Trivia

Developed a stutter when young but it never affected his acting work. He didn't find a working cure for it until the 1980s.

Was considered for the role of Fredo Corleone in The Godfather (1972).

In the early 1990s, Austin inspired the then doorman of his building, Shane Perez, to try his hand at writing. Perez took his advice and began tooling a drama which he hoped Pendleton would one day star in. That dream became a reality when his script for Men of Means (1998) was eventually purchased and produced.

Gave Philip Seymour Hoffman one of his first acting jobs at a New Jersey theatre company.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1981 Tony Award as Best Director (Play) for directing Elizabeth Taylor in a revival of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes." Years earlier he played Leo in said play on Broadway.

Began a lifelong association in 1957 with the Williamstown Festival Theatre in Massachusetts. Met actress/wife Katina Commings a year later while they were both interns there. Years later she appeared in the Broadway production of "The Runner Stumbles" which Austin directed.

Mike Nichols liked to say that Pendleton was the only person working on "Catch-22" who wasn't afraid of Orson Welles.

Is a Professor at the HB Acting studio in New York.

He was nominated for a 1976 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Director of a Play for "Misalliance", at the Academy Festival Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

His experiences working on the film of "Catch-22" with Orson Welles eventually led, many years later, to his writing a play called "Orson's Shadow", which he has described as an apology to Welles.

Father of a daughter Audrey Christine Pendleton (b. October 17, 1979) with his wife Katina Commings.

An alumnus of Yale University.

In the 1970s he joined the Steppenwolf company as an actor and director. The company also produced a few of his plays.

He has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Muppet Movie (1979).

Performing with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline as the chaplain in the New York Shakespeare in the Park production of Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage and Her Children". (August 2006)

He was nominated for a 1980 Joseph Jefferson Award for Director of a Play for "Say Goodnight, Gracie", at the Travel Light Productions Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

He studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village in New York City.

Currently playing the part of Judge Danforth in the Steppenwolf Theatre (Chicago) production of The Crucible. (October 2007)

Named after his grandfather, Austin Campbell Pendleton (1881-1921).

Joshua Schmidt, Jan Tranen and Austin Pendleton were awarded the 2009 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work or Adaptation of Musical for "A Minister's Wife", at the Writers' Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

Performing in "The Lives of Bosie" as Lord Alfred Douglas at the Hedgerow Theatre in Media, Pennsylvania. (August 2004)

Appearing in the plays Love Song and The Sunset Limited at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. (2006)

Performing in "The Lives of Bosie" as Lord Alfred Douglas at the Arts Bank in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (September 2004)

He and his family drove to Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts to visit the college in the spring of 1956.