Claude Gillingwater
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Tall, balding character actor in US films from 1921 until the year he died, usually portraying obstinate or irascible types. A man so disagreeable on celluloid, Claude Gillingwater's characters seemed to subsist on a steady diet of persimmons. Fondly recalled as the cranky old skinflint whose seemingly cold heart could only be warmed by the actions of a cute little tyke, the tall and rangy Gillingwater invariably played much older than he was. He, with the omnipresent bushy brows, crop of silver hair and perpetually sour puss, had a much more versatile career than perhaps realized -- on both stage and in film. Most assuredly, this caustic screen image he perfected belied a softer, gentler off-screen demeanor for he was a kind and sympathetic gent and devoted husband to wife Carlyn Stiletz (or Stellith). Their only child, Claude Gillingwater Jr., briefly became an actor himself. Sadly, Gillingwater Sr.'s thriving character career ended on a grim and tragic note in 1939. A serious accident on the movie set of the picture Florida Special (1936) (he fell from a platform and injured his back) damaged his health and threatened his career, and the death of his long-time wife Carlyn left him irrevocably depressed. Fearing the possibility of becoming an invalid and wishing not to become a serious burden to anyone, the 69-year-old actor committed suicide at his Beverly Hills home with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Gillingwater left a fine Hollywood legacy and the fun of some of his old films is watching his vinegar turn to sugar. Date of Birth 2 August 1870, Louisiana, Missouri Date of Death 2 November 1939, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California (suicide)
Known for
Credits
Wild Primrose (1918)
as Standish
Unknown Blonde (1934)
as Papa Van Brunt, Sr.
Daddies (1924)
as James Crockett
The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
as Colonel Dyer
Husbands for Rent (1927)
as Sir Reginald Knight
For Wives Only (1926)
as Professor von Waldstein
A Yank at Oxford (1938)
as Ben Dalton
Souls for Sale (1923)
as Self - Celebrity Actor (uncredited)
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
as Jarvis Lorry
The Woman in Red (1935)
as Grandpa Wyatt
Little Miss Broadway (1938)
as Judge
Ann Carver's Profession (1933)
as Bingham
Mississippi (1935)
as General Rumford
The Captain Hates the Sea (1934)
as Judge Griswold
There Goes My Heart (1938)
as Cyrus W. Butterfield
I Loved a Woman (1933)
as Banker (uncredited)
Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)
as Simon Peck
Naughty But Nice (1927)
as Judge J. R. Altewood
The Show-Off (1934)
as J.B. Preston
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921)
as Earl of Dorincourt
45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926)
as Old Man in Hotel Bed (uncredited)
Calm Yourself (1935)
as Col. Allenby
Crinoline and Romance (1923)
as Col. Charles E. Cavanaugh
Just Around the Corner (1938)
as Samuel G. Henshaw
Illicit (1931)
as Richard Ives Sr.
Daddy Long Legs (1931)
as Riggs
So Long Letty (1929)
as Uncle Claude Davis
Three Wise Fools (1923)
as Theodore Findley
My Boy (1921)
as Captain Bill
Running Hollywood (1932)
as Claude Gillingwater
Glad Rag Doll (1929)
as Sam Underlane
Dumb-bells in Ermine (1930)
as Uncle Roger
Stolen Kisses (1929)
as H.A. Lambert Sr.
The Great Divide (1929)
as Winthrop Amesbury
Wives Never Know (1936)
as Mr. Gossamer
Wages for Wives (1925)
as Jim Bailey
Green Eyes (1934)
as Steven Kester
Cafe Society (1939)
as Old Christopher West
Oh Kay! (1928)
as Judge Appleton
The Conquering Horde (1931)
as Jim Nabours
The Flirting Widow (1930)
as Faraday
City Limits (1934)
as Tom Oliver
Smiling Irish Eyes (1929)
as Michael O'Connor
Ticket to Paradise (1936)
as Robert Forbes
Before Midnight (1933)
as John Fry
Fast and Furious (1927)
as Smithfield
Counterfeit (1936)
as Tom Perkins
Top of the Town (1937)
as William Borden
Florida Special (1936)
as Simeon Stafford
Tess of the Storm Country (1932)
as Frederick Garfield Sr
Strange Wives (1934)
as Guggins
The Gorilla (1927)
as Cyrus Townsend
Baby Face Harrington (1935)
as Colton
Cheaper to Marry (1925)
as Riddle
In Love with Life (1934)
as Morley
Kiss Me Again (1931)
as Count de St. Cyr
Alice Adams (1923)
as Virgil Adams
Idle Tongues (1924)
as Judge Daniel Webster Copeland
Conquest (1937)
as Stephan
Remembrance (1922)
as John P. Grout
The Christian (1923)
as Lord Storm
Can This Be Dixie? (1936)
as Col. Robert Peachtree
Seven Sinners (1925)
as Pious Joe McDowell
A Chapter in Her Life (1923)
as Mr. Everingham
Skyway (1933)
as John Beaumont
A Thief in Paradise (1925)
as Noel Jardine
You Can't Buy Everything (1934)
as Asa Cabot - Banker
Dulcy (1923)
as Mr. Forbes
How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 8: 'The Brassie' (1931)
Actor
We Moderns (1925)
as Sir Robert Sundale
Compromised (1931)
as John Brock
How to Educate a Wife (1924)
as Henry Bancks
Barbed Wire (1927)
as Jean Moreau
Back Page (1933)
as Sam Webster
Tiger Rose (1923)
as Hector McCollins
The Wide Open Spaces (1931)
as Judge
Together We Live (1935)
as Dick
The Dust Flower (1922)
Actor
Madonna of the Streets (1924)
as Lord Patrington
Mexicali Rose (1929)
as (uncredited)
Into Her Kingdom (1926)
as Ivan
Gold Dust Gertie (1931)
as John Aberdeen Arnold
Fools First (1922)
as Denton Drew
That's My Baby (1926)
as John Raynor
Stark Mad (1929)
as James Rutherford - Expedition Leader
Winds of Chance (1925)
as Tom Linton
The Avenger (1933)
as Witt
The Strangers' Banquet (1922)
as Uncle Sam
Women They Talk About (1928)
as Grandfather Mervin