Name
Claude Gillingwater
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1870-08-01
Deathday
1939-11-02 (69 years old)
Place of Birth
Louisiana, Missouri, USA
Biography
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
6.318
A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star....
6.9
After healing the leg of the murderer John Wilkes Booth — responsible for the assassinat...
6.5
An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business pe...
6.025
A professional equestrian marries a polo player from a once-wealthy family, only to face t...
4.786
The son of a ruthless meatpacking king goes through a number of changes in ideals and moti...
7.267
An heiress takes a job as a department store clerk....
6.6
Cossetted and bored, Barbara Barry is finally sent off to school by her busy if doting wid...
- 1937 Conquest as Stephan
- 1926 That's My Baby as John Raynor
- 1938 Just Around the Corner as Samuel G. Henshaw
- 1922 Fools First as Denton Drew
- 1935 Together We Live as Dick
- 1938 There Goes My Heart as Cyrus W. Butterfield
- 1921 My Boy as Captain Bill
- 1929 Stark Mad as James Rutherford - Expedition Leader
- 1936 The Prisoner of Shark Island as Colonel Dyer
- 1934 Green Eyes as Steven Kester
- 1933 I Loved a Woman as Banker (uncredited)
- 1931 Illicit as Richard Ives Sr.
- 1929 The Great Divide as Winthrop Amesbury
- 1935 Mississippi as General Rumford
- 1929 So Long Letty as Uncle Claude Davis
- 1933 Before Midnight as John Fry
- 1921 Little Lord Fauntleroy as Earl of Dorincourt
- 1934 In Love with Life as Morley
- 1933 Back Page as Sam Webster
- 1936 Ticket to Paradise as Robert Forbes
- 1931 Gold Dust Gertie as John Aberdeen Arnold
- 1933 Ann Carver's Profession as Bingham
- 1925 Winds of Chance as Tom Linton
- 1930 Dumb-bells in Ermine as Uncle Roger
- 1930 The Flirting Widow as Faraday
- 1931 Daddy Long Legs as Riggs
- 1932 Running Hollywood as Claude Gillingwater
- 1938 Little Miss Broadway as Judge
- 1932 Tess of the Storm Country as Frederick Garfield Sr
- 1931 Kiss Me Again as Count de St. Cyr
- 1924 Daddies as James Crockett
- 1935 Calm Yourself as Col. Allenby
- 1931 The Wide Open Spaces as Judge
- 1935 Baby Face Harrington as Colton
- 1934 The Captain Hates the Sea as Judge Griswold
- 1922 Remembrance as John P. Grout
- 1923 The Christian as Lord Storm
- 1933 Skyway as John Beaumont
- 1925 A Thief in Paradise as Noel Jardine
- 1936 Poor Little Rich Girl as Simon Peck
- 1923 Three Wise Fools as Theodore Findley
- 1924 How to Educate a Wife as Henry Bancks
- 1934 Strange Wives as Guggins
- 1923 Souls for Sale as Self - Celebrity Actor (uncredited)
- 1922 The Strangers' Banquet as Uncle Sam
- 1934 The Show-Off as J.B. Preston
- 1934 City Limits as Tom Oliver
- 1939 Cafe Society as Old Christopher West
- 1936 Florida Special as Simeon Stafford
- 1938 A Yank at Oxford as Ben Dalton
- 1926 45 Minutes from Hollywood as Old Man in Hotel Bed (uncredited)
- 1929 Mexicali Rose as (uncredited)
- 1931 Compromised as John Brock
- 1935 The Woman in Red as Grandpa Wyatt
- 1936 Counterfeit as Tom Perkins
- 1927 Husbands for Rent as Sir Reginald Knight
- 1927 Barbed Wire as Jean Moreau
- 1934 Unknown Blonde as Papa Van Brunt, Sr.
- 1937 Top of the Town as William Borden
- 1923 Tiger Rose as Hector McCollins
- 1925 Seven Sinners as Pious Joe McDowell
- 1927 Naughty But Nice as Judge J. R. Altewood
- 1925 We Moderns as Sir Robert Sundale
- 1928 Women They Talk About as Grandfather Mervin
- 1929 Stolen Kisses as H.A. Lambert Sr.
- 1929 Glad Rag Doll as Sam Underlane
- 1927 The Gorilla as Cyrus Townsend
- 1933 The Avenger as Witt
- 1934 You Can't Buy Everything as Asa Cabot - Banker
- 1923 Crinoline and Romance as Col. Charles E. Cavanaugh
- 1931 How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 8: 'The Brassie'
- 1928 Oh Kay! as Judge Appleton
- 1931 The Conquering Horde as Jim Nabours
- 1936 Wives Never Know as Mr. Gossamer
- 1923 A Chapter in Her Life as Mr. Everingham
- 1926 Into Her Kingdom as Ivan
- 1924 Madonna of the Streets as Lord Patrington
- 1925 Cheaper to Marry as Riddle
- 1927 Fast and Furious as Smithfield
- 1923 Dulcy as Mr. Forbes
- 1935 A Tale of Two Cities as Jarvis Lorry
- 1936 Can This Be Dixie? as Col. Robert Peachtree
- 1924 Idle Tongues as Judge Daniel Webster Copeland
- 1929 Smiling Irish Eyes as Michael O'Connor
- 1925 Wages for Wives as Jim Bailey
- 1923 Alice Adams as Virgil Adams
- 1922 The Dust Flower
- 1926 For Wives Only as Professor von Waldstein
- 1918 Wild Primrose as Standish
