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Cyril Ritchard

Cyril Ritchard

Actor · 1897 – 1977

Legendary for his preening, prancing, delightfully playful villain Captain Hook on the award-winning stage (as well as TV) opposite America's musical treasure Mary Martin, beloved musical star Cyril Ritchard had a vast career that would last six decades, but "Peter Pan" would become his prime legacy. Born in Australia just before the turn of the century, he was educated at St. Aloysius College and Sydney University wherein he slyly sidestepped a parental-guided career in medicine for entertainment, participating in numerous college productions that quickly got him "hooked." He began professionally in the chorus line of The Royal Comic Opera Company and quickly progressed to juvenile leads. A subsequent pairing with the already-established theatre actress Madge Elliott in 1918 proved successful, and the musical twosome eventually married in 1935. Together they would go on to become known as "The Musical Lunts" by their acting peers performing in scores of plays and revues together. Ritchard specialized in playing slick, dandified villains in musical comedy and developed a potent reputation of being a man of many talents. Not only directing and staging Broadway's finest, he became a renown performer of various operas and led many productions as such. Shortly before his wife's death of bone cancer in 1955, Ritchard ventured into TV infamy by repeating his Tony and Donaldson award-winning portrayal of Hook in Peter Pan (1955). He continued to earn acclaim and/or honors with such classic stage productions as "Visit to a Small Planet" (Tony-nominated), "The Pleasure of His Company" (Drama League award, Tony-nominated), "The Roar of the Greasepaint...the Smell of the Crowd" (Tony-nominated), "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Sugar," the musical version of the classic Billy Wilder film Some Like It Hot (1959) in which Ritchard played the Joe E. Brown role. Lesser regarded when it comes to film, he performed in the early Hitchcock classic Blackmail (1929) and made his last movie with the musical Half a Sixpence (1967) with Tommy Steele. While performing as the Narrator in a stage production of "Side by Side by Sondheim" in November 1977, Ritchard suffered a heart attack and died one month later. A one-of-a-kind talent, his nefarious, narcissistic humor was a career trademark that culminated in the role of a lifetime -- one that will certainly be enjoyed by children young and old for eons to come.

Movies22

  • Movie6.6

    The Hobbit

    1977 · 382 votes

  • Movie6.5

    Blackmail

    1929 · 288 votes

  • Movie7.7

    Woman Hater

    1948 · 3 votes

  • Movie5.1

    The Daydreamer

    1966 · 12 votes

  • Movie7.0

    The Winslow Boy

    1948 · 29 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Half a Sixpence

    1967 · 19 votes

  • Movie6.5

    Piccadilly

    1929 · 35 votes

  • Movie6.5
  • Movie5.4
  • Movie
  • Movie6.6

    Peter Pan

    1960 · 26 votes

  • Movie10.0
  • Movie8.0

    Tubby the Tuba

    1975 · 1 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Peter Pan

    1955 · 24 votes

  • Movie6.5

    I See Ice

    1938 · 7 votes

  • Movie6.5

    The Show Goes On

    1937 · 2 votes

  • Movie7.6

    Service for Ladies

    1932 · 4 votes

  • Movie1.0

    Peter Pan

    1956 · 1 votes

  • Movie2.0

    The Christmas Tree

    1958 · 1 votes

  • Movie10.0

    Dearest Enemy

    1955 · 1 votes

  • Movie10.0

    Aladdin

    1958 · 1 votes

  • Movie6.9

    Hans Brinker

    1969 · 6 votes

Series21

  • TV7.5
  • TV7.0

    What's My Line?

    1950 · 29 votes

  • TV5.8

    The Mike Douglas Show

    1961 · 11 votes

  • TV6.8

    The Merv Griffin Show

    1962 · 12 votes

  • TV5.7

    Dr. Kildare

    1961 · 19 votes

  • TV
  • TV5.4

    Studio One

    1948 · 13 votes

  • TV7.5
  • TV6.6
  • TV6.8

    The Ed Sullivan Show

    1948 · 23 votes

  • TV6.2

    The Steve Allen Show

    1956 · 6 votes

  • TV6.4
  • TV7.0

    Omnibus

    1952 · 4 votes

  • TV5.4

    Kraft Music Hall

    1958 · 7 votes

  • TV7.0

    The Danny Kaye Show

    1963 · 4 votes

  • TV6.7

    Lux Video Theatre

    1950 · 7 votes

  • TV7.4
  • TV8.8

    Hallmark Hall of Fame

    1951 · 8 votes

  • TV6.8

    Producers' Showcase

    1954 · 5 votes

  • TV6.3

    Playwrights '56

    1955 · 4 votes

  • TV7.5

    The Snoop Sisters

    1973 · 6 votes