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
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
as Jarvis Lorry
The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
as Colonel Dyer
A Yank at Oxford (1938)
as Ben Dalton
There Goes My Heart (1938)
as Cyrus W. Butterfield
The Woman in Red (1935)
as Grandpa Wyatt
Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)
as Simon Peck
45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926)
as Old Man in Hotel Bed (uncredited)
You Can't Buy Everything (1934)
as Asa Cabot - Banker
I Loved a Woman (1933)
as Banker (uncredited)
Dumb-bells in Ermine (1930)
as Uncle Roger
Oh Kay! (1928)
as Judge Appleton
Unknown Blonde (1934)
as Papa Van Brunt, Sr.
Conquest (1937)
as Stephan
Can This Be Dixie? (1936)
as Col. Robert Peachtree
Top of the Town (1937)
as William Borden
Ann Carver's Profession (1933)
as Bingham
The Show-Off (1934)
as J.B. Preston
Little Miss Broadway (1938)
as Judge
How to Educate a Wife (1924)
as Henry Bancks
Just Around the Corner (1938)
as Samuel G. Henshaw
Baby Face Harrington (1935)
as Colton
Souls for Sale (1923)
as Self - Celebrity Actor (uncredited)
Tess of the Storm Country (1932)
as Frederick Garfield Sr
Daddies (1924)
as James Crockett
Madonna of the Streets (1924)
as Lord Patrington
The Wide Open Spaces (1931)
as Judge
Wild Primrose (1918)
as Standish
Women They Talk About (1928)
as Grandfather Mervin
In Love with Life (1934)
as Morley
For Wives Only (1926)
as Professor von Waldstein
City Limits (1934)
as Tom Oliver
Strange Wives (1934)
as Guggins
A Chapter in Her Life (1923)
as Mr. Everingham
Running Hollywood (1932)
as Claude Gillingwater
Wives Never Know (1936)
as Mr. Gossamer
That's My Baby (1926)
as John Raynor
Winds of Chance (1925)
as Tom Linton
Mississippi (1935)
as General Rumford
Illicit (1931)
as Richard Ives Sr.
The Captain Hates the Sea (1934)
as Judge Griswold
The Gorilla (1927)
as Cyrus Townsend
Calm Yourself (1935)
as Col. Allenby
Into Her Kingdom (1926)
as Ivan
Naughty But Nice (1927)
as Judge J. R. Altewood
Fast and Furious (1927)
as Smithfield
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921)
as Earl of Dorincourt
Gold Dust Gertie (1931)
as John Aberdeen Arnold
How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 8: 'The Brassie' (1931)
Actor
My Boy (1921)
as Captain Bill
Ticket to Paradise (1936)
as Robert Forbes
A Thief in Paradise (1925)
as Noel Jardine
The Great Divide (1929)
as Winthrop Amesbury
Counterfeit (1936)
as Tom Perkins
The Conquering Horde (1931)
as Jim Nabours
Husbands for Rent (1927)
as Sir Reginald Knight
So Long Letty (1929)
as Uncle Claude Davis
Daddy Long Legs (1931)
as Riggs
Cafe Society (1939)
as Old Christopher West
The Flirting Widow (1930)
as Faraday
Together We Live (1935)
as Dick
Crinoline and Romance (1923)
as Col. Charles E. Cavanaugh
Before Midnight (1933)
as John Fry
Barbed Wire (1927)
as Jean Moreau
Cheaper to Marry (1925)
as Riddle
Florida Special (1936)
as Simeon Stafford
Three Wise Fools (1923)
as Theodore Findley
Skyway (1933)
as John Beaumont
Smiling Irish Eyes (1929)
as Michael O'Connor
Mexicali Rose (1929)
as (uncredited)
Glad Rag Doll (1929)
as Sam Underlane
Idle Tongues (1924)
as Judge Daniel Webster Copeland
The Avenger (1933)
as Witt
Wages for Wives (1925)
as Jim Bailey
The Christian (1923)
as Lord Storm
Stark Mad (1929)
as James Rutherford - Expedition Leader
Green Eyes (1934)
as Steven Kester
Fools First (1922)
as Denton Drew
The Strangers' Banquet (1922)
as Uncle Sam
We Moderns (1925)
as Sir Robert Sundale
Back Page (1933)
as Sam Webster
Compromised (1931)
as John Brock
Tiger Rose (1923)
as Hector McCollins
Kiss Me Again (1931)
as Count de St. Cyr
Seven Sinners (1925)
as Pious Joe McDowell
Alice Adams (1923)
as Virgil Adams
Remembrance (1922)
as John P. Grout
The Dust Flower (1922)
Actor
Dulcy (1923)
as Mr. Forbes
Stolen Kisses (1929)
as H.A. Lambert Sr.