Steve Pendleton was an American film and television actor, often cast in the role of law-enforcement officers, and he lived a life filled with various television appearances from 1952 to 1976.
He began his career by being cast in eight different roles from 1952 to 1957 on The Roy Rogers Show, a western television series. In 1955, Pendleton played the role of Baumer in "Gold of Haunted Mountain" of the CBS drama, Brave Eagle, and he also appeared as Captain Kenneth McNabb in "The Fight for Texas" of the syndicated western series, Buffalo Bill, Jr.
In 1956, Pendleton was cast as Bill Mathison in the episode "The Long Weekend" of the then CBS military drama, Navy Log, and in 1957, he appeared on two episodes of William Bendix's NBC situation comedy, The Life of Riley. He also played Marshal Purvis in "Star Witness" of another syndicated western series, Casey Jones, with Alan Hale, Jr., in the title role.
In 1958, Pendleton portrayed Sheriff Anderson in "The Louisiana Dude" of the CBS western series Yancy Derringer, and he was cast in two roles in a total of twelve episodes broadcast between 1956 and 1961 of the ABC/Desilu western television series, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, with Hugh O'Brian in the title role of deputy marshal Wyatt Earp.
Pendleton played a United States Army mayor, Benteen, in five segments, including "Dull Knife Strikes for Freedom" (May 7, 1957),and he also appeared in seven other series episodes as the character Thacker. In 1960, he was cast as Marshal McCoy in "The Town That Wasn't There" of the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, Maverick, and he played deputy Kelsey, with Lee Van Cleef as deputy Clyde Wilson, in the episode "Man on a Mountain" of another ABC/WB western, Lawman.
In 1961, Pendleton portrayed deputy marshal Ben Johnson in the episode "Death Trap" of the ABC western series, The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors. He also played Mr. Hutchins in the episode "Howard and Millie" of the CBS sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show, in 1967.
From 1968 to 1970, Pendleton had a recurring role as Mr. Bennett in six episodes of the NBC sitcom, Julia, starring Diahann Carroll, and his last role was as a businessman on the 1976 episode "The Reformer" of William Conrad's CBS crime drama, Cannon.
