Claude Gillingwater
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Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
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
The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
as Colonel Dyer
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
as Jarvis Lorry
Wild Primrose (1918)
as Standish
Glad Rag Doll (1929)
as Sam Underlane
Unknown Blonde (1934)
as Papa Van Brunt, Sr.
Souls for Sale (1923)
as Self - Celebrity Actor (uncredited)
Daddies (1924)
as James Crockett
The Show-Off (1934)
as J.B. Preston
A Yank at Oxford (1938)
as Ben Dalton
Oh Kay! (1928)
as Judge Appleton
Conquest (1937)
as Stephan
Naughty But Nice (1927)
as Judge J. R. Altewood
There Goes My Heart (1938)
as Cyrus W. Butterfield
45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926)
as Old Man in Hotel Bed (uncredited)
The Woman in Red (1935)
as Grandpa Wyatt
Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)
as Simon Peck
Husbands for Rent (1927)
as Sir Reginald Knight
Together We Live (1935)
as Dick
For Wives Only (1926)
as Professor von Waldstein
Dulcy (1923)
as Mr. Forbes
Crinoline and Romance (1923)
as Col. Charles E. Cavanaugh
A Thief in Paradise (1925)
as Noel Jardine
In Love with Life (1934)
as Morley
Mississippi (1935)
as General Rumford
Just Around the Corner (1938)
as Samuel G. Henshaw
Ann Carver's Profession (1933)
as Bingham
Little Miss Broadway (1938)
as Judge
So Long Letty (1929)
as Uncle Claude Davis
Tess of the Storm Country (1932)
as Frederick Garfield Sr
I Loved a Woman (1933)
as Banker (uncredited)
Tiger Rose (1923)
as Hector McCollins
Madonna of the Streets (1924)
as Lord Patrington
A Chapter in Her Life (1923)
as Mr. Everingham
Baby Face Harrington (1935)
as Colton
Fools First (1922)
as Denton Drew
The Captain Hates the Sea (1934)
as Judge Griswold
The Great Divide (1929)
as Winthrop Amesbury
The Gorilla (1927)
as Cyrus Townsend
Dumb-bells in Ermine (1930)
as Uncle Roger
Compromised (1931)
as John Brock
Top of the Town (1937)
as William Borden
Women They Talk About (1928)
as Grandfather Mervin
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921)
as Earl of Dorincourt
Gold Dust Gertie (1931)
as John Aberdeen Arnold
The Dust Flower (1922)
Actor
That's My Baby (1926)
as John Raynor
Stark Mad (1929)
as James Rutherford - Expedition Leader
Strange Wives (1934)
as Guggins
The Wide Open Spaces (1931)
as Judge
Can This Be Dixie? (1936)
as Col. Robert Peachtree
Running Hollywood (1932)
as Claude Gillingwater
Ticket to Paradise (1936)
as Robert Forbes
Cafe Society (1939)
as Old Christopher West
Before Midnight (1933)
as John Fry
You Can't Buy Everything (1934)
as Asa Cabot - Banker
Three Wise Fools (1923)
as Theodore Findley
Counterfeit (1936)
as Tom Perkins
The Flirting Widow (1930)
as Faraday
How to Educate a Wife (1924)
as Henry Bancks
Winds of Chance (1925)
as Tom Linton
Skyway (1933)
as John Beaumont
The Conquering Horde (1931)
as Jim Nabours
Seven Sinners (1925)
as Pious Joe McDowell
Wives Never Know (1936)
as Mr. Gossamer
The Strangers' Banquet (1922)
as Uncle Sam
Florida Special (1936)
as Simeon Stafford
Illicit (1931)
as Richard Ives Sr.
Wages for Wives (1925)
as Jim Bailey
Daddy Long Legs (1931)
as Riggs
The Christian (1923)
as Lord Storm
Fast and Furious (1927)
as Smithfield
Barbed Wire (1927)
as Jean Moreau
How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 8: 'The Brassie' (1931)
Actor
Mexicali Rose (1929)
as (uncredited)
Stolen Kisses (1929)
as H.A. Lambert Sr.
My Boy (1921)
as Captain Bill
Smiling Irish Eyes (1929)
as Michael O'Connor
Idle Tongues (1924)
as Judge Daniel Webster Copeland
Green Eyes (1934)
as Steven Kester
City Limits (1934)
as Tom Oliver
Alice Adams (1923)
as Virgil Adams
We Moderns (1925)
as Sir Robert Sundale
Kiss Me Again (1931)
as Count de St. Cyr
The Avenger (1933)
as Witt
Remembrance (1922)
as John P. Grout
Calm Yourself (1935)
as Col. Allenby
Cheaper to Marry (1925)
as Riddle
Into Her Kingdom (1926)
as Ivan
Back Page (1933)
as Sam Webster