Popular American character actor whose burly physique and New York speech were equally suited to playing genial lugs and vicious thugs. Bendix was born in midtown Manhattan, the son of musician Oscar Bendix (not violinist/conductor Max Bendix, as is often reported). He made his film debut in 1911, at the age of five, when his father got him a small role in a Lillian Walker film being made at Vitagraph Studios, where the elder Bendix was working as a handyman. The title of this film is lost to time, and Bendix did not appear again before the cameras for 31 years.
After dropping out of high school, Bendix worked as a bat boy for the New York Giants and Yankees, and claimed to have seen Babe Ruth hit over a hundred home runs. He became interested in the theatre and joined the Henry Street Players, a settlement house company. He also worked as a singing waiter. He married in 1927 and through his new father-in-law got a job managing a grocery in New Jersey. When that business failed, Bendix joined the Federal Theatre Project, which led in turn to work with the Theatre Guild. Bendix made a success in the Guild's production of 'The Time of Your Life, ' as Officer Krupp. He was spotted in the play by Hal Roach, who signed Bendix to a film contract. Within a year he had been nominated for an Academy Award (for Wake Island (1942) and was firmly established as a major supporting player.
He achieved great popularity with the radio show 'The Life of Riley,' which ran for nine years and then became an equally popular television show. Bendix worked in films, television, and radio up until the end of his life, but always claimed the stage was his best love. Following a stomach ailment, Bendix died at 58 from malnutrition and subsequent pneumonia. His wife of 37 years, Theresa Stefanotti, and their two daughters survived him.