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Hungary’s American Man Eater
Acclaimed as an American and a “Man Eater” Mike Brendel was, in reality a Hungarian, born with the name Mihaly Orgovanyi, reportedly born in Erdőkürt, Hungary in 1910.
Admittedly he did arrive in Britain from North America, where he had wrestled in the USA and Canada after turning professional in 1931, mostly using his birth name. The name Mike Brendel appeared a couple of years after turning professsional.
He came to Europe, as Mike Brendel, in the summer of 1935, wrestling in Britain and France. He made his British debut at the Blackfriars Ring in London on 1st August, 1938, with the London Evening News reporting an easy win over Clem Lawrence. Brendel established his superiority in the first round and when he applied an arm and wrist lock early in the second Lawrence submitted and was unable to continue. . It was said that he arrived in Britain from a successful tour of South Africa, though we have been unable to verify that.
Opponents in Britain included the biggest names – Dougls Clark, Karl Reginsky, Bert Assirati, and the like. He was reputed to be a fine, skilled wrestler and one of the hardedst men in the ring. He did not seem to have wrestled continuously in Britain, also spending time in France and Spain, but was seen in 1935, 1937, 1938 and 1939.
In France he lost to Feix Miquet at the Palais des Sports in Paris on 8th October, 1938. In Spain in1936 he was the winner of a World Championship Tournament in Madrid, leaving shortly afterwards due to the intervention of the Spanish Civil War. He returned to Spain in the 1940s and became established s one of the country’s biggest stars,
We have heard reports that he served four years in a prisoner of war camp during world war 2, following which he moved to Spain.
In the 1950s he turned from wrestling to acting with more than fifty film credits between 1953 and 1969.
Mike Brendel died in Madrid, Spain on August 18, 1969.
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