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August "Gus" Schilling (June 20, 1908 - June 16, 1957) was an American actor.
1954
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.
Gender
Male
Birthday
June 20, 1908
Died
June 16, 1957
Birthplace
New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As
Dr. Kildare's Crisis
1940
Citizen Kane
1941
Executive Suite
1954
Rebel Without a Cause
1955
Mexican Spitfire Out West
1940
Bigger Than Life
1956
See My Lawyer
1945
Calendar Girl
1947
Dr. Kildare's Victory
1942
It Started with Eve
1941
Touch of Evil
1958
The Magnificent Ambersons
1942
The Lady from Shanghai
1947
She Couldn't Say No
1954
The Penalty
1941
On Dangerous Ground
1951
Gasoline Alley
1951
Hellzapoppin'
1941
Macbeth
1948
Angel on the Amazon
1948
+ 37 more movies