Actor Claude Gillingwater was 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. In later years, Gillingwater played a few more curmudgeons character roles. Some of his more distinctive parts came with the films A Tale of Two Cities (1935) (as Jarvis Lorry), Mississippi (1935) and The Prisoner of Shark Island (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).
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. The "Florida Special" accident on the set at Paramount Studios in February 1936, left him never fully recovered. This, along with the April 22, 1937 death of his long-time wife Carlyn, left him irrevocably depressed. His wife died of a heart attack in 1937. On November 1, 1939, a housekeeper found Gillingwater dead on a chair inside a closet of his Beverly Hills, California home. A suicide note stated that he was worried about his failing health, and possibly becoming an invalid. He did not want to become a burden to anyone, so he chose to take his own life. The death of the 69 year old actor was ruled a suicide. His son, Claude Gillingwater, Jr. (1911-1996), was also an actor.
Gillingwater's cremated remains were interred in the Columbarium of Prayer, Niche 10628, in The Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Biography by "The Chronicler"
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. The "Florida Special" accident on the set at Paramount Studios in February 1936, left him never fully recovered. This, along with the April 22, 1937 death of his long-time wife Carlyn, left him irrevocably depressed. His wife died of a heart attack in 1937. On November 1, 1939, a housekeeper found Gillingwater dead on a chair inside a closet of his Beverly Hills, California home. A suicide note stated that he was worried about his failing health, and possibly becoming an invalid. He did not want to become a burden to anyone, so he chose to take his own life. The death of the 69 year old actor was ruled a suicide. His son, Claude Gillingwater, Jr. (1911-1996), was also an actor.
Gillingwater's cremated remains were interred in the Columbarium of Prayer, Niche 10628, in The Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Biography by "The Chronicler"
Actor Claude Gillingwater was 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. In later years, Gillingwater played a few more curmudgeons character roles. Some of his more distinctive parts came with the films A Tale of Two Cities (1935) (as Jarvis Lorry), Mississippi (1935) and The Prisoner of Shark Island (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).
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. The "Florida Special" accident on the set at Paramount Studios in February 1936, left him never fully recovered. This, along with the April 22, 1937 death of his long-time wife Carlyn, left him irrevocably depressed. His wife died of a heart attack in 1937. On November 1, 1939, a housekeeper found Gillingwater dead on a chair inside a closet of his Beverly Hills, California home. A suicide note stated that he was worried about his failing health, and possibly becoming an invalid. He did not want to become a burden to anyone, so he chose to take his own life. The death of the 69 year old actor was ruled a suicide. His son, Claude Gillingwater, Jr. (1911-1996), was also an actor.
Gillingwater's cremated remains were interred in the Columbarium of Prayer, Niche 10628, in The Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Biography by "The Chronicler"
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. The "Florida Special" accident on the set at Paramount Studios in February 1936, left him never fully recovered. This, along with the April 22, 1937 death of his long-time wife Carlyn, left him irrevocably depressed. His wife died of a heart attack in 1937. On November 1, 1939, a housekeeper found Gillingwater dead on a chair inside a closet of his Beverly Hills, California home. A suicide note stated that he was worried about his failing health, and possibly becoming an invalid. He did not want to become a burden to anyone, so he chose to take his own life. The death of the 69 year old actor was ruled a suicide. His son, Claude Gillingwater, Jr. (1911-1996), was also an actor.
Gillingwater's cremated remains were interred in the Columbarium of Prayer, Niche 10628, in The Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Biography by "The Chronicler"
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