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