| Austin Pendleton | |
|---|---|
 In a scene from Catch-22 |
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| Born | March 27 1940 Warren, Ohio |
Austin Pendleton (born March 27, 1940) is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor. Born in Warren, Ohio, Pendleton is a graduate of Yale University, where he was a member of Scroll and Key Society. As a stage actor, he has appeared in The Last Sweet Days of Isaac (for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance), The Diary of Anne Frank, Grand Hotel, Goodtime Charley, The Little Foxes, Fiddler on the Roof, and Up from Paradise. Pendleton penned the plays Uncle Bob, Booth, and Orson's Shadow, all of which were staged off-Broadway. His direction of Elizabeth Taylor and Maureen Stapleton in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes garnered him a Tony Award nomination. Additional directing credits include Spoils of War by Michael Weller, The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt, and The Size of the World by Charles Evered. Pendleton served as Artistic Director for Circle Repertory Company with associate artistic director Lynne Thigpen. Pendleton is an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. He began his artistic relationship there by directing Say Goodnight, Gracie for the 1979-80 season. In addition to directing at Steppenwolf, Mr. Pendleton has appeared as an actor in such Steppenwolf productions as Uncle Vanya, Valparaiso and Educating Rita. Pendleton's film work is as diverse as:
- A Beautiful Mind
- What's Up, Doc?
- Skidoo
- Searching for Bobby Fischer
- Catch-22
- The Front Page
- Short Circuit
- Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
- My Cousin Vinny
- The Muppet Movie
He has had several television roles as well including a recurring role on HBO's Oz. Pendleton appeared in Bertholt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline in the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater production directed by George C. Wolfe at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park in August 2006. In 2007, he appeared in the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park performance of Romeo and Juliet as Friar Lawrence. Pendleton teaches acting at the HB Studio in Greenwich Village.
