Gordon Mitchell (born Charles Allen Pendleton; July 29, 1923 â€"
September 20, 2003) was an American actor and bodybuilder who made
about 200 B movies.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.
September 20, 2003) was an American actor and bodybuilder who made
about 200 B movies.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.
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