Gordon Mitchell
Biography
Gordon Mitchell was an American bodybuilder and actor who spent much of his screen career in Italy, starring in muscleman adventure films and Spaghetti Westerns. He was born in Denver, Colorado, and worked as a Los Angeles high school teacher and counselor before taking extra film work, including The Ten Commandments. A photograph he sent to an Italian producer earned him a contract, and he went to Rome, where he was renamed Gordon Mitchell. He found roles in films like Sinbad and Treasure of the Petrified Forest (1965), then in westerns including Beyond the Law and Savage Guns, and he appeared in Federico Fellini's Fellini Satyricon (1969). From the early 1970s he moved into horror, exploitation and post-apocalyptic movies, among them Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks and Endgame (1983), and he also took roles in low-budget action productions shot in the Philippines. He largely retired from acting after returning to the United States, dying in 2003.
80years old at death
- Born Denver
- Died Marina del Rey
- Star sign: LeoThe sign runs July 23 to August 22
Movie Career
- Films
- 10
- Career span
- 26 years1957 to 1983
Genres
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Big break
Mitchell was among the American bodybuilder-actors who went to Italy following Steve Reeves' success in the 1958 film Hercules. An Italian producer signed him to a contract after he mailed a photo.
About the name
Before he went to Italy, a clairvoyant asked Mitchell whether he had ever been known as Gordon Mitchell; he said no, but on arriving in Rome he was handed that new name.
First role
Mitchell's earliest screen work was as an uncredited extra, including dragging Charlton Heston's Moses to Yul Brynner's Pharaoh in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments.
First role
Mae West chose Mitchell to be part of her nightclub act, where he appeared in her buffed all-male chorus line.
A change of course
In the late 1980s Mitchell came back to the United States and mostly retired from acting. He then became chief operating officer of World Gym in Marina Del Rey, California.
Gordon Mitchell movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
- Reflections in a Golden Eye1967 Drama, Romance, Thrilleras Stables Sergeant
IMDb rating 6.78.9K votes
Most often with
Demofilo Fidani directed three of these films. Klaus Kinski appears in four of them, more than any other actor. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Klaus Kinski's page
Jack Betts's page
Benito Pacifico's page
Amerigo Castrighella's page
Giglio Gigli's page
George Eastman's page
Demofilo FidaniDirector, 3 films, 1970 to 1971
Also two films together9 more actors
- Ettore ManniDead Men Don't Make Shadows (1970) and I Am Sartana Your Angel of Death (1969)
- Attilio DottesioCoffin Full of Dollars (1971) and Dead Men Don't Make Shadows (1970)
- Federico BoidoThe Fighting Fists of Shanghai Joe (1973) and I Am Sartana Your Angel of Death (1969)
- Jeff CameronAdios Compañeros (1971) and Coffin Full of Dollars (1971)
- Luciano ContiAdios Compañeros (1971) and Coffin Full of Dollars (1971)
- Renzo ArboreAdios Compañeros (1971) and Coffin Full of Dollars (1971)
- Pietro FumelliAdios Compañeros (1971) and Dead Men Don't Make Shadows (1970)
- Simonetta VitelliCoffin Full of Dollars (1971) and Dead Men Don't Make Shadows (1970)
- Manlio SalvatoriAdios Compañeros (1971) and Dead Men Don't Make Shadows (1970)
When several people share the same number of films, the ones with the most films on Netflix are in the chart.
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.