Cyril Ritchard

Cyril Ritchard
Ritchard (left) and Eddie Mayehoff in the play Visit to a Small Planet (1957)
Born	(1898-12-01)1 December 1898 Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died	18 December 1977(1977-12-18) (aged 79) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1918–1977
Spouse(s)	Madge Elliott

Cyril Ritchard (1 December 1898 – 18 December 1977) was an Australian stage, screen and television actor, and director. He is probably best remembered today for his performance as Captain Hook in the Mary Martin musical production of Peter Pan. In 1945, he played Gabriele Eisenstein in Gay Rosalinda at the Palace theatre in London, a version of Strauss's Die Fledermaus by Erich Wolfgang Korngold in which he appeared with Peter Graves, Irene Ambrus and Ruth Naylor. The show was conducted by Richard Tauber and ran for almost a year.

He was born Cyril Joseph Trimnell-Ritchard in Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, to Sydney-born parents, Herbert Trimnell-Ritchard, a Protestant grocer, and his wife Marguerite, a devout Roman Catholic who ensured her son was raised as a Roman Catholic. Educated by the Jesuits at St Aloysius' College, Cyril was a lifelong devout Catholic who attended Sunday Mass wherever he happened to be.

Early in his career, Ritchard played in numerous musical comedies, including Yes, Uncle! and Going Up, both in 1918 with actress Madge Elliott (who became his wife in September 1935).

He achieved star status in 1954 as Captain Hook in the Broadway production of Peter Pan co-starring Mary Martin, with whom he shared the same birthday (1 December). For his work in the show, Ritchard received a Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Musical. Both Ritchard and Martin reprised their roles in the NBC television productions of the musical, beginning with a live color telecast in 1955. In 1958, he starred in the Cole Porter CBS television musical Aladdin. In 1959, he won his second Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for "The Pleasure of His Company"