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 ...
The Great Divide (1929)
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 ... (more)
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 ... (more)
Can This Be Dixie? (1936)
A young girl and her uncle who run a traveling medicine show lend their efforts to salvage an old plantation. (more)
A young girl and her uncle who run a traveling medicine show lend their efforts to salvage an old plantation. (more)
Oh Kay! (1928)
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 ... (more)
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 ... (more)
Naughty But Nice (1927)
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, ... (more)
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, ... (more)
The Flirting Widow
(1930)
An older daughter invents a fiancé so that her father will allow her younger sister to marry. However, the lie comes back to haunt her. (more)
An older daughter invents a fiancé so that her father will allow her younger sister to marry. However, the lie comes back to haunt her. (more)
Wives Never Know (1936)
Homer Bigelow has an ideal marriage, with a wife who loves him very much as does he in return. Hilarity ensues when, his wife and him take "marital advice" from an old school friend, who thinks marriage is a farce. (more)
Homer Bigelow has an ideal marriage, with a wife who loves him very much as does he in return. Hilarity ensues when, his wife and him take "marital advice" from an old school friend, who thinks marriage is a farce. (more)
Seven Sinners (1925)
Six burglars separately break into the Vickers mansion on Long Island to loot the safe but catch each other in the act. They all pretend to be members of the household when locked in by a well meaning police officer. (more)
Six burglars separately break into the Vickers mansion on Long Island to loot the safe but catch each other in the act. They all pretend to be members of the household when locked in by a well meaning police officer. (more)
Illicit
(1931)
Ann, a young woman with outrageously advanced ideas, has been living in sin with Dick, her lover, because of her conviction that marriage would destroy their love; but social pressure ends up paying off, so Ann and Dick get married. (more)
Ann, a young woman with outrageously advanced ideas, has been living in sin with Dick, her lover, because of her conviction that marriage would destroy their love; but social pressure ends up paying off, so Ann and Dick get married. (more)
We Moderns (1925)
A 1925 film directed by John Francis Dillon. (more)
A 1925 film directed by John Francis Dillon. (more)
There Goes My Heart
(1938)
An heiress takes a job as a department store clerk. (more)
An heiress takes a job as a department store clerk. (more)
Ann Carver's Profession (1933)
Newlyweds experience marital problems when the wife's highly successful job as an attorney overshadows her husband's stagnant career. (more)
Newlyweds experience marital problems when the wife's highly successful job as an attorney overshadows her husband's stagnant career. (more)
City Limits (1934)
The wealthy president of a big railroad, who's beginning to crumble under the combined pressure of business, personal and physical problems, meets up with a pair of hoboes from whom he starts to learn how to really enjoy life in ways he never knew were possible. (more)
The wealthy president of a big railroad, who's beginning to crumble under the combined pressure of business, personal and physical problems, meets up with a pair of hoboes from whom he starts to learn how to really enjoy life in ways he never knew were possible. (more)
Green Eyes
(1934)
The owner of a large mansion in the country throws a costume party for some of his friends. However, the party turns sour when he is found stabbed to death in a closet. The police and a guest try to discover who committed the murder. (more)
The owner of a large mansion in the country throws a costume party for some of his friends. However, the party turns sour when he is found stabbed to death in a closet. The police and a guest try to discover who committed the murder. (more)
Cafe Society (1939)
A pampered heiress (Madeleine Carroll) elopes with a shipboard reporter (Fred MacMurray) just to get her name in a society column. (more)
A pampered heiress (Madeleine Carroll) elopes with a shipboard reporter (Fred MacMurray) just to get her name in a society column. (more)
Barbed Wire (1927)
During WWI, a French farm girl and a German P.O.W. fall in love. (more)
During WWI, a French farm girl and a German P.O.W. fall in love. (more)
In Love with Life (1934)
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 ... (more)
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 ... (more)
Glad Rag Doll (1929)
She sought to conquer...but found Cupid her master! This is one of many lost films of the 1920s, no prints or Vitaphone discs survive, but the song with the same title and the trailer survives. (more)
She sought to conquer...but found Cupid her master! This is one of many lost films of the 1920s, no prints or Vitaphone discs survive, but the song with the same title and the trailer survives. (more)
Daddy Long Legs (1931)
Wealthy Jervis Pendleton acts as benefactor for orphan Judy Abbott, anonymously sponsoring her in her boarding school. But as she grows up, he finds himself falling in love with her, and she with him, though she does not know that the man she has fallen for is her ... (more)
Wealthy Jervis Pendleton acts as benefactor for orphan Judy Abbott, anonymously sponsoring her in her boarding school. But as she grows up, he finds himself falling in love with her, and she with him, though she does not know that the man she has fallen for is her ... (more)
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1921)
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. (more)
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. (more)
Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)
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 ... (more)
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 ... (more)