Gordon Mitchell


Gordon Mitchell was an American actor and bodybuilder, known for his starring roles in Italian sword-and-sandal and Spaghetti Western films.

Early life

Charles Allen Pendleton was born in Denver, Colorado, and began working out in his Denver neighborhood 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.

Career

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, then in Spaghetti Westerns such as Beyond the Law and Savage Guns. Mitchell also appeared in Fellini Satyricon, directed by Federico Fellini.
From the early 1970s onwards, he started to diversify into everything from horror, Nazi exploitation, sexploitation, French criminal comedy, and post-apocalyptic films. 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, 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 largely retired from acting, becoming the chief operating officer of World Gym in Marina Del Rey, California. He kept making occasional film appearances until his death.

Death

Mitchell died on September 20, 2003, at age 80, from an apparent heart attack.

Selected filmography

Prisoner of War - Bit Role The Man with the Golden Arm - Police Officer The Ten Commandments - Egyptian Guard Around the World in 80 Days - Extra The Spirit of St. Louis - The Enemy Below - German Sailor The Young Lions - Minor Role The Buccaneer - Pirate Rio Bravo - Bar Cowboy Watching Fistfight Li'l Abner - Muscleman Rufe Spartacus - Gladiator Atlas Against the Cyclops - Maciste The Centurion - Gen. MetellusThe Giant of Metropolis - ObroVulcan, Son of Jupiter - PlutoJulius Caesar Against the Pirates - Hamar, the PirateKerim, Son of the Sheik - YussufInvasion 1700 - UlrichThe Fury of Achilles - AchillesBrennus, Enemy of Rome - BrennusSeven Slaves Against the World - BalistenLa vendetta di Spartacus - ArminioAli Baba and the Seven Saracens - OmarErik, il vichingo - Sven / BjarniTreasure of the Petrified Forest - HundingLady Morgan's Vengeance - Roger3 Bullets for Ringo - Frank SandersStar Pilot - MurduThompson 1880 - Glenn SheppardKill or Be Killed - Baltimore JoeÈ mezzanotte... butta giù il cadavere - Van HimstL'estate - HimselfBorn to Kill - RooseDeath on the Run - The AlbanianReflections in a Golden Eye - Stable SergeantJohn the Bastard - DanitePhenomenal and the Treasure of Tutankhamen - Gregory FalcoSapevano solo uccidere - ClaytonCin cin... cianuro - Al RubinoBeyond the Law - BurtonThe Killer Likes Candy - ToniAll on the Red - EriksonRadhapura - Endstation der Verdammten - AlfredoRita of the West - Silly BullTrusting Is Good... Shooting Is Better - Roy FultonCry of Death - Donkey / Morgan PittSeven Times Seven - Big BenHour X Suicide Patrol - Sgt. Orwell SmithFellini Satyricon - RobberSartana the Gravedigger - DeguejoLisa dagli occhi blu - Football playerThe Arizona Kid - CoyoteDjango and Sartana Are Coming... It's the End - Black Burt Keller / Burt KellyDead Men Don't Make Shadows - Roger MurdockIo non spezzo... rompo - Joe il RossoTre nel mille Se t'incontro t'ammazzo - Chris ForestA Barrel Full of Dollars - JohnGiù le mani... carogna! (Django Story) - Buck BradleyLet's Go and Kill Sartana - Greg "The Crazy Person"Drummer of Vengeance - Deputy NortonLe Saut de l'ange - Henry Di FuscoIl suo nome era Pot - Ray PotterA Fistful of Death - Ironhead Donovan / Testa di FerroSavage Guns - Gordon Mitchell Un uomo chiamato Dakota - DakotaThe Big Bust Out - El KadirMagnificent West - MartinCasa d'appuntamento - Man in Nightclub Go Away! Trinity Has Arrived in Eldorado - Jonathan DukeFrankenstein 80 - Dr. Otto FrankensteinSituation - GordonAllegri becchini… arriva Trinità - MarvinAnything for a Friend - MillerQuando i califfi avevano le corna... - Caliph married to the QueenMy Darling Slave - Von ThiracOnce Upon a Time in the Wild, Wild West - MikePan Dagli archivi della polizia criminale - Peter WilcoxMy Name Is Shanghai Joe - Burying SamFrankenstein's Castle of Freaks - IgorUna donna per 7 bastardi - GordonThe Godfather Squad - Son of CarrolIl domestico - General Von WernerDört hergele - MargheritoAnasinin Gozu Yankesici Seven Devils on Horseback - CooperLa pelle sotto gli artigli - Professor HelmutDue Magnum.38 per una città di carogne - Renato ProiettiTiger from River Kwai - Jack MasonLe Ricain - MikeLa polizia ordina: sparate a vista - DavidL'unica legge in cui credo - Geo Kaput Lager - Gli ultimi giorni delle SS - Kommandant von StolzenOil! - BurtNatascha - Todesgrüße aus Moskau - GoomingGli uccisori - PabloZanna Bianca e il grande Kid - MorganPugni, dollari e spinaci - Frank StiloIshyri dosi... sex A Very Special Woman - GordonStrategia per una missione di morte - PaulDr. Jekyll Likes Them Hot - PretoriusPorno erotico western I mavri Emmanouella - Robert / Factory managerHolocaust parte seconda: i ricordi, i deliri, la vendetta - Felix OppenheimerThe Umbrella Coup - Moskovitz, le tueurThe Iron Hand of the Mafia - Don NicolaFebbre a 40! - Sandy's HusbandTrois filles dans le vent - Gordon MitchellInchon - GHQ Officer Nightfall - MaseratiLa dottoressa preferisce i marinai - The killerVai avanti tu che mi vien da ridere - Il killerKirmizi kelebek - BradoRush - YorEndgame - Col. MorganSe tutto va bene siamo rovinati - Jack VolpettiShe - HectorTreasure of the Lost Desert - DealerDiamond Connection - Harry / Abdul PashaRicordi White Fire - OlafOperation Nam - Col. MortimerThe Mines of Kilimanjaro - RolfThree Men on Fire Commando Invasion - General MacMorelandEvil Spawn - Dan ThornSFX Retaliator - MorganOverdose - CostaCross of the Seven Jewels - Black Mass LeaderFaida - PreteLa tempesta Blood Delirium - HermannBikini Drive-In - GoliathAn Enraged New World - Gen. MurchisonMalevolence - Capo Fabrizio De MartinoDie to Live - Das Musikill - Himself