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.
Born Claude Benton Gillingwater on August 2, 1879, in the small
Mississippi River town of Louisiana, Missouri, he was the son of James
E. and Lucy (Hunter) Gillingwater and attended St. Louis High School.
For a time he was an apprentice to a lawyer uncle, but he eventually
left home and joined a traveling stock company. Gradually building up
his nascent career on the stage, he was discovered by theater
impresario David Belasco.
Gillingwater proceeded strongly on the Broadway stage beginning with a
melodramatic role in "A Young Wife" (1899). This led to a well-received
series of parts for the next full decade in New York ranging from high
drama ("Madame Butterfly", "Du Barry") to operettas ("Mlle. Modiste,"
"The Old Town," "The Girl in the Train") to original works ("The Only
Son," "The New Secretary").
1918 was a banner year for Gillingwater for he not only appeared in the
hit Broadway show "Three Wise Fools," but also made his silent film
debut in support of Gladys Leslie and
Richard Barthelmess in
Wild Primrose (1918). This
disagreeable typecast began to assert itself with his second movie
three years later as the grumbling, icy-souled Earl of Dorincourt whose
grandson helps reveal his tenderer side in
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921),
which starred America's sweetheart
Mary Pickford in a dual role.
A rash of leading/co-starring roles came with the immediate impact of
this single success, including
Crinoline and Romance (1923)
with Viola Dana,
Alice Adams (1923) with
Florence Vidor,
Dulcy (1923) with
Constance Talmadge, and
Three Wise Fools (1923) with
Eleanor Boardman. The last film
mentioned gave him the opportunity to repeat his 1918 Broadway triumph.
More than not, however, he was supporting the Hollywood elite such as
kid star Jackie Coogan in
My Boy (1921),
Richard Dix in
Fools First (1922) and
The Christian (1923), 'Leonore
Ulric' in Tiger Rose (1923),
Alla Nazimova in
Madonna of the Streets (1924),
Ronald Colman in
Ein Dieb im Paradies (1925),
Anna Q. Nilsson in
Winds of Chance (1925), and
Colleen Moore in
Oh Kay! (1928). Sometimes his character's
names reflected his curt, stern image -- names such as John P. Grout,
Lord Storm and Simon Peck.
A founding member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences
(1927), he advanced into the talking era of films with equal verve,
although his roles were, more often than not, token grouches. Some of
his more distinctive parts came with the films
Flucht aus Paris (1935)
(as Jarvis Lorry), Mississippi (1935)
and
Der Gefangene der Haifischinsel (1936).
He proved to be an excellent crabapple foil for 20th Century-Fox moppet
star Shirley Temple in
Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)
and subsequently appeared in two more of her pictures -
Just Around the Corner (1938)
and
Little Miss Broadway (1938).
Gillingwater played a few more curmudgeons in his last years but this
period of time was to be marked by acute sadness and physical/mental
hardship. A serious accident on the movie set of the picture
Geheimnisvolle Passagiere (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 on November 1, 1939. Gillingwater left a fine
Hollywood legacy and the fun of some of his old films is watching his
vinegar turn to sugar.
