Rondo Hatton Awards

Rondo Hatton
Hatton's acromegalic features made him a Hollywood horror film icon.
Born	(1894-04-22)April 22, 1894 Hagerstown, Maryland, United States
Died	February 2, 1946(1946-02-02) (aged 51) Beverly Hills, California, United States
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	American Legion Cemetery
Other names	"The Ugliest Man in Pictures"
Education	Hillsborough High School
Occupation	Journalist, actor
Years active	1930–1946
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Immell James (m. 1926; div. 1930) Mabel Housh (m. 1934–1946)

Rondo Hatton (April 22, 1894 – February 2, 1946), nicknamed "the Ugliest Man in Pictures", was an American journalist and occasional film actor with a minor career playing thuggish bit and extra parts in Hollywood B movies, culminating in his elevation to horror movie star-status with Universal Studios in the last two years of his life, and posthumously as a movie cult icon. He was known for his unique facial features, which were the result of acromegaly, a syndrome caused by a disorder of the pituitary gland.

Hatton was born in Hagerstown, Maryland. The family moved several times during Hatton’s youth before settling in Hillsborough, Florida. He starred in track and football at Hillsborough High School and was voted Handsomest Boy in his class his senior year.

In Tampa, Hatton worked as a sportswriter for The Tampa Tribune. He continued working as a journalist until after World War I, when the symptoms of acromegaly developed. Acromegaly distorted the shape of Hatton's head, face, and extremities in a gradual but consistent process. He eventually became severely disfigured by the disease. Because the symptoms developed in adulthood (as is common with the disorder), the disfigurement was incorrectly attributed later by film studio publicity departments to his exposure to a German mustard gas attack during service in World War I. Hatton served in combat and served on the Pancho Villa Expedition along the Mexican border and in France during World War I with the United States Army, from which he was discharged due to his illness.