Biography
Austin Campbell Pendleton (born March 27, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor. Pendleton is known as a prolific character actor on the stage and screen, whose six-decade career has included roles in films including Catch-22 (1970); What's Up, Doc? (1972); The Front Page (1974); The Muppet Movie (1979), Short Circuit (1986); Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990); My Cousin Vinny (1992); Amistad (1997); A Beautiful Mind (2001), which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Awar...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Magic Hour
2025
as Joseph
Harriet, a once-promising filmmaker, is stuck in the suburbs of New Jersey. Alienated from her cheating husband and spurned by her teenage daughter, s...

Between Riverside and Crazy
2023
Director
City Hall is demanding more than his signature, the landlord wants him out, the liquor store is closed—and the Church won’t leave him alone. For ex-co...

Essentials
2022
as Max
A passing joke between pedestrians in early Quarantine turns into a good excuse to slow down in this bittersweet Chicago short at the intersection of ...

The Reunion
2022
THE REUNION follows out of work actor Ricky Reilly through a nightmarish dream-like journey as he descends into the depths of New York City to confron...

Our Father
2021
as Jerry
In a last ditch attempt to foster a meaningful bond, estranged sisters Beta and Zelda go in search of their mysterious Uncle Jerry.

The Mimic
2021
as The Driver
Based on a true story, ‘the Narrator’ is befriended by his young new neighbor, after he joins the local newspaper team. Obsessed with the idea that ‘t...

Paint
2020
as Professor Jacob Winston
The story of three art-school grads realizing that their degrees and artistic ambitions haven't necessarily prepared them for the real world and putti...

Alan Pakula: Going for Truth
2019
as Self
"Alan Pakula: Going for Truth" encompasses the personal and professional life of Alan J. Pakula, a lauded filmmaker and extremely private man, who was...

The Sound of Silence
2019
as Robert Feinway
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem ...

Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles
2019
as Himself
The origin story behind one of Broadway's most beloved musicals, Fiddler on The Roof, and its creative roots in early 1960s New York, when "tradition"...

Olympia
2018
as Himself
Follow Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis behind the scenes in this affectionate profile of a stalwart New Yorker and beloved stage and screen treas...

7 Splinters in Time
2018
as Fyodor Wax
A detective investigates a murder, only to find that the victim is... himself. Soon, he discovers multiple versions of himself, not all of them friend...

Sunset
2018
as Julian
A diverse group of people grapple with the imminent probability of a nuclear strike on the east coast.

Finding Dory
2016
as Gurgle (voice)
Dory is reunited with her friends Nemo and Marlin in the search for answers about her past. What can she remember? Who are her parents? And where did ...

Starring Austin Pendleton
2016
as Self
A quirky and inspirational documentary film on the philosophical approach to the life and work of character actor, Austin Pendleton.

She's Funny That Way
2015
as Judge Pendergast
On the set of a playwright's new project, a love triangle forms between his wife, her ex-lover, and the call girl-turned-actress cast in the productio...

The Mend
2014
as Earl
Mat and Alan, estranged brothers, reunite just before Alan leaves for a vacation with his girlfriend. When he returns sooner than expected without his...

Hairbrained
2013
as Dapper Man
A fourteen-year-old genius gets rejected by Harvard and ends up at a much lower ranked school where he makes friends with a mature student.

Black Box
2013
as William Peters
A grad student in theatre directs a group of undergrads in an adaptation of a 1980s young adult novel, altering them all in unexpected ways.

Game Change
2012
as Senator Joe Lieberman
During the Republican run of the 2008 Presidential election, candidate John McCain picks a relative unknown, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, to be his r...

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
2010
as Dr. Masters
As the global economy teeters on the brink of disaster, a young Wall Street trader partners with disgraced former Wall Street corporate raider Gordon ...

5-25-77
2008
as Herb Lightman
Alienated, hopeful-filmmaker Pat Johnson's epic story growing up in rural Illinois, falling in love, and becoming the first fan of the movie that chan...

Theater of War
2008
as Self
A behind-the-scenes look at The Public Theater's production of Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage" that examines the playwright's life and ideas.

Raising Flagg
2006
as Gus Falk
A comedy centered on a handyman (Arkin) and his lifelong competition with his neighbor (Pendleton.)

Dirty Work
2006
as Julian
Bad City is the tangled story of three men's lives: Manning, a dirty, disillusioned cop; Julian, king of drugs, thugs and prostitution; and Frank, a r...

Edge of Outside
2006
as Self
An hour-long documentary designed to celebrate the spirit of the independent filmmaker from D.W. Griffith to Quentin Tarantino. Interview footage and ...

The Notorious Bettie Page
2005
as Teacher
Bettie Page grew up in a conservative religious family in Tennessee and became a photo model sensation in 1950s New York. Bettie's legendary pin-up ph...

The Civilization of Maxwell Bright
2005
as Jaurice
After a series of bad relationships, a man orders a mail order bride and receives more than he bargained for.

Christmas with the Kranks
2004
as Umbrella Santa / Marty
When their only daughter Blair leaves the family nest, Luther and Nora Krank decide to book an island cruise to beat the yuletide blues and just skip ...

Piccadilly Jim
2004
as Peter Pett
Set in the 1930s, an American with a scandalous reputation on both sides of the Atlantic must do an about-face in order to win back the woman of his d...

Strip Search
2004
as James Perley
Strip Search follows several parallel stories examining personal freedoms vs. national security in the aftermath of 9/11; two main subplots involve an...

Uptown Girls
2003
as Mr. McConkey
Molly Gunn, the freewheeling daughter of a deceased rock legend, is forced to get a job when her manager steals her money. As nanny for precocious Ray...

Finding Nemo
2003
as Gurgle (voice)
Nemo, an adventurous young clownfish, is unexpectedly taken from his Great Barrier Reef home to a dentist's office aquarium. It's up to his worrisome ...
Sick in the Head
2003
Judd Apatow TV show pilot

Wishcraft
2002
as Mr. Turner
Brett is a high-school outcast who doesn't run with the in crowd, unlike Samantha, the cheerleader he has a desperate crush on. Then one day, he gets ...

Manna from Heaven
2002
as Two-Digit Doyle
Manna From Heaven is a comedic fable about what happens when you get a gift from God (a financial windfall), but many years later you find out it was ...

Angela
2002
Manhattan- as it is every day of the week, year in, year out. Life is pretty routine for Bob, about to turn 70, yet aching for one last fling. Maybe h...

A Beautiful Mind
2001
as Thomas King
From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash Jr. experiences it all. As a brilliant but socially awkward mathematician, ...

Sounds from a Town I Love
2001
as film buff
A montage of short scenes of New Yorkers talking on their cellphones, evoking snippets of conversation overheard in passing on the streets of Manhatta...

The Concert for New York City
2001
as Austin Pendleton film buff
The Concert for New York City took place on October 20, 2001 at Madison Square Garden. It was a celebration of the strength of New York and a thank-yo...

Queenie in Love
2001
as Alvin
A quirky, romantic New York comedy about the pursuit of love, life and the right to be yourself.

Fast Food Fast Women
2000
as George
How important is the truth when falling in love? Bella is a Manhattan café waitress, about to turn 35, stuck in a long-term affair going nowhere. Paul...

The Acting Class
2000
as Bobby Austin
A comedy about an exceptionally dysfunctional acting class. Playing unsuspecting college students, Liz and Jill set off to find the most influential a...

Homicide: The Movie
2000
as George Griscom
Retired police lieutenant Al Giardello is running for mayor when he is suddenly shot at a press conference. All of the detectives, past and present, c...

Broke Even
2000
as Archie
Dot, Lem and Curry, three hapless working-class chums living in the Bronx, have a penchant for gambling. While riding a rare winning streak, they deci...

The 4th Floor
1999
as Albert Collins
A woman inherits a rent-controlled apartment and is terrorized by a neighbor.

Men of Means
1999
as Jerry Trask
In a world where two men in close proximity will eventually draw guns, Rico "BULLET" Burke finds himself at a crossroads. Having long ago ruined his b...

Joe the King
1999
as Winston
A destitute 14-year-old struggles to keep his life together despite harsh abuse at his mother's hands, harsher abuse at his father's, and a growing se...

Sue
1998
as Bob
An unemployed ex-office worker searching for work floats a fragile line of sanity as she struggles to find friendship and companionship. Her tenuous g...

Amistad
1997
as Professor Gibbs
In 1839, the slave ship Amistad set sail from Cuba to America. During the long trip, Cinque leads the slaves in an unprecedented uprising. They are th...

River Made to Drown In
1997
as Billy
Thaddeus Mackenzie, a wealthy lawyer, learns that he is dying and decides to sell all of his property and visit his old friend Allen Hayden. Allen is ...

Trial and Error
1997
as Judge Paul Z. Graff
An actor poses as a lawyer to help his sick friend, and problems develop.

The Fumbleheads
1997
as Eugene Cleft
When his town's beloved football team, the Buzzards, moves out of state, diehard fan Charlie confronts the team's greedy owner. With the help of his n...

The Mirror Has Two Faces
1996
as Barry
Rose Morgan, who still lives with her mother, is a professor of Romantic Literature who desperately longs for passion in her life. Gregory Larkin, a m...

The Associate
1996
as Aesop Franklin
Laurel Ayres is a businesswoman trying to make it but unfortunately she works at a investment firm where she does all the work but all the senior inve...

2 Days in the Valley
1996
as Ralph Crupi
In a sleepy bedroom community of LA's San Fernando Valley, the murder of a professional athlete by two hit men sets into motion a chain of events that...

The Proprietor
1996
as Willy Kunst
An expatriated French novelist returns to Paris when she learns that her childhood home is being placed on the auction block.

Sgt. Bilko
1996
as MAJ Ebersole
The US army is known for churning out lean mean fighting machines intent on protecting our great nation. Sergeant Ernie Bilko is the leader of a ragta...

Two Much
1995
as Dr. Huffeyer
Art Dodge is a painter-turned-gallerist drowning in debt. He gets in over his head when a con job leads to an engagement with a rich divorcee. He gets...

Home for the Holidays
1995
as Peter Arnold
After losing her job, making out with her soon-to-be former boss, and finding out that her daughter plans to spend Thanksgiving with her boyfriend, Cl...

The Fifteen Minute Hamlet
1995
as Hamlet
Shakespeare films Hamlet on a single reel then, after an initial screening, edits it down to the bare bones.

Don't Drink the Water
1994
as Chef Oscar
Somewhere behind the early 1960s cold-war iron curtain, the Hollander family cause an international spying incident when Walter photographs a sunset i...

The World of Jim Henson
1994
as Max (archive footage)
In this episode of PBS' Great Performances, the history and legacy of puppeteer Jim Henson is explored, from his six-second commercial beginnings to a...

Guarding Tess
1994
as Earl
Doug is a Secret Service Agent who has just completed his stint in charge protecting Tess Carlisle—the widow of a former U.S. President, and a close p...

Greedy
1994
as Hotel Clerk
Meet the McTeagues. They've come to stake a claim in their wealthy uncle's will… only he's not dead yet!

Searching for Bobby Fischer
1993
as Asa Hoffman
A seven-year-old chess prodigy refuses to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer.

My Boyfriend's Back
1993
as Dr. Bronson
Missy McCloud is the most beautiful girl in school and Johnny Dingle has been in love with her for years. One night, Johnny is killed trying to win he...

Mr. Nanny
1993
as Alex Mason, Sr.
A former pro-wrestler is hired to be the bodyguard/nanny for a couple of bratty kids whose inventor father is being stalked by a rival.

Rain Without Thunder
1993
as Catholic Priest
This evocative faux documentary imagines a dystopian near future in which the government monitors every woman's sexual activity. At its center is Alli...

Four Eyes and Six-Guns
1992
Ernest Albright opens his eyeglass store in what he thinks is a thriving community, but soon discovers that his store is just a shabby shack in Tombst...

My Cousin Vinny
1992
as John Gibbons
Two carefree pals from Brooklyn traveling through rural Alabama on their way back to college are mistakenly arrested, and charged with murder. Fortuna...

The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
1991
as Lawyer Taylor
A small-town eccentric opens a café in her decaying home.

Mr. & Mrs. Bridge
1990
as Mr. Gadbury
Set during World War II, an upper-class family begins to fall apart due to the conservative nature of the patriarch and the progressive values of his ...

Hello Again
1987
as Junior Lacey
A suburban housewife chokes to death and is brought back to life by a spell cast by her wacky sister.

Short Circuit
1986
as Howard Marner
After a lightning bolt zaps a robot named Number 5, the lovable machine starts to think he's human and escapes the lab. Hot on his trail is his design...

Off Beat
1986
as Gun Shop Salesman
Joe Gower's job is skating through library shelves, fetching books. A police officer/friend of his is chosen to participate in a charity dance perform...

My Man Adam
1985
as Mr. Greenhut
A young man meets the girl of his dreams, whereupon he finds himself involved in a murder mystery.

Talk to Me
1984
as Richard Patterson
Richard, a successful New York accountant, has a chronic stuttering problem that causes great exhaustion and personal strife for him. After trying a n...

Alice in Wonderland
1983
as White Rabbit
From the elaborate Broadway revival of the 1932 Eva Le Gallienne/Florida Friebus production comes a whimsical retelling of the Lewis Carroll classic.

First Family
1980
as Dr. Alexander Grade
When the First Daughter is kidnapped by an African tribe, the President must do what he can to keep them from sacrificing her.

Simon
1980
as Dr. Carl Becker
A group of scientists take Simon, a psychology professor, as a test person for a brainwashing experiment and try to convince him that he is a living b...

Starting Over
1979
as Paul
After divorcing his ambitious singer wife, a middle-aged man begins a new relationship with a teacher.

The Muppet Movie
1979
as Max
The Muppets gather to watch their newly-finished big-budget rich-and-famous feature film: a talent agent persuades Kermit the Frog to leave the swamp ...

The Great Smokey Roadblock
1978
as Guido
An old trucker steals his truck for one last cross-country run, with a madam and her crew on board.

The Great Texas Dynamite Chase
1976
as Fancy Car Man (uncredited)
Candy and Ellie Jo are a pair of sexy bank robbers who blast their way into small-town banks with a carload of dynamite! When they take Slim hostage, ...

Diary of the Dead
1976
as Dr. Klein
An unemployed man who lives with his wife and overbearing mother-in-law sees an opportunity to relieve himself of the old bat, which tangles him in a ...

The Front Page
1974
as Earl Williams
A journalist suffering from burn-out wants to finally say goodbye to his office – but his boss doesn’t like the idea one bit.

June Moon
1974
as Bennie
In this rousing satire a native upstate New York clerk comes to 1920s Manhattan with dreams of making in big on Tin Pan Alley.

The Thief Who Came to Dinner
1973
as Zukovsky
A computer programmer decides to become a thief. And when he starts making waves, an insurance investigator hounds him. He also meets a woman who beco...

Every Little Crook and Nanny
1972
as Luther
An Englishwoman turns nanny and kidnaps the son of an Italian gangster who took over her dancing school.

What's Up, Doc?
1972
as Frederick Larrabee
The accidental mix-up of four identical plaid overnight bags leads to a series of increasingly wild and wacky situations.

Catch-22
1970
as Lt. Col. Moodus
A bombardier in World War II tries desperately to escape the insanity of the war. However, sometimes insanity is the only sane way to cope with a craz...

Skidoo
1968
as Fred the Professor
Ex-gangster Tony Banks is called out of retirement by mob kingpin God to carry out a hit on fellow mobster "Blue Chips" Packard. When Banks demurs, Go...

Petulia
1968
as Intern (uncredited)
Dr. Archie Bollen is having a midlife crisis. He's just divorced his wife and is establishing a new life for himself. One night, he catches the eye of...

The Pitchfork Retreat
N/A
as Dr. Nacht
Three writers arrive by boat on a private island for a horror writer retreat where they are told they will compete for a life changing writing competi...