🎬 Movies Mates PEOPLE
Claude Gillingwater
Acting
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 o…
Read full 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)
Biography expanded
BODY OF WORK
Claude Gillingwater's Filmography
Select any movie to open its full Movies Mates details page.
Cafe Society
as Old Christopher West
Just Around the Corner
as Samuel G. Henshaw
There Goes My Heart
as Cyrus W. Butterfield
Little Miss Broadway
as Judge
A Yank at Oxford
as Ben Dalton
Conquest
as Stephan
Top of the Town
as William Borden
Can This Be Dixie?
as Col. Robert Peachtree
Wives Never Know
as Mr. Gossamer
Poor Little Rich Girl
as Simon Peck
Ticket to Paradise
as Robert Forbes
Counterfeit
as Tom Perkins
Florida Special
as Simeon Stafford
The Prisoner of Shark Island
as Colonel Dyer
A Tale of Two Cities
as Jarvis Lorry
Together We Live
as Dick
Calm Yourself
as Col. Allenby
Baby Face Harrington
as Colton
Mississippi
as General Rumford
The Woman in Red
as Grandpa Wyatt
Strange Wives
as Guggins
The Captain Hates the Sea
as Judge Griswold
Green Eyes
as Steven Kester
In Love with Life
as Morley
Unknown Blonde
as Papa Van Brunt, Sr.
City Limits
as Tom Oliver
The Show-Off
as J.B. Preston
You Can't Buy Everything
as Asa Cabot - Banker
Before Midnight
as John Fry
Back Page
as Sam Webster
I Loved a Woman
as Banker (uncredited)
Skyway
as John Beaumont
The Avenger
as Witt
Ann Carver's Profession
as Bingham
Tess of the Storm Country
as Frederick Garfield Sr
No Poster
Running Hollywood
as Claude Gillingwater
The Wide Open Spaces
as Judge
Compromised
as John Brock
How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 8: 'The Brassie'
Gold Dust Gertie
as John Aberdeen Arnold
Daddy Long Legs
as Riggs
The Conquering Horde
as Jim Nabours
Illicit
as Richard Ives Sr.
Kiss Me Again
as Count de St. Cyr
The Flirting Widow
as Faraday
Dumb-bells in Ermine
as Uncle Roger
Mexicali Rose
as (uncredited)
So Long Letty
as Uncle Claude Davis
The Great Divide
as Winthrop Amesbury
Smiling Irish Eyes
as Michael O'Connor
Glad Rag Doll
as Sam Underlane
Stolen Kisses
as H.A. Lambert Sr.
Stark Mad
as James Rutherford - Expedition Leader
Oh Kay!
as Judge Appleton
Women They Talk About
as Grandfather Mervin
Husbands for Rent
as Sir Reginald Knight
The Gorilla
as Cyrus Townsend
Barbed Wire
as Jean Moreau
Naughty But Nice
as Judge J. R. Altewood
Fast and Furious
as Smithfield
45 Minutes from Hollywood
as Old Man in Hotel Bed (uncredited)
For Wives Only
as Professor von Waldstein
Into Her Kingdom
as Ivan
No Poster
That's My Baby
as John Raynor
Wages for Wives
as Jim Bailey
We Moderns
as Sir Robert Sundale
Seven Sinners
as Pious Joe McDowell
Winds of Chance
as Tom Linton
A Thief in Paradise
as Noel Jardine
Cheaper to Marry
as Riddle
Idle Tongues
as Judge Daniel Webster Copeland
Madonna of the Streets
as Lord Patrington
How to Educate a Wife
as Henry Bancks
Daddies
as James Crockett
Tiger Rose
as Hector McCollins
A Chapter in Her Life
as Mr. Everingham
Dulcy
as Mr. Forbes
Three Wise Fools
as Theodore Findley
Souls for Sale
as Self - Celebrity Actor (uncredited)
Alice Adams
as Virgil Adams
Crinoline and Romance
as Col. Charles E. Cavanaugh
The Christian
as Lord Storm
The Strangers' Banquet
as Uncle Sam
Remembrance
as John P. Grout
The Dust Flower
Fools First
as Denton Drew
My Boy
as Captain Bill
Little Lord Fauntleroy
as Earl of Dorincourt
Wild Primrose
as Standish