Gordon Mitchell

Gordon Mitchell

Gordon Mitchell was born "Charles Pendleton" in Colorado and served his country in both World War II and the Korean War (during which he was briefly a POW). Afterward he worked as a teacher in inner city schools in California and got heavily involved in personal fitness and bodybuilding. He became friends with Joe Gold (of Gold's Gym), joining Mae West's comedy act as one of her "strongmen" who would carry her on and off the stage. During this time he also found himself in demand as an extra in several Hollywood films including "Lil Abner", "The Enemy Below", and "The Ten Commandments" (in which he and Joe Gold bring Moses to Ramsey's court in chains). When the Peplum craze began in Italy and his fellow Muscle Beach star Steve Reeves became a huge star. Gordon (along with Reg Park, Mark Forrest, Brad Harris, Mickey Hargitay, and Richard Harrison) similarly jumped on the bandwagon and headed to Italy to find stardom and financially greener pastures. Thanks to his unconventional appearance (small, sharp eyes and craggy face) and enthusiasm for his work, Mitchell found himself one of the most in-demand performers in Italy's Sword & Sandal craze of the early 60's, working with several top directors including Marino Girolami, Alberto De Martino, and Michele Lupo. Unlike most of his peers who left Italy once the genre ran its course, Mitchell stayed on to play villains in numerous Spaghetti Westerns, Giallos, War Films, and Science Fiction movies. He also had a small but key role in the Elizabeth Taylor / Marlon Brandon vehicle "Reflections in a Golden Eye" (1967) during this time though perhaps his most prestigious role would be the rogue who helps the two protagonists kidnap the noble in Fellini's "Satyricon" (1969). Mitchell used his extra cash to buy and build his own movie studio (Cave Studios) which he single-handedly constructed outside of Rome. It went largely unused except by ultra-low budget director Demofilo Fidani who would often cast Mitchell as well. In the late 1980's when the Italian genre film industry had basically self-destructed, unable to compete with American films even for video rentals, Mitchell packed his bags and moved back to California. Once home, he re-teamed with old friend Joe Gold to manage World Gym, at which Mitchell acted as COO and lived at the top floor of its headquarters in Marina Del Rey. Continuing for years to act in low budget films purely for the fun of it, Mitchell passed away in his sleep at age 80 in 2003. Having just won the California recall election the day prior, Arnold Schwarzenegger took time out of his busy schedule to pay his respects at Mitchell's Memorial Service at the World Gym Headquarters along with many other bodybuilders who credit Mitchell with getting them into their careers.

Known For: Acting

Born: Denver, Colorado, USA, 1923-07-29

Died: 2003-09-20

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1955	The Man with the Golden Arm		72
2	1956	Around the World in Eighty Days	Extra (uncredited)	66
3	1957	The Spirit of St. Louis	(uncredited)	67
4	1957	The Enemy Below	German Sailor	70
5	1958	The Young Lions	Minor Role (uncredited)	68
6	1959	Rio Bravo	Bar Cowboy Watching Fistfight (uncredited)	78
7	1960	Spartacus	Gladiator (uncredited)	75
8	1961	Atlas Against the Cyclops	Maciste	61
9	1961	The Centurion	General Metellus	47
10	1961	The Giant of Metropolis	Obro	46
11	1962	Vulcan, Son of Giove	Pluto	36
12	1962	Caesar Against the Pirates	Hamar	60
13	1962	Kerim, Son of the Sheik	Yussuf	50
14	1962	Invasion 1700	Ulrich	58
15	1962	The Fury of Achilles	Achilles	51
16	1963	Brennus, Enemy of Rome	Brenno	30
17	1964	Seven Slaves Against the World	Balisten	90
18	1964	The Revenge of the Gladiators	Arminio	0
19	1964	Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens	Omar	50
20	1965	Hercules and the Princess of Troy	Pirate Captain	56
21	1965	The Stone Forest	Hunding	0
22	1965	Erik the Viking	Sven	68
23	1965	Lady Morgan's Vengeance	Roger	58
24	1966	Three Bullets for Ringo	Frank	62
25	1966	Star Pilot	Murdu	45
26	1966	Thompson 1880	Glenn Sheppard	40
27	1966	Kill or Be Killed	Baltimore Joe/Ringo	30
28	1966	L'Estate	Self	65
29	1966	È mezzanotte... butta giù il cadavere	Van Himst	0
30	1967	Tutto Totò - Totò Ciak	Ringo	55
31	1967	Born to Kill	Rod Gordon	90
32	1967	The Crazy Westerners	Häuptling Sitzender Büffel	56
33	1967	Death on the Run	The Albanian	62
34	1967	Reflections in a Golden Eye	Stables Sergeant	65
35	1967	John the Bastard	Danite	65
36	1968	Phenomenal and the Treasure of Tutankamen	Gregory Falco	38
37	1968	I'll Die for Vengeance	Clayton	37
38	1968	Cheers... Cyanide!	Al Rubino	0
39	1968	Beyond the Law	Burton	58
40	1968	The Killer Likes Candy	Toni	37
41	1968	Seven Times Seven	Big Ben	68
42	1968	All on the Red	Erikson	0
43	1968	Radhapura – Endstation der Verdammten	Alfredo	100
44	1968	Dead for a Dollar	Roy Fulton	70
45	1968	Cry of Death	Donkey / Morgan Pitt	30
46	1969	The Wings of War		30
47	1969	Ora X Pattuglia Suicida		0
48	1969	Satyricon	Il predone	67
49	1969	I Am Sartana Your Angel of Death	Degueyo	63
50	1969	Lisa with the Blue Eyes	Football player	50
51	1970	The Arizona Kid	Coyote	30
52	1970	Django and Sartana Are Coming... It's the End	Black Burt Keller / Burt Kelly	45
53	1970	Dead Men Don't Make Shadows	Roger Murdock	42
54	1971	Treasure of the Lost Desert		0
55	1971	Io non spezzo... rompo	Joe il Rosso	39
56	1971	Tre nel mille		60
57	1971	Finders Killers	Chris Forest	40
58	1971	Coffin Full of Dollars	John Hamilton	53
59	1971	Adios Compañeros	Ironhead	57
60	1971	Down with Your Hands... You Scum!	Buck/Butch Bradley	0
61	1971	Let's Go And Kill Sartana	Greg "The Crazy Person"	0
62	1971	Day of Judgment	Deputy	45
63	1971	Angel's Leap	Henry Di Fusco	55
64	1971	Savage Guns	Gordon Mitchell	42
65	1971	His Name Was Pot, but They Called Him Allegria	Ray Potter	60
66	1972	Slaughter Day	Gordon	0
67	1972	A Gunman Called Dakota	Dakota	0
68	1972	The Crucified Girls of San Ramon	El Kadir	42
69	1972	My Name Is Texas Bill	Martin	0
70	1972	The French Sex Murders	Man in nightclub	48
71	1972	Go Away! Trinity Has Arrived in Eldorado	Jonathan Duke	60
72	1972	Frankenstein '80	Dr. Otto Frankenstein	47
73	1973	Anything for a Friend	Miller	50
74	1973	My Darling Slave	Von Thirac	50
75	1973	Once Upon a Time in the Wild, Wild West	Mike	70
76	1973	From the Archives of the Criminal Police	Peter Wilcox	40
77	1973	His Colt, Himself, His Revenge	Martin	100
78	1973	The Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe	Burying Sam	50
79	1974	Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks	Igor	41
80	1974	The Sewer Rats	Gordon	40
81	1974	Little Godfather from Hong Kong		70
82	1974	The Household	General Von Werner	63
83	1975	Anasının Gözü		0
84	1975	Four for All	Margherito	60
85	1975	Seven Savage Men	Cooper	0
86	1975	The Skin Under the Claws	Professor Helmut	39
87	1975	The Man from Chicago	Mike	0
88	1975	The Tiger From the River Kwai	Jack Mason	55
89	1975	Two .38 Magnums for a City of Carrion	Renato Proietti	0
90	1976	Special Squad Shoots on Sight	David	45
91	1977	Achtung! The Desert Tigers	Kommandant von Stolzen	36
92	1977	Oil	Joe	51
93	1977	Natascha - Todesgrüsse aus Moskau	Gooming	50
94	1977	The Slayers	Pablo	0
95	1978	Fists, Dollars and Spinach	Frank Stilo	0
96	1978	Operation Orient	Haine	10
97	1978	White Fang and the Kid	Morgan	60
98	1979	Santa Lucia	Amerikaner	60
99	1979	A Very Special Woman	Gordon	43
100	1979	Strategy for a Mission of Death	Paul	28
101	1979	Dr. Jekyll Likes Them Hot	Pretorius	48
102	1979	Porno erotico western	(as Charles Pendleton)	55
103	1980	Fever of 40!	Mr. Temple	0
104	1980	The Iron Hand of the Mafia	Don Nicola	68
105	1980	Emmanuelle: Queen of Sados	Robert	63
106	1980	Holocaust II	Felix Oppenheimer	35
107	1980	Umbrella Coup	Moskovitz, le tueur à gages	69
108	1981	Trois filles dans le vent	Gordon Mitchell	30
109	1981	Kopfschuß	Maserati	10
110	1981	The Doctor Prefers Sailors	killer russo	49
111	1982	Diamond Connection	Abdul Pascha	23
112	1982	Curse of the Red Butterfly	Brado	0
113	1982	The Yellow Panther	killer	61
114	1983	Secret Force		40
115	1983	The Commissioner	(uncredited)	0
116	1983	Rush	Yor	44
117	1983	Endgame	Col. Morgan	49
118	1983	If All Goes Well We Are Ruined	Jack Volpetti	40
119	1984	She	Hector	50
120	1984	White Fire	Olaf	44
121	1986	The Mines of Kilimanjaro	Rolf	20
122	1986	Cobra Mission	Col. Mortimer	48
123	1986	Three Men on Fire		60
124	1987	Commando Invasion		62
125	1987	Cross of the Seven Jewels	Black Mass Leader	18
126	1988	SFX Retaliator	Morgan	37
127	1988	Blood Delirium	Hermann	42
128	1989	Overdose	Costa	60
129	1990	The Alien Within	Dan Thorn	50
130	1995	Bikini Drive-In	Goliath	51
131	2000	Kino kolossal - Herkules, Maciste & Co	Self	0
132	2002	An Enraged New World	General Murchison	60
133	2004	Malevolence	Don Fabrizio De Martino	38

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1959	The Twilight Zone	Soldier	85
2	1965	I Spy		63
3	1982	Marco Polo	Capitano Arnolfo	68
4	1989	I promessi sposi	Don Gonzalo	64

Gordon Mitchell

Film

Television