Cyril Ritchard

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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.

Filmography

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2026
Alfred Hitchcock: The Unseen Home Movies
Movie Self
1977
The Hobbit
Movie Elrond (voice)
1975
The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow
Movie Father Thomas (voice)
1975
Tubby the Tuba
Movie The Frog (voice)
1973
The Snoop Sisters
TV show Morlock
1972
The Emperor's New Clothes
Movie Emperor Klockenlocher (voice)
1969
Hans Brinker
Movie Mijnheer Kleef
1967
Half a Sixpence
Movie Harry Chitterlow
1966
The Daydreamer
Movie The Sandman (voice)
1966
The Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner
Movie Self - Host
1965
The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood
Movie Big Bad Wolf
1964
Profiles in Courage
TV show Director
1964
Mr. Scrooge
Movie Ebenezer Scrooge
1963
The Danny Kaye Show
TV show Self
1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV show Self
1962
The Merv Griffin Show
TV show Self

More credits

1962
The Owl and the Pussycat
Movie
1961
The Mike Douglas Show
TV show Self - Co-Host
1961
Dr. Kildare
TV show Justin Fitzgibbons
1960
Peter Pan
Movie Mr. Darling / Captain Hook
1958
The Christmas Tree
Movie Promenade Member
1958
Kraft Music Hall
TV show Self
1958
Aladdin
Movie Sui-Generis, the Sorcerer
1957
DuPont Show of the Month
TV show Sui-Generis the Sorcerer
1957
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
TV show Self
1956
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
TV show Self
1956
The Steve Allen Show
TV show Self - rehearsing for 'Jack and the Beanstalk'
1956
Tony Awards
TV show Self - Presenter
1956
THe Good Fairy
Movie Mr. Konrad
1956
Peter Pan
Movie Mr. Darling / Captain Hook
1955
Dearest Enemy
Movie Gen. Howe
1955
Playwrights '56
TV show
1955
Peter Pan
Movie Mr. Darling / Captain Hook
1954
Producers' Showcase
TV show Captain Hook
1952
Omnibus
TV show
1952
Pontius Pilate
Movie Pontius Pilate
1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV show
1950
Lux Video Theatre
TV show Arnold
1950
What's My Line?
TV show Self
1948
Studio One
TV show