Cast
Claude Gillingwater
Acting
Cast
Claude Gillingwater
Known for
Acting
Born
1870-08-01
From
Louisiana, Missouri, USA
Died
1939-11-02
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. Date of Birth 2 August 1870, Louisiana, Missouri Date of Death 2 November 1939, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California (suicide)
★7.0
MOVIE1918
Wild Primrose
as Standish
★3.2
MOVIE1934
Unknown Blonde
as Papa Van Brunt, Sr.
★6.0
MOVIE1924
Daddies
as James Crockett
★6.9
MOVIE1936
The Prisoner of Shark Island
as Colonel Dyer
★10.0
MOVIE1927
Husbands for Rent
as Sir Reginald Knight
★10.0
MOVIE1926
For Wives Only
as Professor von Waldstein
★6.7
MOVIE1938
A Yank at Oxford
as Ben Dalton
★6.3
MOVIE1923
Souls for Sale
as Self - Celebrity Actor (uncredited)
★6.9
MOVIE1935
A Tale of Two Cities
as Jarvis Lorry
★6.0
MOVIE1935
The Woman in Red
as Grandpa Wyatt
★6.5
MOVIE1938
Little Miss Broadway
as Judge
★7.0
MOVIE1933
Ann Carver's Profession
as Bingham
★6.8
MOVIE1935
Mississippi
as General Rumford
★6.4
MOVIE1934
The Captain Hates the Sea
as Judge Griswold
★7.3
MOVIE1938
There Goes My Heart
as Cyrus W. Butterfield
★4.8
MOVIE1933
I Loved a Woman
as Banker (uncredited)
★6.6
MOVIE1936
Poor Little Rich Girl
as Simon Peck
★9.0
MOVIE1927
Naughty But Nice
as Judge J. R. Altewood
★6.3
MOVIE1934
The Show-Off
as J.B. Preston
★7.0
MOVIE1921
Little Lord Fauntleroy
as Earl of Dorincourt
★5.3
MOVIE1926
45 Minutes from Hollywood
as Old Man in Hotel Bed (uncredited)
★6.0
MOVIE1935
Calm Yourself
as Col. Allenby
★7.0
MOVIE1923
Crinoline and Romance
as Col. Charles E. Cavanaugh
★5.8
MOVIE1938
Just Around the Corner
as Samuel G. Henshaw
★5.7
MOVIE1931
Illicit
as Richard Ives Sr.
★4.8
MOVIE1931
Daddy Long Legs
as Riggs
★6.3
MOVIE1929
So Long Letty
as Uncle Claude Davis
★10.0
MOVIE1923
Three Wise Fools
as Theodore Findley
★6.1
MOVIE1921
My Boy
as Captain Bill
★9.0
MOVIE1932
Running Hollywood
as Claude Gillingwater
★9.0
MOVIE1929
Glad Rag Doll
as Sam Underlane
★5.7
MOVIE1930
Dumb-bells in Ermine
as Uncle Roger
★6.3
MOVIE1929
Stolen Kisses
as H.A. Lambert Sr.
★5.3
MOVIE1929
The Great Divide
as Winthrop Amesbury
★9.0
MOVIE1936
Wives Never Know
as Mr. Gossamer
★7.0
MOVIE1925
Wages for Wives
as Jim Bailey
★5.8
MOVIE1934
Green Eyes
as Steven Kester
★7.5
MOVIE1939
Cafe Society
as Old Christopher West
★7.0
MOVIE1928
Oh Kay!
as Judge Appleton
★7.0
MOVIE1931
The Conquering Horde
as Jim Nabours
★5.7
MOVIE1930
The Flirting Widow
as Faraday
★5.5
MOVIE1934
City Limits
as Tom Oliver
★9.0
MOVIE1929
Smiling Irish Eyes
as Michael O'Connor
★7.5
MOVIE1936
Ticket to Paradise
as Robert Forbes
★4.6
MOVIE1933
Before Midnight
as John Fry
★4.5
MOVIE1927
Fast and Furious
as Smithfield
★6.3
MOVIE1936
Counterfeit
as Tom Perkins
★6.0
MOVIE1937
Top of the Town
as William Borden
★7.0
MOVIE1936
Florida Special
as Simeon Stafford
★7.0
MOVIE1932
Tess of the Storm Country
as Frederick Garfield Sr
★7.0
MOVIE1934
Strange Wives
as Guggins
★10.0
MOVIE1927
The Gorilla
as Cyrus Townsend
★5.4
MOVIE1935
Baby Face Harrington
as Colton
★7.0
MOVIE1925
Cheaper to Marry
as Riddle
★6.0
MOVIE1934
In Love with Life
as Morley
★8.0
MOVIE1931
Kiss Me Again
as Count de St. Cyr
★9.0
MOVIE1923
Alice Adams
as Virgil Adams
★9.0
MOVIE1924
Idle Tongues
as Judge Daniel Webster Copeland
★6.6
MOVIE1937
Conquest
as Stephan
★9.0
MOVIE1922
Remembrance
as John P. Grout
★10.0
MOVIE1923
The Christian
as Lord Storm
★7.0
MOVIE1936
Can This Be Dixie?
as Col. Robert Peachtree
★6.5
MOVIE1925
Seven Sinners
as Pious Joe McDowell
★6.5
MOVIE1923
A Chapter in Her Life
as Mr. Everingham
★5.8
MOVIE1933
Skyway
as John Beaumont
★6.5
MOVIE1925
A Thief in Paradise
as Noel Jardine
★8.0
MOVIE1934
You Can't Buy Everything
as Asa Cabot - Banker
★7.0
MOVIE1923
Dulcy
as Mr. Forbes
★7.0
MOVIE1931
How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 8: 'The Brassie'
★10.0
MOVIE1925
We Moderns
as Sir Robert Sundale
★4.0
MOVIE1931
Compromised
as John Brock
★9.0
MOVIE1924
How to Educate a Wife
as Henry Bancks
★6.8
MOVIE1927
Barbed Wire
as Jean Moreau
★7.0
MOVIE1933
Back Page
as Sam Webster
★5.4
MOVIE1923
Tiger Rose
as Hector McCollins
★7.0
MOVIE1931
The Wide Open Spaces
as Judge
★7.0
MOVIE1935
Together We Live
as Dick
★8.0
MOVIE1922
The Dust Flower
★9.0
MOVIE1924
Madonna of the Streets
as Lord Patrington
★5.6
MOVIE1929
Mexicali Rose
as (uncredited)
★9.0
MOVIE1926
Into Her Kingdom
as Ivan
★6.0
MOVIE1931
Gold Dust Gertie
as John Aberdeen Arnold
★8.0
MOVIE1922
Fools First
as Denton Drew
★9.0
MOVIE1926
That's My Baby
as John Raynor
★5.5
MOVIE1929
Stark Mad
as James Rutherford - Expedition Leader
★6.5
MOVIE1925
Winds of Chance
as Tom Linton
★8.0
MOVIE1933
The Avenger
as Witt
★10.0
MOVIE1922
The Strangers' Banquet
as Uncle Sam
★7.0
MOVIE1928
Women They Talk About
as Grandfather Mervin