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)
Acted in
Cafe Society
1939
as Old Christopher West
Just Around the Corner
1938
as Samuel G. Henshaw
There Goes My Heart
1938
as Cyrus W. Butterfield
Little Miss Broadway
1938
as Judge
A Yank at Oxford
1938
as Ben Dalton
Conquest
1937
as Stephan
Top of the Town
1937
as William Borden
Can This Be Dixie?
1936
as Col. Robert Peachtree
Wives Never Know
1936
as Mr. Gossamer
Poor Little Rich Girl
1936
as Simon Peck
Ticket to Paradise
1936
as Robert Forbes
Counterfeit
1936
as Tom Perkins
Florida Special
1936
as Simeon Stafford
The Prisoner of Shark Island
1936
as Colonel Dyer
A Tale of Two Cities
1935
as Jarvis Lorry
Together We Live
1935
as Dick
Calm Yourself
1935
as Col. Allenby
Baby Face Harrington
1935
as Colton
Mississippi
1935
as General Rumford
The Woman in Red
1935
as Grandpa Wyatt
Strange Wives
1934
as Guggins
The Captain Hates the Sea
1934
as Judge Griswold
Green Eyes
1934
as Steven Kester
In Love with Life
1934
as Morley
Unknown Blonde
1934
as Papa Van Brunt, Sr.
City Limits
1934
as Tom Oliver
The Show-Off
1934
as J.B. Preston
You Can't Buy Everything
1934
as Asa Cabot - Banker
Before Midnight
1933
as John Fry
Back Page
1933
as Sam Webster
I Loved a Woman
1933
as Banker (uncredited)
Skyway
1933
as John Beaumont
The Avenger
1933
as Witt
Ann Carver's Profession
1933
as Judge Bingham
Tess of the Storm Country
1932
as Frederick Garfield Sr
Running Hollywood
1932
as Claude Gillingwater
The Wide Open Spaces
1931
as Judge
Compromised
1931
as John Brock
How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 8: 'The Brassie'
1931
Gold Dust Gertie
1931
as John Aberdeen Arnold
Daddy Long Legs
1931
as Riggs
The Conquering Horde
1931
as Jim Nabours
Illicit
1931
as Richard Ives Sr.
Kiss Me Again
1931
as Count de St. Cyr
The Flirting Widow
1930
as Faraday
Dumb-bells in Ermine
1930
as Uncle Roger
Mexicali Rose
1929
as (uncredited)
So Long Letty
1929
as Uncle Claude Davis
The Great Divide
1929
as Winthrop Amesbury
Smiling Irish Eyes
1929
as Michael O'Connor
Glad Rag Doll
1929
as Sam Underlane
Stolen Kisses
1929
as H.A. Lambert Sr.
Stark Mad
1929
as James Rutherford - Expedition Leader
Oh Kay!
1928
as Judge Appleton
Women They Talk About
1928
as Grandfather Mervin
Husbands for Rent
1927
as Sir Reginald Knight
The Gorilla
1927
as Cyrus Townsend
Barbed Wire
1927
as Jean Moreau
Naughty But Nice
1927
as Judge J. R. Altewood
Fast and Furious
1927
as Smithfield
45 Minutes from Hollywood
1926
as Old Man in Hotel Bed (uncredited)
Into Her Kingdom
1926
as Ivan
That's My Baby
1926
as John Raynor
Wages for Wives
1925
as Jim Bailey
We Moderns
1925
as Sir Robert Sundale
Seven Sinners
1925
as Pious Joe McDowell
Winds of Chance
1925
as Tom Linton
A Thief in Paradise
1925
as Noel Jardine
Cheaper to Marry
1925
as Riddle
Idle Tongues
1924
as Judge Daniel Webster Copeland
Madonna of the Streets
1924
as Lord Patrington
How to Educate a Wife
1924
as Henry Bancks
Daddies
1924
as James Crockett
Tiger Rose
1923
as Hector McCollins
A Chapter in Her Life
1923
as Mr. Everingham
Dulcy
1923
as Mr. Forbes
Three Wise Fools
1923
as Theodore Findley
Souls for Sale
1923
as Self - Celebrity Actor (uncredited)
Crinoline and Romance
1923
as Col. Charles E. Cavanaugh
The Christian
1923
as Lord Storm
The Strangers' Banquet
1922
as Uncle Sam
Remembrance
1922
as John P. Grout
Fools First
1922
as Denton Drew
My Boy
1921
as Captain Bill
Little Lord Fauntleroy
1921
as Earl of Dorincourt
Alice Adams
as Virgil Adams