
Gus Schilling
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1908-06-20
Day of Death
1957-06-16 (48 years old)
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Gus Schilling
Biography
August "Gus" Schilling (June 20, 1908 - June 16, 1957) was an American actor.
August "Gus" Schilling (June 20, 1908 – June 16, 1957) was an American film actor who started in burlesque comedy and usually played nervous comic roles, often unbilled. A friend of Orson Welles, he appeared in five of the director's films — Citizen Kane (first screen performance), The Magnificent Ambersons, The Lady from Shanghai, Macbeth and Touch of Evil (final performance, released posthumously).
Born in New York City, Schilling had a rubber face and flustered gestures which made him a natural comedian and he began his career understudying comedy stars Bert Lahr and Joe Penner on Broadway. He soon became a favorite among burlesque comedians, who welcomed him into the burlesque profession. Schilling was in a relationship with burlesque star Betty Rowland and the couple toured in the Minsky burlesque troupe.
Orson Welles saw Schilling in New York and followed him to Florida. There Welles hired Schilling to appear in a stage production featuring several Shakespearean scenes. "I learned my part by taking the script to Welles and having him translate the lines to everyday English," Schilling recalled in 1939. Welles promised Schilling a part in Welles's first motion picture, and kept his promise: Schilling is featured in Citizen Kane (1941). This established Schilling in Hollywood movies as a "nervous" comedian (he plays a jittery symphony conductor in Olsen and Johnson's Hellzapoppin', for example). He also co-starred with character comedian Richard Lane in a series of 11 comedy shorts for Columbia Pictures; the series ran from 1945 to 1950.
Known For
Acting
(1958)
Touch of Evil
as Eddie Farnham (uncredited)
(1956)
Bigger Than Life
as Druggist (uncredited)
(1956)
Glory
as Joe Page
(1955)
Rebel Without a Cause
as Attendant (uncredited)
(1955)
Run for Cover
as Doc Ridgeway
(1954)
She Couldn't Say No
as Ed Gruman
(1952)
One Big Affair
as Mr. Rush
(1951)
On Dangerous Ground
as Lucky
(1951)
Gasoline Alley
as Joe Allen
(1951)
Honeychile
as Window Washer
(1950)
Our Very Own
as Frank
(1950)
Hit Parade of 1951
as Studio Guide
(1949)
Bride for Sale
as Timothy
(1949)
Flung by a Fling
as Capt. Gus Schilling
(1949)
He's in Again
as Gus
(1948)
Macbeth
as A Porter
(1948)
The Return of October
as Benny
(1948)
Angel on the Amazon
as Dean Hartley
(1948)
Pardon My Lamb Chop
as Gus
(1948)
Two Nuts in a Rut
as Gus Schilling, Lane's assistant
(1947)
The Lady from Shanghai
as Goldfish
(1947)
Calendar Girl
as Eddie Gaskin
(1947)
Stork Bites Man
as Hubert Butterfield
(1947)
Wedding Belle
as Gus Schilling
(1947)
Training for Trouble
as Gus Schilling
(1946)
Dangerous Business
as Alexander Pough
(1946)
Ain't Love Cuckoo?
as Gus Schilling
(1946)
Hot Water
as Gus
(1946)
Pardon My Terror
as Gus
(1945)
A Thousand and One Nights
as Jafar
(1945)
River Gang
as Dopey Charlie
(1945)
See My Lawyer
as J. Ambrose Winkler aka Winky
(1945)
High Blood Pleasure
as Gus
(1945)
It's a Pleasure
as Bill Evans
(1944)
Sing a Jingle
as Bucky
(1943)
(1943)
Presenting Lily Mars
as Scotty - Stage Manager
(1943)
Lady Bodyguard
as Bughouse Sweeney
(1943)
Chatterbox
as Gillie
(1943)
Larceny with Music
as Austin J. Caldwell
(1943)
Hers to Hold
as Rosey Blake
(1942)
The Magnificent Ambersons
as Drug Clerk (uncredited)
(1942)
You Were Never Lovelier
as Fernando
(1942)
Broadway
as Joe
(1942)
Dr. Kildare's Victory
as Leo Cobb
(1942)
There's One Born Every Minute
as Professor Asa Quisenberry
(1941)
Citizen Kane
as John
(1941)
Hellzapoppin'
as Orchestra Conductor
(1941)
The Penalty
as Bank Teller (uncredited)
(1941)
Appointment for Love
as Gus
(1941)
It Started with Eve
as Raven
(1941)
Lucky Devils
as Aloysius Grimshaw
(1941)
Ice-Capades
as Dave
(1940)
Mexican Spitfire Out West
as Hotel Desk Clark
(1940)
Pop Always Pays
as City Dump Watchman
(1940)
Dr. Kildare's Crisis
as Orderly Cleaning Window