Claude Gillingwater
88 movies
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Aug 1, 1870
- Died
- Nov 2, 1939 (age 69)
- Place of birth
- Louisiana, Missouri, USA
- Also known as
- Claude Benton Gillingwater · Claude Gillingwater Sr.
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.
Read the full biography
Date of Birth 2 August 1870, Louisiana, Missouri
Date of Death 2 November 1939, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California (suicide)
Profiles IMDb
Known for
Claude Gillingwater: movies and TV shows
Acting (88)
- 1939 Cafe Society
as Old Christopher West
- 1938 Just Around the Corner
as Samuel G. Henshaw
- 1938 There Goes My Heart
as Cyrus W. Butterfield
- 1938 Little Miss Broadway
as Judge
- 1938 A Yank at Oxford
as Ben Dalton
- 1937 Conquest
as Stephan
- 1937 Top of the Town
as William Borden
- 1936 Can This Be Dixie?
as Col. Robert Peachtree
- 1936 Wives Never Know
as Mr. Gossamer
- 1936 Poor Little Rich Girl
as Simon Peck
- 1936 Ticket to Paradise
as Robert Forbes
- 1936 Counterfeit
as Tom Perkins
- 1936 Florida Special
as Simeon Stafford
- 1936 The Prisoner of Shark Island
as Colonel Dyer
- 1935 A Tale of Two Cities
as Jarvis Lorry
- 1935 Together We Live
as Dick
- 1935 Calm Yourself
as Col. Allenby
- 1935 Baby Face Harrington
as Colton
- 1935 Mississippi
as General Rumford
- 1935 The Woman in Red
as Grandpa Wyatt
- 1934 Strange Wives
as Guggins
- 1934 The Captain Hates the Sea
as Judge Griswold
- 1934 Green Eyes
as Steven Kester
- 1934 In Love with Life
as Morley
- 1934 Unknown Blonde
as Papa Van Brunt, Sr.
- 1934 City Limits
as Tom Oliver
- 1934 The Show-Off
as J.B. Preston
- 1934 You Can't Buy Everything
as Asa Cabot - Banker
- 1933 Before Midnight
as John Fry
- 1933 Back Page
as Sam Webster
- 1933 I Loved a Woman
as Banker (uncredited)
- 1933 Skyway
as John Beaumont
- 1933 The Avenger
as Witt
- 1933 Ann Carver's Profession
as Bingham
- 1932 Tess of the Storm Country
as Frederick Garfield Sr
- 1932 Running Hollywood
as Claude Gillingwater
- 1931 The Wide Open Spaces
as Judge
- 1931 Compromised
as John Brock
- 1931
- 1931 Gold Dust Gertie
as John Aberdeen Arnold
- 1931 Daddy Long Legs
as Riggs
- 1931 The Conquering Horde
as Jim Nabours
- 1931 Illicit
as Richard Ives Sr.
- 1931 Kiss Me Again
as Count de St. Cyr
- 1930 The Flirting Widow
as Faraday
- 1930 Dumb-bells in Ermine
as Uncle Roger
- 1929 Mexicali Rose
as (uncredited)
- 1929 So Long Letty
as Uncle Claude Davis
- 1929 The Great Divide
as Winthrop Amesbury
- 1929 Smiling Irish Eyes
as Michael O'Connor
- 1929 Glad Rag Doll
as Sam Underlane
- 1929 Stolen Kisses
as H.A. Lambert Sr.
- 1929 Stark Mad
as James Rutherford - Expedition Leader
- 1928 Oh Kay!
as Judge Appleton
- 1928 Women They Talk About
as Grandfather Mervin
- 1927 Husbands for Rent
as Sir Reginald Knight
- 1927 The Gorilla
as Cyrus Townsend
- 1927 Barbed Wire
as Jean Moreau
- 1927 Naughty But Nice
as Judge J. R. Altewood
- 1927 Fast and Furious
as Smithfield
- 1926 45 Minutes from Hollywood
as Old Man in Hotel Bed (uncredited)
- 1926 For Wives Only
as Professor von Waldstein
- 1926 Into Her Kingdom
as Ivan
- 1926 That's My Baby
as John Raynor
- 1925 Wages for Wives
as Jim Bailey
- 1925 We Moderns
as Sir Robert Sundale
- 1925 Seven Sinners
as Pious Joe McDowell
- 1925 Winds of Chance
as Tom Linton
- 1925 A Thief in Paradise
as Noel Jardine
- 1925 Cheaper to Marry
as Riddle
- 1924 Idle Tongues
as Judge Daniel Webster Copeland
- 1924 Madonna of the Streets
as Lord Patrington
- 1924 How to Educate a Wife
as Henry Bancks
- 1924 Daddies
as James Crockett
- 1923 Tiger Rose
as Hector McCollins
- 1923 A Chapter in Her Life
as Mr. Everingham
- 1923 Dulcy
as Mr. Forbes
- 1923 Three Wise Fools
as Theodore Findley
- 1923 Alice Adams
as Virgil Adams
- 1923 Crinoline and Romance
as Col. Charles E. Cavanaugh
- 1923 The Christian
as Lord Storm
- 1922 The Strangers' Banquet
as Uncle Sam
- 1922 Remembrance
as John P. Grout
- 1922
- 1922 Fools First
as Denton Drew
- 1921 My Boy
as Captain Bill
- 1921 Little Lord Fauntleroy
as Earl of Dorincourt
- 1918 Wild Primrose
as Standish
Talk shows and appearances (1)
- 1923