Cyril Ritchard

Acting

Cyril Ritchard

Born 1897-12-01

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.

Acting credits

The Hobbit poster
6.6

The story follows the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, a diminutive creative who resides in a place called Middle-Earth before he is compelled to go on a quest to find a treasure buried deep in the heart of the Lonely Mountain.

The Hobbit

1977

Blackmail poster
6.5

London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend. Feeling herself ignored, Alice agrees to go out with an elegant and well-mannered artist who invites her to visit his fancy apartment.

Blackmail

1929

The Winslow Boy poster
7.0

In pre-WWI England, a youngster is expelled from a naval academy over a petty theft, but his parents raise a political furor by demanding a trial.

The Winslow Boy

1948

Half a Sixpence poster
6.0

"If I had the money, I'd buy me a banjo!" says struggling sales clerk Arthur Kipps. Soon he'll inherit enough to buy a whole bloomin' orchestra. But can his newfound wealth buy happiness?

Half a Sixpence

1967

Peter Pan poster
6.6

In this magical tale about the boy who refuses to grow up, Peter Pan and his mischievous fairy sidekick Tinkerbell visit the nursery of Wendy, Michael and John Darling. With a sprinkling of pixie dust, Peter and his new friends fly out the nursery window and over London to Never-Never Land. The children experience many wonderful and exciting adventures with the Lost Boys, Tiger Lily's Indian tribe, and Peter's arch enemy the dastardly pirate Captain Hook.

Peter Pan

1960

The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow poster
5.4

A young shepherd, Lucas, is blinded by lightening, and some kindly nuns at a nearby abbey take him in. Sister Catherine describes snow to Lucas, who has never seen it. Lucas gets chosen to play an angel in the abbey's Christmas pageant, and the Christmas snow that falls during the pageant works a small miracle.

The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow

1975

Piccadilly poster
6.5

A young Chinese woman, working in the kitchen at a London dance club, is given the chance to become the club's main act.

Piccadilly

1929

No artwork available
NR

Publicity film for manufacturers and retailers of television equipment. A survey of the programmes transmitted by the British Broadcasting Corporation during the first six months of operation, November 1936 - May 1937, intended for manufacturers and retailers to show sample types of programmes transmitted.

Television Demonstration Film

1937

The Daydreamer poster
5.1

A young Hans Christian Andersen goes in search of knowledge in the Garden of Paradise in order to make his studies easier. Each time he falls asleep, he experiences in his dreams the different characters he would later write about in fairy tales including The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, and The Emperor's New Clothes.

The Daydreamer

1966

Aladdin poster
10.0

Cole Porter's version of the story of Aladdin--his only musical written especially for television.

Aladdin

1958

Woman Hater poster
7.7

An English lord who dislikes women meets a French movie star who dislikes men.

Woman Hater

1948

Tubby the Tuba poster
8.0

When Tubby the Tuba sets out to find a melody all of his own, his journey results in this enchanting and exciting musical tale. Tubby joins the circus and striving to be part of an orchestra, he travels to the Singing City where along the way he encounters many wonderful characters.

Tubby the Tuba

1975

Hans Brinker poster
6.9

Based on the beloved children’s story, Hans Binker, a Dutch boy (Robin Askwith) and his sister need the prize from an ice-skating race to help their ailing father.

Hans Brinker

1969

No artwork available
2.0

The Christmas Tree is a 1958 Hallmark Hall of Fame made-for-television film that was broadcast on NBC on December 14, 1958. It is based on the short story "An Affair at the Inn" by Charles J. Finger. A number of stars in short skits, including Carol Channing and Cyril Ritchard on skates.

The Christmas Tree

1958

I See Ice poster
6.5

George Bright is a props man in an ice ballet company, and a keen amateur photographer who accidentally snaps crooks at work. Comic complications ensue....

I See Ice

1938

The Emperor's New Clothes poster
6.5

Two con men convince a king that they have woven for him a suit made of magical cloth that only stupid or incompetent people are unable to see. Not wanting to seem dull, everyone pretends to admire the king's new clothes although he is completely naked.

The Emperor's New Clothes

1972

Alfred Hitchcock: The Unseen Home Movies poster
NR

After the birth of their only child Patricia in 1928, Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville purchase a 16mm film camera to record their lives as parents. At birthday parties, playing with their dogs, or posing in front of the Trevi Fountain, one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema, "Hitch" and his most trusted collaborator and confidant, reveal intimate portraits of themselves and offer a new perspective of the master of suspense.

Alfred Hitchcock: The Unseen Home Movies

2026

Dearest Enemy poster
10.0

This live TV adaptation of the Broadway musical "Dearest Enemy" from 1925 is based on an American Revolutionary War incident in September 1776 when Mary Lindley Murray, under orders from General George Washington, detained General William Howe and his British troops by serving them cake, wine and conversation in her Kips Bay, Manhattan home long enough for some 4,000 American soldiers, fleeing their loss in the Battle of Brooklyn, to reassemble in Washington Heights and join reinforcements to make a successful counterattack.

Dearest Enemy

1955

Peter Pan poster
6.2

This musical version of the tale of the boy who wouldn't grow up aired live on television on March 7, 1955. It was so popular that it was restaged the following year, and again four years later.

Peter Pan

1955

Mr. Scrooge poster
9.6

A Christmas Carol retelling

Mr. Scrooge

1964

Peter Pan poster
1.0

This SECOND live broadcast aired a year after the success of the first. Utilizing much of the same cast, it nevertheless is its own unique performance which charmed millions of households in 1956.

Peter Pan

1956

No artwork available
8.0

After a young girl is jailed for a murder she didn't commit, a doctor helps her escape to capture the real killer and clear her name.

Dangerous Medicine

1938

The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood poster
10.0

Everyone knows the story of Red Riding Hood. But every story has two sides and now the wolf has finally told his. This original musical comedy special, with songs by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, first aired on November 28, 1965 on ABC.

The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood

1965

The Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner poster
NR

Hosted by Cyril Ritchard, with performances by Florence Henderson, Barbara Harris, Stanley Holloway, John Cullum, Patricia McBride and Edward Villella. Songs include; On A Clear Day, The Heather On The Hill, Wait Till Were Sixty-Five, Wouldnt It Be Loverly?, Camelot, Why Cant A Woman Be More Like A Man?, How Could You Believe Me?, I Remember It Well, Without You, Gigi, Im Getting Married In The Morning, Hurry, Its Lovely Up Here, Melinda, On The S.S. Bernard Cohn, What Did I have That I Dont Have?, Ive Grown Accustomed To Her Face, Its Almost Like Being In Love, Bonnie Jean, Waltz At Maxims (She Is Not Thinking Of Me), I Could Have Danced All Night, On The Street Where You Live, and Come Back To Me.

The Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner

1966