biography
Gordon Mitchell was born Charles Pendleton on July 29, 1923, in Denver, Colorado. Upon his parents' divorce, his mother packed up the
family and moved to Inglewood, California, where Mitchell spent his youth. He was called to duty during World War II and, unfortunately,
became a prisoner of war. When he was released after the war, he completed college studies in anatomy, biology, and physiology. He used
his degree to become a high school teacher who, among other things, taught special needs students and juvenile delinquents. According to
Mitchell, "I was given all the rough kids because of my physique. Wherever there were rowdies, I was called in."muscle beach days     LEFT: Mitchell on the beach in the 1950s with Irvin 'Zabo' Koszewski (left) and Larry Scott (right). CENTER A: On the beach. CENTER B: Mitchell (then Chuck Pendleton) on the July 1960 cover of Strength and Health. CENTER C: Mitchell with an unidentified woman and Dan Vadis. RIGHT: Classic muscle posethe mae west revue  LEFT: Souvenir program of West's Revue at the Las Vegas Sahara, circa 1956. RIGHT: Gordon Mitchell adorns Mae West on stage in 1956. Photos courtesy of Gordon MitchellGordon Mitchell appeared in more than 200 films during his lengthy career which spanned nearly 50 years. For his first film appearance, Mitchell was an extra in MGM's low-budget war flick Prisoner of War (1954; with Ronald Reagan and Dewey Martin). His film career progressed with a bit in Otto Preminger's The Man With the Golden Arm and small but important roles in The Ten Commandments (1956) and Spartacus (1960). Mitchell also appeared in L'il Abner (1959; with Leslie Parrish and Julie Newmar), in which he and Brad Harris were extras in the film. Following Steve Reeves and Mark Forest, Mitchell went to Italy in early January 1961 to star in Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops, which became a test of endurance for the rugged actor. When he landed in Italy, Mitchell recalls: "I left the plane, they put me in a taxi, [and] transported me in front of a guy who was supposed to do an interview for Leonviola." At the time, Mitchell didn't speak Italian, so this starring role proved to be quite a challenge: "They gave me this script... with a literal translation that sounded hideous. I had to fix things a little, so the words would make sense."    LEFT: Burt Nelson, Gordon Mitchell, and Dan Vadis in Italy, circa 1963. CENTER: Roger Browne, Dan Vadis, and Gordon Mitchell lift Liliana Zagra. RIGHT: Roger Browne, Gordon Mitchell, and Kirk Morris inspect the cuisine (Photos courtesy of Gordon Mitchell)Filming Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops turned out to be an exhausting experience: "The [six weeks of filming] were bone-hard labor; I didn't even know what time of day it was." Following Atlas is my personal Gordon Mitchell favorite, The Giant of Metropolis, a film which combines the Italian fusto with an interesting blend of science fiction and is a must-see film for fans of the genre. With Gordon Mitchell's acting career going extremely well, according to William Connolly, he helped his friend and former student Dan Vadis break into the Italian film industry. |
the films of gordon mitchellLi'l Abner (1959)
From the Paramount musical comedy Li'l Abner. Among those pictured are Peter Palmer, Billie Hayes, Gordon Mitchell, and Leslie ParrishAtlas in the Land of the Cyclops (1961)   LEFT: A theater marquee featuring Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops, starring Gordon Mitchell. CENTER and RIGHT: Mitchell is torturedThe Giant of Metropolis (1961)  
LEFT and CENTER: From Mitchell's starring role in his best known film, The Giant of Metropolis. RIGHT: With costar Bella CortezThe Fury of Achilles (1962)   Mitchell stars in the title role of the peplum The Fury of AchillesAli Baba and the Seven Saracens (1962)
Mitchell as Ali Baba in Ali Baba and the Seven SaracensBrennus, Enemy of Rome (1963)
Mitchell as the title character in Brennus, Enemy of RomeSeven Slaves Against Rome (1964)  
LEFT: As Balisten in the peplum Seven Slaves Against Rome. CENTER and RIGHT: Mitchell with Roger Browne and other cast membersThe Revenge of Spartacus (1965)
As Arminio in the sword and sandal adventure The Revenge of SpartacusSword and sandal films as a genre faded in the mid 1960s. Rather than packing up and heading back to America, as many of his contemporaries did, Mitchell stuck with acting. Even before the death of peplum, Mitchell had portrayed bad guys in several Italian fustos such as in Erik, the Viking (1965; with Guiliano Gemma) and Brennus, Enemy of Rome (1963; with Tony Kendall). Mitchell's costars sometimes had difficulty acting against him in the role of adversary. For example, in Battle of the Valiant, Mitchell recalls: "...We had great problems to stage a believable fight. [Tony Kendall] was a very nice person, but maybe because of differences in physique or body length, it just didn't work out the way it should, [with] the good guy's triumph over the bad guy.... I really had to force [Kendall] to get nasty; he was so hesitant!"  
LEFT: On a Vespa in the early 1960s. RIGHT: Early 1970s photo of Joe Gold, Gordon Mitchell, an unidentified woman, and Irvin 'Zabo' KoszewskiMitchell's films illustrate a variety of roles and film genres from sword and sandal flicks, spaghetti westerns, martial arts, comedies, dramas, adventure films, and horror films. He acted in a few 'A' pictures, such as Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967; with Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor). Shot in Rome, this film features a scene with Mitchell and Taylor. Mitchell remembers: "[Taylor] was really professional as a worker, not at all like a diva." On another front, Mitchell was able to lend his expertise to John Huston, the director of the film: "Once, they had prepared a scene where Liz was supposed to climb on a horse, with a little ladder. But she did it from the wrong side! It just looked silly. Everywhere there were these horse trainers standing around, and nobody said a word. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't take it any longer and went to the director." Mitchell explained to Huston that this way of mounting was absurd, and Huston quickly made the changes Mitchell had suggested. In 1970, Gordon Mitchell did a small film for a producer who paid him by giving him a piece of land just outside of Rome. Mitchell turned the parcel into a studio complete with a western town, naming it the Cave Film Studio. However, his idea proved to be mired in local red tape: "I really had no idea what I was in for. There was so much paperwork; it was awful!" The mayor of the locality, for some unknown reason, gave him only a temporary permit to build the western town. Mitchell recalls: "First, directors were a little hesitant [to shoot films at the studio] because they thought I had forgotten to get permission to shoot films there. But I had cleared everything.... Many little producers chose to shoot at my studio because it was much cheaper than the ones at Cinecitta.... We shot maybe 150 films there." Film production ceased when Mitchell's permit ran out. Thompson 1880 (1966)
From the spaghetti western Thompson 1880Moving Target (1967)
Mitchell portrays The Albanian in the crime actioner Moving TargetSatyricon (1969)  LEFT: Gordon Mitchell has fun on the set of Fellini's Satyricon. RIGHT: Scene from the filmDas Musikill (2003)
Promotional photo from Das Musikill, one of Mitchell's last filmslater yearsAfter moving back to the US in the 1990s, Mitchell remained active in films. One of his later film appearances came in the comedy Bikini Drive-In (1995; with Ross Hagen), in which Mitchell has a great cameo. Toward the end of his life, he acted in three more films: An Enraged New World (2002), Das Musikill (2003), and Malevolence (2004). Gordon Mitchell passed away peacefully in his sleep on September 20, 2003, at the age of 80. He was survived by many friends. An early marriage ended in divorce in 1950, and Mitchell had no children.
Mickey Hargitay and Gordon Mitchell in a late 1990s photo (courtesy of Gordon Mitchell)the gordon mitchell gallery       |
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