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