1908-06-20 New York City, New York, USA
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.
 |
Touch of Evil | Eddie Farnham (uncredited) | 1958-03-30 |
 |
Glory | Joe Page | 1956-01-11 |
 |
Bigger Than Life | Druggist (uncredited) | 1956-11-20 |
 |
Run for Cover | Doc Ridgeway | 1955-04-29 |
 |
Rebel Without a Cause | Attendant (uncredited) | 1955-10-27 |
 |
She Couldn't Say No | Ed Gruman | 1954-02-15 |
 |
One Big Affair | Mr. Rush | 1952-02-22 |
 |
Gasoline Alley | Joe Allen | 1951-01-02 |
 |
Honeychile | Window Washer | 1951-10-20 |
 |
On Dangerous Ground | Lucky | 1951-12-13 |
 |
Hit Parade of 1951 | Studio Guide | 1950-10-15 |
 |
Our Very Own | Frank | 1950-07-27 |
 |
Bride for Sale | Timothy | 1949-11-12 |
 |
He's in Again | Gus | 1949-01-13 |
|
Flung by a Fling | Capt. Gus Schilling | 1949-05-12 |
 |
The Return of October | Benny | 1948-10-26 |
 |
Macbeth | A Porter | 1948-10-01 |
|
Two Nuts in a Rut | Gus Schilling, Lane's assistant | 1948-02-10 |
 |
Angel on the Amazon | Dean Hartley | 1948-11-01 |
|
Pardon My Lamb Chop | Gus | 1948-06-10 |
|
Wedding Belle | Gus Schilling | 1947-08-09 |
|
Training for Trouble | Gus Schilling | 1947-07-03 |
 |
Calendar Girl | Eddie Gaskin | 1947-01-31 |
 |
The Lady from Shanghai | Goldfish | 1947-12-24 |
 |
Stork Bites Man | Hubert Butterfield | 1947-06-21 |
|
Hot Water | Gus | 1946-07-25 |
 |
Pardon My Terror | Gus | 1946-09-12 |
 |
Dangerous Business | Alexander Pough | 1946-06-20 |
 |
Ain't Love Cuckoo? | Gus Schilling | 1946-06-06 |
 |
A Thousand and One Nights | Jafar | 1945-07-20 |
|
High Blood Pleasure | Gus | 1945-12-06 |
 |
See My Lawyer | J. Ambrose Winkler aka Winky | 1945-03-09 |
 |
It's a Pleasure | Bill Evans | 1945-03-03 |
 |
River Gang | Dopey Charlie | 1945-09-21 |
 |
Sing a Jingle | Bucky | 1944-01-07 |
 |
Presenting Lily Mars | Scotty - Stage Manager | 1943-04-29 |
 |
Lady Bodyguard | Bughouse Sweeney | 1943-01-02 |
 |
Larceny with Music | Austin J. Caldwell | 1943-09-10 |
 |
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday | 1943-02-19 | |
 |
Chatterbox | Gillie | 1943-04-27 |
 |
Hers to Hold | Rosey Blake | 1943-07-16 |
 |
There's One Born Every Minute | Professor Asa Quisenberry | 1942-06-26 |
 |
Broadway | Joe | 1942-05-08 |
 |
You Were Never Lovelier | Fernando | 1942-11-19 |
 |
The Magnificent Ambersons | Drug Clerk (uncredited) | 1942-07-10 |
 |
Dr. Kildare's Victory | Leo Cobb | 1942-02-04 |
 |
The Penalty | Bank Teller (uncredited) | 1941-03-13 |
 |
It Started with Eve | Raven | 1941-09-26 |
 |
Citizen Kane | John | 1941-04-17 |
 |
Hellzapoppin' | Orchestra Conductor | 1941-12-25 |
 |
Appointment for Love | Gus | 1941-10-31 |
 |
Ice-Capades | Dave | 1941-08-19 |
 |
Lucky Devils | Aloysius Grimshaw | 1941-01-03 |
 |
Pop Always Pays | City Dump Watchman | 1940-06-21 |
 |
Mexican Spitfire Out West | Hotel Desk Clark | 1940-10-29 |
 |
Dr. Kildare's Crisis | Orderly Cleaning Window | 1940-11-29 |
