Claude Gillingwater
Date of birth: 1870-08-01
Place of birth: Louisiana, Missouri, USA
Known for: Acting
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)
Movie Credits
Conquest
1937-10-22
A Polish countess is dispatched by her country to become Napoleon Bonaparte's mistress at the urging
That's My Baby
1926-04-19
On the eve of his wedding, businessman Alan Boyd gets a telegram notifying him that his "bride" has
Just Around the Corner
1938-11-11
Penny helps her idealistic architect father get his dream of a slum clearance project; The little mi
Fools First
1922-05-27
Tommy Frazer is one of a gang of crooks lead by "Tony the Wop". Frazer gets caught and is sent up th
Together We Live
1935-08-16
A ham-handed cautionary fable against communism, the film concerns a group of Civil War veterans who
There Goes My Heart
1938-10-14
An heiress takes a job as a department store clerk.
My Boy
1921-12-01
An orphan escapes immigration officials at Ellis Island and goes to live with an old ship's master w
Stark Mad
1929-02-02
An expedition sets out through the jungle to find a missing explorer, but stumbles upon an ancient M
The Prisoner of Shark Island
1936-02-28
After healing the leg of the murderer John Wilkes Booth, responsible for the assassination of Presid
Green Eyes
1934-06-15
The owner of a large mansion in the country throws a costume party for some of his friends. However,
I Loved a Woman
1933-09-23
The son of a ruthless meatpacking king goes through a number of changes in ideals and motivations as
Illicit
1931-02-14
Ann, a young woman with outrageously advanced ideas, has been living in sin with Dick, her lover, be
The Great Divide
1929-09-15
Stephen Ghent, a mineowner, falls in love with Ruth Jordan, an arrogant girl from the East, unaware
Mississippi
1935-03-22
A young pacifist after refusing on principle to defend her sweetheart's honor and being banished in
So Long Letty
1929-10-16
Uncle Claude comes to the Ardmore Beach Hotel to see Tommy and his wife. At the hotel, with his two
Before Midnight
1933-11-18
A detective tries to figure out who killed a man who predicted his own death.
Little Lord Fauntleroy
1921-09-15
An American boy turns out to be the long-lost heir of a British fortune. He is sent to live with the
In Love with Life
1934-05-11
Professor John Sylvestus Applegate has been dismissed from his college teaching position for objecti
Back Page
1933-11-07
A former New York reporter (Peggy Shannon) is hired as editor of a failing, small town newspaper in
Ticket to Paradise
1936-06-24
A man on his way to closing a million dollar deal has an accident and gets amnesia.
Gold Dust Gertie
1931-06-27
Early 30s pre-code comedy about a woman attempting to get her two ex-husbands to pay back alimony.
Ann Carver's Profession
1933-05-26
Newlyweds experience marital problems when the wife's highly successful job as an attorney overshado
Winds of Chance
1925-08-15
A love triangle set against the turn-of-the-century gold rush.
Dumb-bells in Ermine
1930-05-10
In a small town in Virginia, Faith Corey, daughter of a socially prominent family, meets and falls i
The Flirting Widow
1930-05-11
An older daughter invents a fiancé so that her father will allow her younger sister to marry. Howeve
Daddy Long Legs
1931-06-05
Wealthy Jervis Pendleton acts as benefactor for orphan Judy Abbott, anonymously sponsoring her in he
Running Hollywood
1932-01-27
Running Hollywood is a comedy short.
Little Miss Broadway
1938-07-29
An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people. The
Tess of the Storm Country
1932-11-20
When Captain Howland decides that his daughter Tess is getting a bit to old to continue to go to sea
Kiss Me Again
1931-01-07
An officer of the French Military is in love with a shop girl, but his aristocratic father wants him
Daddies
1924-02-09
A group of confirmed bachelors finds their informal "anti-matrimony club" turned into a home for ado
Calm Yourself
1935-06-28
A recently-fired advertising executive starts his own company, Confidential Services, to help client
The Wide Open Spaces
1931-12-28
A Wild West spoof by The Masquers Comedy Club of Hollywood.
Baby Face Harrington
1935-04-12
Thanks to a series of comic mishaps, a timid, small-town office clerk finds himself wanted by the po
The Captain Hates the Sea
1934-11-02
Alcoholic newspaperman Steve Bramley boards the San Capador for a restful cruise, hoping to quit dri
Remembrance
1922-10-01
Although he graduated from that time-worn university, the college of hard knocks, the tireless effor
The Christian
1923-01-14
Glory Quayle and John Storm, sweethearts since childhood on the Isle of Man, go to London, Glory to
Skyway
1933-08-29
A cocky young pilot, at the urging of his girlfriend, takes a nice, "safe" job at the bank where her
A Thief in Paradise
1925-06-18
Years of failure and bad luck have made Maurice Blake a beachcomber on an island in the Samoas, earn
Poor Little Rich Girl
1936-07-18
Cossetted and bored, Barbara Barry is finally sent off to school by her busy if doting widowed soap
How to Educate a Wife
1924-05-01
Business failure Ernest Todd is advised by his friend, Billy Breese, to enlist his wife's charms as
Three Wise Fools
1923-08-19
Sydney Fairchild, the daughter of a woman who was once loved by three bachelors, surprises the men w
Strange Wives
1934-11-30
When a young man marries a Russian girl, he finds that he has "married" her entire family.
Souls for Sale
1923-04-22
A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.
The Strangers' Banquet
1922-12-31
In managing the shipyard inherited from her father, Derith Keogh has considerable labor problems and
The Show-Off
1934-03-09
Aubrey cons Amy into thinking he's a railroad bigwig. When he loses his job he takes one wearing a s
City Limits
1934-04-14
The wealthy president of a big railroad, who's beginning to crumble under the combined pressure of b
Cafe Society
1939-03-03
A pampered heiress (Madeleine Carroll) elopes with a shipboard reporter (Fred MacMurray) just to get
Florida Special
1936-05-01
A Florida-bound train is filled with romance and intrigue when one of the passengers disappears whil
A Yank at Oxford
1938-02-18
A brash young American aristocrat attending Oxford University gets a chance to prove himself and win
45 Minutes from Hollywood
1926-12-26
A young man visiting Hollywood on family business gets into trouble when he sees a bank robbery in p
Mexicali Rose
1929-12-26
The owner of a border town gambling saloon falls in love with a promiscuous young girl. When she has
Compromised
1931-11-19
Poor working-class girl Stella marries wealthy Sidney Brock, recently jilted by his fiancée and soci
The Woman in Red
1935-02-16
A professional equestrian marries a polo player from a once-wealthy family, only to face the scorn o
Counterfeit
1936-05-25
A cop goes undercover to infiltrate and break up a counterfeiting ring.
Husbands for Rent
1927-12-31
A newlywed couple, after six months of marriage, decides that they've made a mistake and plan to div
Barbed Wire
1927-09-09
During WWI, a French farm girl and a German P.O.W. fall in love.
Unknown Blonde
1934-04-23
An unprincipled hustler who makes his living getting--or making up--evidence in divorce cases finds
Top of the Town
1937-04-17
In this musical set in swingin' Manhattan, an heiress plans a ballet in the famous Moonbeam ballroom
Tiger Rose
1923-12-09
Originally a Broadway play by Willard Macks, Lenore Ulric played the lead on Broadway and reprises h
Seven Sinners
1925-11-07
Six burglars separately break into the Vickers mansion on Long Island to loot the safe but catch eac
Naughty But Nice
1927-06-25
Naughty But Nice was based on The Bigamists, a story by Lewis Alen Brown. Gawky country girl Berenic
We Moderns
1925-11-15
Mary Sundale is a young woman who spurns her childhood sweetheart to attach herself to a large group
Women They Talk About
1928-08-10
Women They Talk About is a part-talkie Vitaphone film, with talking, music and sound effects sequenc
Stolen Kisses
1929-02-23
A crotchety old coot wants his son and daughter-in-law to have kids so he can have grandchildren, bu
Glad Rag Doll
1929-05-04
She sought to conquer...but found Cupid her master! This is one of many lost films of the 1920s, no
The Gorilla
1927-11-13
An ape is suspected of committing a series of murders.
The Avenger
1933-08-10
A disgraced former District Attorney plots his revenge on the members of a criminal gang who had him
You Can't Buy Everything
1934-01-26
A scorned woman dreams of revenge on the man who betrayed her.
Crinoline and Romance
1923-02-05
How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 8: 'The Brassie'
1931-08-01
Bobby Jones teaches an angry old man how to use the Brassie, while simultaneously freeing his daught
Oh Kay!
1928-08-26
On the eve of her wedding Lady Kay Rutfield runs off aboard her sloop. A storm carries her out to se
The Conquering Horde
1931-03-01
Not long after the Civil War, Texas cattle ranchers realize they have a problem--the Union Pacific r
Wives Never Know
1936-09-18
The blissful marriage of Homer and Marcia Bigelow is disrupted when Marcia hosts a party for one J.
A Chapter in Her Life
1923-09-17
Jewel stays with her grizzled, angry grandfather while her parents are overseas on business. Family
Into Her Kingdom
1926-08-08
In Czarist Russia, a young peasant boy is sent to Siberia for insulting the Grand Duchess. Released
Madonna of the Streets
1924-10-19
Rev. John Morton, who is determined to follow as closely as possible the teachings of Jesus, inherit
Cheaper to Marry
1925-02-09
Dick Tyler is the junior partner in the law firm of Knight and Tyler. He tries to convince his partn
Fast and Furious
1927-06-12
When Tom Brown, a wealthy young bachelor with a reckless penchant for speed, wrecks his car in an ac
Dulcy
1923-08-27
Dulcy, a devoted but scatterbrained bride, tries to improve her absent husband's finances by invitin
A Tale of Two Cities
1935-12-25
Set against the conditions leading up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, French docto
Can This Be Dixie?
1936-11-13
A young girl and her uncle who run a traveling medicine show lend their efforts to salvage an old pl
Idle Tongues
1924-12-21
After serving 5 years in prison for embezzling church funds, Dr. Ephraim Nye returns to Ostable and
Smiling Irish Eyes
1929-07-22
A pretty, young violinist who travels from Ireland to America to seek fame and fortune on Broadway f
Wages for Wives
1925-12-15
Nell Bailey, taking a lesson from the married lives of her sister, Luella Logan, and her mother, agr
Alice Adams
1923-04-08
Alice (Florence Vidor) is not satisfied with her family's financial situation and tries to convince
The Dust Flower
1922-07-02
Trying to escape her gloomy existence, Letty attempts suicide but is stopped by Rashleigh Allerton,