchell (uncredited)
Un uomo chiamato Dakota (1972) - Dakota
The Big Bust Out (1972) - El Kadir
Magnificent West (1972) - Martin
Casa d'appuntamento (1972) - Man in Nightclub (uncredited)
Go Away! Trinity Has Arrived in Eldorado (1972) - Jonathan Duke
Frankenstein 80 (1972) - Dr. Otto Frankenstein
Situation (1972) - Gordon
Allegri becchini… arriva Trinità (1972) - Marvin
Anything for a Friend (1973) - Miller
Quando i califfi avevano le corna... (1973) - Caliph married to the Queen
My Darling Slave (1973) - Von Thirac
Once Upon a Time in the Wild, Wild West (1973) - Mike
Pan (1973)
Dagli archivi della polizia criminale (1973) - Peter Wilcox
My Name Is Shanghai Joe (1973) - Burying Sam
Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (1974) - Igor
Una donna per 7 bastardi (1974) - Gordon
The Godfather Squad (1974) - Son of Carrol
Il domestico (1974) - General Von Werner
Dört hergele (1974) - Margherito
Anasinin Gozu (1974)
Yankesici (1975)
Seven Devils on Horseback (1975) - Cooper
La pelle sotto gli artigli (1975) - Professor Helmut
Due Magnum .38 per una città di carogne (1975) - Renato Proietti
Tiger from River Kwai (1975) - Jack Mason
Le Ricain (1975) - Mike
La polizia ordina: sparate a vista (1976) - David
L'unica legge in cui credo (1976) - Geo (uncredited)
Kaput Lager - Gli ultimi giorni delle SS (1977) - Kommandant von Stolzen
Oil! (1977) - Burt
Natascha - Todesgrüße aus Moskau (1977) - Gooming
Gli uccisori (1977) - Pablo
Zanna Bianca e il grande Kid (1977) - Morgan
Pugni, dollari e spinaci (1978) - Frank Stilo
Ishyri dosi... sex (1978)
A Very Special Woman (1979) - Gordon
Strategia per una missione di morte (1979) - Paul
Dr. Jekyll Likes Them Hot (1979) - Pretorius
Porno erotico western (1979)
I mavri Emmanouella (1980) - Robert / Factory manager
Holocaust parte seconda: i ricordi, i deliri, la vendetta (1980) - Felix Oppenheimer
The Umbrella Coup (1980) - Moskovitz, le tueur
The Iron Hand of the Mafia (1980) - Don Nicola
Febbre a 40! (1980) - Sandy's Husband
Trois filles dans le vent (1981) - Gordon Mitchell
Inchon (1981) - GHQ Officer (uncredited)
Nightfall (1981) - Maserati
La dottoressa preferisce i marinai (1981) - The killer
Vai avanti tu che mi vien da ridere (1981) - Il killer
Kirmizi kelebek (1982) - Brado
Rush (1983) - Yor
Endgame (1983) - Col. Morgan
Se tutto va bene siamo rovinati (1983) - Jack Volpetti
She (1984) - Hector
Treasure of the Lost Desert (1984) - Dealer
Diamond Connection (1984) - Harry / Abdul Pasha
Ricordi (1984)
White Fire (1985) - Olaf
Operation Nam (1986) - Col. Mortimer
The Mines of Kilimanjaro (1986) - Rolf
Three Men on Fire (1986)
Commando Invasion (1986) - General MacMoreland
Evil Spawn (1987) - Dan Thorn
SFX Retaliator (1987) - Morgan
Overdose (1987) - Costa
Cross of the Seven Jewels (1987) - Black Mass Leader
Faida (1988) - Prete
La tempesta (1988)
Blood Delirium (N/A) - Hermann
Bikini Drive-In (1995) - Goliath
An Enraged New World (2002) - Gen. Murchison
Malevolence (2004) - Capo Fabrizio De Martino
Die to Live - Das Musikill (2004) - Himself (final film role)
References
External links
Interview http://www.cinema-nocturna.com/gordon_mitchell_interview_prt_1.htm
A transcription of a Gordon Mitchell guest chat at Cinema Nocturna site
A Nanarland.com interview (in French)
1923 births
2003 deaths
20th-century American educators
20th-century American male actors
American bodybuilders
American expatriates in Italy
American male film actors
United States Army personnel of the Korean War
United States Army personnel of World War II
Male actors from Denver
Male Spaghetti Western actors
People associated with physical culture
People from Marina del Rey, California
Schoolteachers from California
University of Southern California alumni
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany