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