Claude Gillingwater

Acting

Claude Gillingwater

Born — Died

1870-08-01 — 1939-11-02

Place of birth

Louisiana, Missouri, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

60 titles

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…

Known for

Film credits

1930s · 33 titles

A Yank at Oxford poster
6.8

A brash young American aristocrat attending Oxford University gets a chance to prove himself and win the heart of his antagonist's sister.

A Yank at Oxford

1938

The Prisoner of Shark Island poster
6.8

After healing the leg of the murderer John Wilkes Booth — responsible for the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln — Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, considered part of the atrocious conspiracy, is sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to the sinister Shark Island Prison.

The Prisoner of Shark Island

1936

A Tale of Two Cities poster
6.9

Set against the conditions leading up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, French doctor Alexandre Manette serves an 18-year imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, followed by his release to live in London with the daughter he has never met.

A Tale of Two Cities

1935

Conquest poster
6.6

A Polish countess is dispatched by her country to become Napoleon Bonaparte's mistress at the urging of Polish leaders, who feel she might influence him to support Polish independence.

Conquest

1937

Little Miss Broadway poster
6.5

An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people. The hotel's owner doesn't like the entertainers and wants the girl returned to the orphanage.

Little Miss Broadway

1938

Poor Little Rich Girl poster
6.6

Cossetted and bored, Barbara Barry is finally sent off to school by her busy if doting widowed soap manufacturer father. When her nurse is injured en route, Barbara finds herself alone in town, ending up as part of radio song-and-dance act Dolan and Dolan sponsored by a rival soap company.

Poor Little Rich Girl

1936

The Woman in Red poster
6.0

A professional equestrian marries a polo player from a once-wealthy family, only to face the scorn of his snobbish relatives. When she becomes entangled in a murder trial, she must choose between protecting her reputation and saving the man she loves.

The Woman in Red

1935

Tess of the Storm Country poster
7.0

When Captain Howland decides that his daughter Tess is getting a bit to old to continue to go to sea with him, they move into a small cottage on the coast of Maine, but not for long. A local millionaire, Frederick Garfield, lays a false claim to the property and has them evicted. Later, when Tess saves a young man about her age from drowning, she is a bit dismayed to learn that he is Garfield's son. But when her father is jailed on a false-accusation charge of murder, the younger Garfield comes to their aid and proves he himself.

Tess of the Storm Country

1932

Together We Live poster
7.0

A ham-handed cautionary fable against communism, the film concerns a group of Civil War veterans who are appalled by the burgeoning radical movement in America.

Together We Live

1935

Unknown Blonde poster
3.2

An unprincipled hustler who makes his living getting--or making up--evidence in divorce cases finds that he's framing his own daughter.

Unknown Blonde

1934

There Goes My Heart poster
7.3

An heiress takes a job as a department store clerk.

There Goes My Heart

1938

I Loved a Woman poster
4.8

The son of a ruthless meatpacking king goes through a number of changes in ideals and motivations as he reluctantly inherits the mantle and falls in love.

I Loved a Woman

1933

Ticket to Paradise poster
7.5

A man on his way to closing a million dollar deal has an accident and gets amnesia.

Ticket to Paradise

1936

Baby Face Harrington poster
5.4

Thanks to a series of comic mishaps, a timid, small-town office clerk finds himself wanted by the police and labeled by the media as "Public Enemy No. 2."

Baby Face Harrington

1935

Just Around the Corner poster
5.8

Penny helps her idealistic architect father get his dream of a slum clearance project; The little miss dances with Corporal Jones.

Just Around the Corner

1938

The Captain Hates the Sea poster
6.4

Alcoholic newspaperman Steve Bramley boards the San Capador for a restful cruise, hoping to quit drinking and begin writing a book. Also on board are Steve's friend Schulte, a private detective hoping to nab criminal Danny Checkett with a fortune in stolen bonds. Steve begins drinking, all the while observing the various stories of other passengers on board, several of whom turn out not to be who they seem to be.

The Captain Hates the Sea

1934

Before Midnight poster
4.6

A detective tries to figure out who killed a man who predicted his own death.

Before Midnight

1933

Wives Never Know poster
9.0

The blissful marriage of Homer and Marcia Bigelow is disrupted when Marcia hosts a party for one J. Hugh Ramsay, author of the bestselling book, "Marriage—The Living Death".

Wives Never Know

1936

Mississippi poster
6.8

A young pacifist, after refusing on principle to defend her sweetheart's honor and being banished in disgrace, joins a riverboat troupe as a singer, acquires a reputation as a crackshot after a saloon brawl in which the villain of the piece accidentally kills himself with his own gun, falls in love with his former fianceé's sister and finally bullies an apprehensive family into accepting him.

Mississippi

1935

Ann Carver's Profession poster
7.0

Newlyweds experience marital problems when the wife's highly successful job as an attorney overshadows her husband's stagnant career.

Ann Carver's Profession

1933

You Can't Buy Everything poster
8.0

A scorned woman dreams of revenge on the man who betrayed her.

You Can't Buy Everything

1934

The Show-Off poster
6.2

Aubrey cons Amy into thinking he's a railroad bigwig. When he loses his job he takes one wearing a sandwich board. After he helps Joe sell his patent for a good price and an old railroad deal comes through, he's back on top and ready to marry Amy again.

The Show-Off

1934

Counterfeit poster
6.2

A cop goes undercover to infiltrate and break up a counterfeiting ring.

Counterfeit

1936

Florida Special poster
7.0

A Florida-bound train is filled with romance and intrigue when one of the passengers disappears while carrying $11-million in unset jewels.

Florida Special

1936

How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 8: 'The Brassie' poster
7.0

Bobby Jones teaches an angry old man how to use the Brassie, while simultaneously freeing his daughter from his oppressive clutches.

How I Play Golf, by Bobby Jones No. 8: 'The Brassie'

1931

Strange Wives poster
7.0

When a young man marries a Russian girl, he finds that he has "married" her entire family.

Strange Wives

1934

Dumb-bells in Ermine poster
5.7

In a small town in Virginia, Faith Corey, daughter of a socially prominent family, meets and falls in love with Jerry Malone, a prizefighter, though her straitlaced mother wants her to marry Siegfried, a spellbinding "missionary reformer." Though Grandma Corey promotes the romance with the prizefighter, Mike, the fighter's hardboiled, wisecracking manager, tries to keep them apart; following a quarrel, Faith reconciles herself to marrying Siegfried, but when he invites a group of "weak sisters" to a revival meeting, he is disgraced when one accuses him of her downfall. Finally, with Mike's advice, Jerry wins back Faith and they are united with the family's blessings.

Dumb-bells in Ermine

1930

In Love with Life poster
5.7

Professor John Sylvestus Applegate has been dismissed from his college teaching position for objecting too loudly to the predominant part that football and other sports play in the curriculum, and soon finds himself dead broke when publishers show no interest in the dry material he brings to them. He meets a young boy, Laury and his mother, Sharon in the park and is quite taken with them. He gets a job-prospect letter, as a private tutor, and applies at once. His employer is Mr. Morley, a surly, sour, mean-tempered old man who informs John he is to act as a tutor for his grandson, who turns out to be Laury. Sharon, Morleys daughter had eloped against her father's wishes and was abandoned by her husband after Laury's birth.

In Love with Life

1934

Calm Yourself poster
6.0

A recently-fired advertising executive starts his own company, Confidential Services, to help clients solve their unusual and problematic situations.

Calm Yourself

1935

Back Page poster
6.9

A former New York reporter (Peggy Shannon) is hired as editor of a failing, small town newspaper in California.

Back Page

1933

The Conquering Horde poster
7.0

Not long after the Civil War, Texas cattle ranchers realize they have a problem--the Union Pacific railroad is bypassing their state and make it near impossible to get their cattle to market. Many ranchers are being forced to sell their land, and crooked state treasure Marvin Fletcher buys up the land at pennies on the dollar. However, Laguna del Sol Ranch owner Taisie Lockhart and her ranch hands are holding out. Cowboy Dan McMasters returns to the ranch and tries to rekindle his romance with Taisie, but she rejects him because he fought for the North during the war. But what she doesn't know is that Dan is on an undercover mission from the President to investigate Fletcher, and in order to do that he has to pretend to be sympathetic to Fletcher and goes to work for him, angering Taisie even more. Complications ensue.

The Conquering Horde

1931

Can This Be Dixie? poster
7.0

A young girl and her uncle who run a traveling medicine show lend their efforts to salvage an old plantation.

Can This Be Dixie?

1936

Cafe Society poster
7.5

A pampered heiress (Madeleine Carroll) elopes with a shipboard reporter (Fred MacMurray) just to get her name in a society column.

Cafe Society

1939

1920s · 26 titles

45 Minutes from Hollywood poster
5.3

A young man visiting Hollywood on family business gets into trouble when he sees a bank robbery in progress, and thinks it is a movie scene.

45 Minutes from Hollywood

1926

Naughty But Nice poster
9.0

Naughty But Nice was based on The Bigamists, a story by Lewis Alen Brown. Gawky country girl Berenice Summers (Colleen Moore) is catapulted head-first into High Society when her Uncle Seth (Burr McIntosh) strikes oil. Shipped off to a fancy boarding school, Berenice suffers at the hands of her snooty classmates, but the last straw comes when she's publicly humiliated by local wise-guy Paul Carroll (Donald Reed).

Naughty But Nice

1927

Three Wise Fools poster
10.0

Sydney Fairchild, the daughter of a woman who was once loved by three bachelors, surprises the men with a visit. Findley, Trumbull, and Gaunt honor their former sweetheart's last request by becoming Sydney's guardians.

Three Wise Fools

1923

Souls for Sale poster
6.3

A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.

Souls for Sale

1923

The Great Divide poster
5.3

Stephen Ghent, a mineowner, falls in love with Ruth Jordan, an arrogant girl from the East, unaware that she is the daughter of his dead partner. Ruth is vacationing in Arizona and Mexico with a fast set of friends, including her fiancé, Edgar. Manuella, a Spanish halfbreed hopelessly in love with Ghent, causes Ruth to return to her fiancé when she insinuates that Ghent belongs to her. Ghent follows Ruth, kidnaps her, and takes her into the wilderness to endure hardship. There she discovers that she loves Ghent, and she discards Edgar in favor of him.

The Great Divide

1929

Madonna of the Streets poster
9.0

Rev. John Morton, who is determined to follow as closely as possible the teachings of Jesus, inherits a considerable fortune when his uncle dies. Shortly thereafter he succumbs to the wiles of Mary Carlson and marries her. To Mary's dismay, John uses his money for charitable work. When John learns that not only has Mary been unfaithful to him but she was also his uncle's mistress and became Mrs. Morton in order to share the inheritance she believed to be rightfully hers, he sends her away with his secretary.

Madonna of the Streets

1924

Into Her Kingdom poster
9.0

In Czarist Russia, a young peasant boy is sent to Siberia for insulting the Grand Duchess. Released years later, he joins the fighting to overthrow the royal family. The entire royal family is condemned to death when fighting ceases.

Into Her Kingdom

1926

A Thief in Paradise poster
6.5

Years of failure and bad luck have made Maurice Blake a beachcomber on an island in the Samoas, earning a precarious living by diving for pearls with Philip Jardine, the disinherited son of a San Francisco millionaire. When Philip is killed by a shark, his half caste common-law wife, Rosa, informs Maurice that Philip had been forgiven by his father, and she persuades him to assume Philip's identity and return to the States - The film is now considered a lost film.

A Thief in Paradise

1925

Remembrance poster
9.0

Although he graduated from that time-worn university, the college of hard knocks, the tireless efforts of John P. Grout have paid off. He owns a number of department stores and his wife and children are well provided for. However, his family is completely ungrateful and takes him -- and his money -- for granted. Grout's attempts to keep them all happy are driving him to bankruptcy and he eventually becomes seriously ill. Eventually his wife and kids come to realize how badly they've treated Pops.....

Remembrance

1922

The Christian poster
10.0

Glory Quayle and John Storm, sweethearts since childhood on the Isle of Man, go to London, Glory to become a nurse and John to enter a monastery. Instead, Glory becomes a theater star, and John renounces his vows because he cannot forget his love for her. Lord Robert Ure, who has already betrayed Glory's friend, Polly Love, incites the London populace against John....

The Christian

1923

For Wives Only poster
10.0

Dr. Josef Rittenhaus, a popular young society physician of Vienna, at the behest of his friend Waldstein, goes to consider a proposal by Countess von Nessa to donate a site and funds for the erection of a new sanitarium. His wife, Laura, piqued by his apparent indifference, is left in the hands of Carl Tanzer, supposedly the doctor's best friend, whose advances she rejects. Laura contrives to make her husband jealous with a bogus letter, but to no avail; later, escaping from a masher, she meets her husband's friend Fritz Schwerman, from whom she escapes after accepting a luncheon offer. While Laura tries to vamp her husband's other friends at a card game, the countess tries to make love to the doctor. Rittenhaus returns home in disgust and is happily reconciled with his wife.

For Wives Only

1926

My Boy poster
6.1

An orphan escapes immigration officials at Ellis Island and goes to live with an old ship's master who can't find work and can't pay the rent.

My Boy

1921

A Chapter in Her Life poster
6.5

Jewel stays with her grizzled, angry grandfather while her parents are overseas on business. Family squabbling is brought to heel through love and understanding from Jewel's pure love for others and trust in Divine Love.

A Chapter in Her Life

1923

Winds of Chance poster
6.5

A love triangle set against the turn-of-the-century gold rush.

Winds of Chance

1925

Crinoline and Romance poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Crinoline and Romance

1923

Women They Talk About poster
7.0

Women They Talk About is a part-talkie Vitaphone film, with talking, music and sound effects sequences, starring Irene Rich, directed by Lloyd Bacon and produced and distributed by Warner Bros. It is considered to be a lost film.

Women They Talk About

1928

So Long Letty poster
6.3

Uncle Claude goes on vacation with his granddaughters and meets and dislikes boisterous Letty. When he finds nephew Tommy, he mistakes Grace for his wife, unaware that he is married to Letty. To get a check from Uncle Claude, the two couples switch spouses.

So Long Letty

1929

Little Lord Fauntleroy poster
7.0

An American boy turns out to be the long-lost heir of a British fortune. He is sent to live with the cold and unsentimental lord who oversees the trust.

Little Lord Fauntleroy

1921

Alice Adams poster
9.0

Alice (Florence Vidor) is not satisfied with her family's financial situation and tries to convince others that she comes from a wealthy family. In the end she discovers that she is only fooling herself and decides to go to work to help her father's failing business.

Alice Adams

1923

How to Educate a Wife poster
9.0

Business failure Ernest Todd is advised by his friend, Billy Breese, to enlist his wife's charms as a means of winning customers.

How to Educate a Wife

1924

Dulcy poster
7.0

Dulcy, a devoted but scatterbrained bride, tries to improve her absent husband's finances by inviting two of his business prospects to dinner. Though at first thoroughly confusing the deal, she does get her husband a bigger share than he bargained for.The film is now considered to be lost.

Dulcy

1923

Fools First poster
8.0

Tommy Frazer is one of a gang of crooks lead by "Tony the Wop". Frazer gets caught and is sent up the river for three years on a forgery rap. When he gets out of prison, he finds his girl, Ann Whittaker, waiting for him -- and she's got a scheme. She is working in a bank and wants to pull an inside heist.

Fools First

1922

No artwork available
9.0

On the eve of his wedding, businessman Alan Boyd gets a telegram notifying him that his "bride" has fallen in love with another man and eloped with him. Announcing that he is through with women, an hour he meets pretty Helen Raynor, who takes to him (and is also his business rival's daughter). Helen's mother, though, doesn't take to Alan at all. In addition, Schuyler Van Loon, who is also after Helen, comes up with a scheme to embarrass Alan in Helen's eyes and ruin his reputation in the bargain--he comes up with a "baby" he claims is Alan's illegitimate son.

That's My Baby

1926

Daddies poster
6.0

A group of confirmed bachelors finds their informal "anti-matrimony club" turned into a home for adopted orphans when six orphaned children are suddenly foisted on them.

Daddies

1924

Oh Kay! poster
7.0

On the eve of her wedding Lady Kay Rutfield runs off aboard her sloop. A storm carries her out to sea and she is rescued by a passing rumrunner bound for the Long Island Sound. Once they arrive in the States, Kay makes her escape and hides in the deserted mansion of Jimmy Winter. Jimmy is due to marry the following day. He comes home to the mansion unexpectedly, and finds Kay, who persuades him to let her pose for a night as his wife.

Oh Kay!

1928

The Gorilla poster
10.0

An ape is suspected of committing a series of murders.

The Gorilla

1927