Former Olympic wrestler turned actor.
Two-time Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) champion (1914-1915) in the 175-lb class while at Columbia University, from which he graduated in 1916.
Due to his enviable musculature, he nabbed a minor strongman role named MacHardie in the Marx Brothers feature Horse Feathers (1932). The role was obviously modeled after Ziegfeld Follies star Eugen Sandow. Nat was so convincing in the part that when MGM made Great Ziegfeld, The (1936) four years later, it cast him in the part of Sandow, for which he received excellent reviews.
Wrestled for the United States at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium, earning a silver medal, and lost only one match due to a controversial point-decision. After the Games, Ned became a fan-favorite pro-wrestler, which led to Hollywood.
On the 1920 census he was living in Manhattan with his Puerto Rican first wife Juanita Alfonzo, working as a sports manager.
