Known For
Acting
Born
Jun 20, 1908
Died
Jun 16, 1957
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Credits
57 titles
Gus Schilling
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.
Known For
Filmography
Touch of Evil
Eddie Farnham (uncredited)
Bigger Than Life
Druggist (uncredited)
Glory
Joe Page
Rebel Without a Cause
Attendant (uncredited)
Run for Cover
Doc Ridgeway
Executive Suite
Newsstand Vendor (uncredited)
She Couldn't Say No
Ed Gruman
One Big Affair
Mr. Rush
On Dangerous Ground
Lucky
Honeychile
Window Washer
Gasoline Alley
Joe Allen
Hit Parade of 1951
Studio Guide
Our Very Own
Frank
Bride for Sale
Timothy
Flung by a Fling
Capt. Gus Schilling
He's in Again
Gus
Angel on the Amazon
Dean Hartley
The Return of October
Benny
Macbeth
A Porter
Pardon My Lamb Chop
Gus
Two Nuts in a Rut
Gus Schilling, Lane's assistant
The Lady from Shanghai
Goldfish
Wedding Belle
Gus Schilling
Training for Trouble
Gus Schilling
Stork Bites Man
Hubert Butterfield
Calendar Girl
Eddie Gaskin
Pardon My Terror
Gus
Hot Water
Gus
Dangerous Business
Alexander Pough
Ain't Love Cuckoo?
Gus Schilling
High Blood Pleasure
Gus
River Gang
Dopey Charlie
A Thousand and One Nights
Jafar
See My Lawyer
J. Ambrose Winkler aka Winky
It's a Pleasure
Bill Evans
Sing a Jingle
Bucky
Larceny with Music
Austin J. Caldwell
Hers to Hold
Rosey Blake
Presenting Lily Mars
Scotty - Stage Manager
Chatterbox
Gillie
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
Lady Bodyguard
Bughouse Sweeney
You Were Never Lovelier
Fernando
The Magnificent Ambersons
Drug Clerk (uncredited)
There's One Born Every Minute
Professor Asa Quisenberry
Broadway
Joe
Dr. Kildare's Victory
Leo Cobb
Hellzapoppin'
Orchestra Conductor
Appointment for Love
Gus
It Started with Eve
Raven