Gus Schilling

Known for ActingBorn 1908-06-20Died 1957-06-16New 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.Read more

Movies & web series

Flung by a Fling

Two Nuts in a Rut

Wedding Belle

Stork Bites Man

Chatterbox

Hot Water

Dangerous Business

River Gang

High Blood Pleasure

He's in Again

Training for Trouble

Citizen Kane

There's One Born Every Minute

Touch of Evil

Rebel Without a Cause

Honeychile

The Lady from Shanghai

The Penalty

See My Lawyer

Bigger Than Life

Macbeth

The Magnificent Ambersons

It Started with Eve

Executive Suite

Hellzapoppin'

One Big Affair

Bride for Sale

You Were Never Lovelier

Pardon My Lamb Chop

Ain't Love Cuckoo?

Pardon My Terror

Sing a Jingle

Hers to Hold

Pop Always Pays

Run for Cover

On Dangerous Ground

The Amazing Mrs. Holliday

Dr. Kildare's Crisis

Hit Parade of 1951

The Return of October

Presenting Lily Mars

Broadway

Dr. Kildare's Victory

A Thousand and One Nights

Lady Bodyguard

Our Very Own

Ice-Capades

Gasoline Alley