Claude Gillingwater
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1870-08-01
Day of Death
1939-11-02 (69 years old)
Place of Birth
Louisiana, Missouri, USA
Claude Gillingwater
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
Acting
Alice Adams
as Virgil Adams
(1939)
Cafe Society
as Old Christopher West
(1938)
A Yank at Oxford
as Ben Dalton
(1938)
There Goes My Heart
as Cyrus W. Butterfield
(1938)
Just Around the Corner
as Samuel G. Henshaw
(1938)
Little Miss Broadway
as Judge
(1937)
Conquest
as Stephan
(1937)
Top of the Town
as William Borden
(1936)
The Prisoner of Shark Island
as Colonel Dyer
(1936)
Poor Little Rich Girl
as Simon Peck
(1936)
Wives Never Know
as Mr. Gossamer
(1936)
Ticket to Paradise
as Robert Forbes
(1936)
Counterfeit
as Tom Perkins
(1936)
Florida Special
as Simeon Stafford
(1936)
Can This Be Dixie?
as Col. Robert Peachtree
(1935)
A Tale of Two Cities
as Jarvis Lorry
(1935)
Calm Yourself
as Col. Allenby
(1935)
Mississippi
as General Rumford
(1935)
The Woman in Red
as Grandpa Wyatt
(1935)
Baby Face Harrington
as Colton
(1935)
Together We Live
as Dick
(1934)
Green Eyes
as Steven Kester
(1934)
In Love with Life
as Morley
(1934)
City Limits
as Tom Oliver
(1934)
Strange Wives
as Guggins
(1934)
You Can't Buy Everything
as Asa Cabot - Banker
(1934)
The Show-Off
as J.B. Preston
(1934)
Unknown Blonde
as Papa Van Brunt, Sr.
(1934)
The Captain Hates the Sea
as Judge Griswold
(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
(1933)
Before Midnight
as John Fry
(1932)
Tess of the Storm Country
as Frederick Garfield Sr
(1932)
Running Hollywood
as Claude Gillingwater
(1931)
Illicit
as Richard Ives Sr.
(1931)
The Conquering Horde
as Jim Nabours
(1931)
Kiss Me Again
as Count de St. Cyr
(1931)
Compromised
as John Brock
(1931)
Daddy Long Legs
as Riggs
(1931)
(1931)
The Wide Open Spaces
as Judge
(1931)
Gold Dust Gertie
as John Aberdeen Arnold
(1930)
Dumb-bells in Ermine
as Uncle Roger
(1930)
The Flirting Widow
as Faraday
(1929)
Mexicali Rose
as (uncredited)
(1929)
The Great Divide
as Winthrop Amesbury
(1929)
Stark Mad
as James Rutherford - Expedition Leader
(1929)
So Long Letty
as Uncle Claude Davis
(1929)
Stolen Kisses
as H.A. Lambert Sr.
(1929)
Glad Rag Doll
as Sam Underlane
(1929)
Smiling Irish Eyes
as Michael O'Connor
(1928)
Oh Kay!
as Judge Appleton
(1928)
Women They Talk About
as Grandfather Mervin
(1927)
Barbed Wire
as Jean Moreau
(1927)
Naughty But Nice
as Judge J. R. Altewood
(1927)
Fast and Furious
as Smithfield
(1927)
The Gorilla
as Cyrus Townsend
(1927)
Husbands for Rent
as Sir Reginald Knight
(1926)
45 Minutes from Hollywood
as Old Man in Hotel Bed (uncredited)
(1926)
That's My Baby
as John Raynor
(1926)
Into Her Kingdom
as Ivan
(1925)
Winds of Chance
as Tom Linton
(1925)
Cheaper to Marry
as Riddle
(1925)
A Thief in Paradise
as Noel Jardine
(1925)
We Moderns
as Sir Robert Sundale
(1925)
Seven Sinners
as Pious Joe McDowell
(1925)
Wages for Wives
as Jim Bailey
(1924)
Madonna of the Streets
as Lord Patrington
(1924)
Daddies
as James Crockett
(1924)
How to Educate a Wife
as Henry Bancks
(1924)
Idle Tongues
as Judge Daniel Webster Copeland
(1923)
Dulcy
as Mr. Forbes
(1923)
Souls for Sale
as Self - Celebrity Actor (uncredited)
(1923)
The Christian
as Lord Storm
(1923)
Tiger Rose
as Hector McCollins
(1923)
Three Wise Fools
as Theodore Findley
(1923)
Crinoline and Romance
as Col. Charles E. Cavanaugh
(1923)
A Chapter in Her Life
as Mr. Everingham
(1922)
Fools First
as Denton Drew
(1922)
Remembrance
as John P. Grout
(1922)
The Strangers' Banquet
as Uncle Sam
(1922)
(1921)
Little Lord Fauntleroy
as Earl of Dorincourt
(1921)
My Boy
as Captain Bill