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