Gus Schilling
Born: 1908-06-20 in New York City, New York, USA
Died: 1957-06-16
Known For: Acting
Biography
August "Gus" Schilling (June 20, 1908 - June 16, 1957) was an American actor. August "Gus" Schilling (June 20, 1908 – June 16, 1957) was an American film actor who started in burlesque comedy and usually played nervous comic roles, often unbilled. A friend of Orson Welles, he appeared in five of the director's films — Citizen Kane (first screen performance), The Magnificent Ambersons, The Lady from Shanghai, Macbeth and Touch of Evil (final performance, released posthumously). Born in New York City, Schilling had a rubber face and flustered gestures which made him a natural comedian and he began his career understudying comedy stars Bert Lahr and Joe Penner on Broadway. He soon became a favorite among burlesque comedians, who welcomed him into the burlesque profession. Schilling was in a relationship with burlesque star Betty Rowland and the couple toured in the Minsky burlesque troupe. Orson Welles saw Schilling in New York and followed him to Florida. There Welles hired Schilling to appear in a stage production featuring several Shakespearean scenes. "I learned my part by taking the script to Welles and having him translate the lines to everyday English," Schilling recalled in 1939. Welles promised Schilling a part in Welles's first motion picture, and kept his promise: Schilling is featured in Citizen Kane (1941). This established Schilling in Hollywood movies as a "nervous" comedian (he plays a jittery symphony conductor in Olsen and Johnson's Hellzapoppin', for example). He also co-starred with character comedian Richard Lane in a series of 11 comedy shorts for Columbia Pictures; the series ran from 1945 to 1950.
Filmography
1958
- Touch of Evil as Eddie Farnham (uncredited)
1956
- Bigger Than Life as Druggist (uncredited)
- Glory as Joe Page
1955
- Rebel Without a Cause as Attendant (uncredited)
- Run for Cover as Doc Ridgeway
1954
- Executive Suite as Newsstand Vendor (uncredited)
- She Couldn't Say No as Ed Gruman
1952
- One Big Affair as Mr. Rush
1951
- On Dangerous Ground as Lucky
- Gasoline Alley as Joe Allen
- Honeychile as Window Washer
1950
- Our Very Own as Frank
- Hit Parade of 1951 as Studio Guide
1949
- Bride for Sale as Timothy
- Flung by a Fling as Capt. Gus Schilling
- He's in Again as Gus
1948
- Macbeth as A Porter
- The Return of October as Benny
- Angel on the Amazon as Dean Hartley
- Pardon My Lamb Chop as Gus
- Two Nuts in a Rut as Gus Schilling, Lane's assistant
1947
- The Lady from Shanghai as Goldfish
- Stork Bites Man as Hubert Butterfield
- Wedding Belle as Gus Schilling
- Calendar Girl as Eddie Gaskin
- Training for Trouble as Gus Schilling
1946
- Pardon My Terror as Gus
- Ain't Love Cuckoo? as Gus Schilling
- Hot Water as Gus
- Dangerous Business as Alexander Pough
1945
- A Thousand and One Nights as Jafar
- It's a Pleasure as Bill Evans
- See My Lawyer as J. Ambrose Winkler aka Winky
- River Gang as Dopey Charlie
- High Blood Pleasure as Gus
1944
- Sing a Jingle as Bucky
1943
- Presenting Lily Mars as Scotty - Stage Manager
- Lady Bodyguard as Bughouse Sweeney
- Larceny with Music as Austin J. Caldwell
- The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
- Hers to Hold as Rosey Blake
- Chatterbox as Gillie
1942
- The Magnificent Ambersons as Drug Clerk (uncredited)
- You Were Never Lovelier as Fernando
- There's One Born Every Minute as Professor Asa Quisenberry
- Dr. Kildare's Victory as Leo Cobb
- Broadway as Joe
1941
- Citizen Kane as John
- Hellzapoppin' as Orchestra Conductor
- Appointment for Love as Gus
- It Started with Eve as Raven
- The Penalty as Bank Teller (uncredited)
- Ice-Capades as Dave
- Lucky Devils as Aloysius Grimshaw
1940
- Dr. Kildare's Crisis as Orderly Cleaning Window
- Pop Always Pays as City Dump Watchman
- Mexican Spitfire Out West as Hotel Desk Clark