Cyril Ritchard

Cyril Joseph Trimnell-Ritchard (1 December 1898 – 18 December 1977), known professionally as Cyril Ritchard, was an Australian stage, screen and television actor, and director. He is 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. The show was conducted by Richard Tauber and ran for almost a year. Life and career Ritchard was born in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, one of five siblings born to Sydney-born parents: Herbert Trimnell-Ritchard, a Protestant grocer, and Margaret, sometimes called "Marguerite" ( Collins), a Roman Catholic, in whose faith the children were raised. Educated by the Jesuits at St Aloysius' College, Cyril studied medicine at the University of Sydney until he abandoned his medical career in 1917 and decided to become an actor. Dance teacher Minnie Hooper suggested Ritchard team up with one of her dancers, Madge Elliott, but Madge rejected him because he couldn't dance. Two years later, after a practice waltz, Madge and Cyril realized they were a team, and they went on a dancing tour of New Zealand. Madge and Cyril appeared in Yes, Uncle! and Going Up, both in 1918. They then went their separate ways. Ritchard shared an apartment with Walter Pidgeon in New York while he appeared there, and Madge made her first West End appearance in 1925. Ritchard joined her in London and they reestablished the dancing partnership. In 1927 Laddie Cliff booked them to star in Lady Luck at the Carlton Theatre in 1927.