Seasoned London-born character actor, who had a lengthy career in American films and on television. The son of an Anglo-Italian music professor, Cyril also had a secondary career in Hollywood as a respected drama coach, engaged by Douglas Fairbanks, James Craig, and others. He appears to have divided the remainder of his time between films and the stage. For some time, around 1936, he was director in charge of production at the Little Theatre in Houston, Texas. Most of his movie roles, beginning in 1931, were uncredited bits. He appeared primarily in serials and 'B-horrors', for which dignified English gentlemen were continuously in demand as undertakers, coroners or townsfolk. Television offered him better opportunities in the early 1950's. Skeletal of build, with a heavily-lined face and a shock of white hair, Cyril always appeared rather older than his years. Something of a specialist in Cockney impersonations, his nonplussed features were also regularly glimpsed as assorted shopkeepers, accountants, butlers or academic types. He popped up to particularly good effect in four episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959), displaying deft comedic abilities as day-dreaming bank employee, Mr. Smithers, in "A Penny for Your Thoughts" (1961). However, Cyril's best on-screen moment came courtesy of The Night of the Iguana (1964), as Deborah Kerr's elderly grandfather Nonno - 'the oldest working poet in the world' - for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination.
Known For
Credits
Cast Credits
Night Gallery (1969)
Guest starring as The Old Man
- Episode 2x58: The Sins of the Fathers (Feb 23, 1972)
It Takes a Thief (1968)
Guest starring as John B. Cannon
- Episode 2x23: The Family (Apr 1, 1969) [Co-Star]
Mission: Impossible (1966)
Guest starring as Cardinal Vossek
(2 episodes)
- Episode 1x05: Old Man Out (2) (Oct 15, 1966) [Co-Star]
- Episode 1x04: Old Man Out (1) (Oct 8, 1966) [Co-Star]
Run for Your Life (1965)
Guest starring as Judge Kleiner
- Episode 1x07: Where Mystery Begins (Nov 1, 1965)
Daniel Boone (1964)
Guest starring as Nitashanta
- Episode 2x05: The Old Man and the Cave (Oct 14, 1965)
Irwin Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964)
Guest starring as Noah Grafton
- Episode 2x06: The Left-Handed Man (Oct 31, 1965) [Co-Star]
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963)
Guest starring as McPherson
- Episode 1x25: Time for Elizabeth (Apr 24, 1964)
Guest starring as Mario
- Episode 2x16: Cops and Robbers (Feb 19, 1965)
Guest starring as Toulouse
- Episode 3x01: The Game (Sep 15, 1965)
Guest starring as Bishop Andrews
- Episode 3x27: In Pursuit of Excellence (Jun 22, 1966)
My Favorite Martian (1963)
Guest starring as Mr. Green
- Episode 1x20: My Nephew the Artist (Feb 23, 1964)
The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961)
Guest starring as Grandpa Petrie
- Episode 2x06: What's in a Middle Name? (Nov 7, 1962)
Hazel (1961)
Guest starring as Elderly Man
- Episode 2x05: Barney Hatfield, Where Are You? (Oct 18, 1962)
Mr. Lucky (1959)
Guest starring as Gardenia O'Toole
- Episode 1x13: The Two Million Dollar Window (Jan 16, 1960)
The Untouchables (1959)
Guest starring as Men's Room Attendant
- Episode 1x14: The Noise of Death (Jan 14, 1960) [Uncredited]
Guest starring as News Vendor
- Episode 2x06: A Seat on the Fence (Nov 24, 1960)
Guest starring as Flophouse Manager
- Episode 2x15: The Organization (Jan 26, 1961) [Uncredited]
Guest starring as Museum Night Watchman
- Episode 2x30: The King of Champagne (May 25, 1961) [Uncredited]
Guest starring as Newsboy
- Episode 3x16: The Death Tree (Feb 15, 1962)
Dennis the Menace (1959)
Guest starring as Mr. Gibson
- Episode 1x32: Miss Cathcart's Sunsuit (Jun 12, 1960)
The Twilight Zone (1959)
Guest starring as Franklin
- Episode 2x25: The Silence (Apr 28, 1961)
Guest starring as Officer
- Episode 4x17: Passage on the Lady Anne (May 9, 1963)
Guest starring as Marvin the Butler
- Episode 3x22: A Piano in the House (Feb 16, 1962)
Guest starring as L.J. Smithers
- Episode 2x16: A Penny for Your Thoughts (Feb 3, 1961)
The Third Man (1959)
Guest starring as Karl Van Root
- Episode 2x12: Diamond in the Rough (May 11, 1963)
21 Beacon Street (1959)
Guest starring as Albert North
- Episode 1x12: Nothing is Impossible (Sep 17, 1959)
Jefferson Drum (1958)
Starring as Lucius Coin
Guest starring as Lucius Coin
(25 episodes)
- Episode 2x12: Simon Pitt (Dec 11, 1958)
- Episode 2x11: Prison Hill (Dec 4, 1958)
- Episode 2x10: Thicker Than Water (Nov 27, 1958)
- Episode 2x09: Pete Henke (Nov 20, 1958)
- Episode 2x08: $50 For A Dead Man (Nov 13, 1958)
- Episode 2x07: The Captive (Nov 6, 1958)
- Episode 2x06: Return (Oct 30, 1958)
- Episode 2x05: Band Of Iron (Oct 23, 1958)
- Episode 2x04: Obituary (Oct 16, 1958)
- Episode 2x03: Stagecoach Episode (Oct 10, 1958)
- Episode 2x02: The Keeney Gang (Oct 3, 1958)
- Episode 2x01: Showdown (Sep 26, 1958)
- Episode 1x14: The Hanging Of Joe Lavett (Aug 1, 1958)
- Episode 1x13: The Lawless (Jul 18, 1958)
- Episode 1x12: A Matter Of Murder (Jul 11, 1958)
- Episode 1x11: The Post (Jul 4, 1958)
- Episode 1x10: Wheel Of Fortune (Jun 27, 1958)
- Episode 1x09: The Outlaw (Jun 20, 1958)
- Episode 1x08: Bandidos (Jun 13, 1958)
- Episode 1x07: Madame Faro (Jun 6, 1958)
- Episode 1x05: The Cheater (May 23, 1958)
- Episode 1x04: A Bad Day For A Tinhorn (May 16, 1958)
- Episode 1x03: Law And Order (May 9, 1958)
- Episode 1x02: The Bounty Man (May 2, 1958)
- Episode 1x01: Arrival (Apr 25, 1958)
Perry Mason (1957)
Guest starring as Tulloch
- Episode 1x06: Erle Stanley Gardner's The Case of the Silent Partner (Oct 26, 1957)
Guest starring as Craig Jefferson
- Episode 9x11: The Case of the Silent Six (Nov 21, 1965)
Wagon Train (1957)
Guest starring as Jamieson
- Episode 5x37: The Heather Mahoney Story (Jun 13, 1962)
Have Gun, Will Travel (1957)
Guest starring as Cornish
- Episode 3x13: Charley Red Dog (Dec 12, 1959)
Guest starring as Speedy
- Episode 3x18: The Pledge (Jan 16, 1960)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955)
Guest starring as Alfred J. Sloane
- Episode 1x19: The Derelicts (Feb 5, 1956) [Co-Star]
Guest starring as Club Member
- Episode 5x12: Specialty of the House (Dec 13, 1959) [Uncredited]
Guest starring as Josiah Wingate
- Episode 5x36: Letter of Credit (Jun 19, 1960)
Gunsmoke (1955)
Guest starring as Grandpa Harris
- Episode 11x20: Killer at Large (Feb 5, 1966)
Guest starring as Turnkey
- Episode 1x15: No Handcuffs (Jan 21, 1956)
Guest starring as Driver
- Episode 2x09: The Mistake (Nov 24, 1956)
Guest starring as Messenger
- Episode 2x36: Daddy-O (Jun 1, 1957)
Guest starring as Old Man
- Episode 3x29: Laughing Gas (Mar 29, 1958)
Guest starring as Sy Tewksbury
- Episode 6x20: Love Thy Neighbor (Jan 28, 1961)
Guest starring as Old
- Episode 7x29: The Summons (Apr 21, 1962)
Guest starring as Jake Bookly
- Episode 10x15: Double Entry (Jan 2, 1965)
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1954)
Guest starring as Chief Nana
- Episode 4x16: Tomahawk Tubbs (Feb 7, 1958)
Ford Theatre: All Star Theatre (1952)
Guest starring as Silk
- Episode 4x08: Passage to Yesterday (Nov 24, 1955)
Adventures of Superman (1952)
Guest starring as King of Sartania
- Episode 5x05: The Man Who Made Dreams Come True (Apr 5, 1957)
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (1951)
Guest starring as TBD
(2 episodes)
- Episode 5x30: The Mysterious Cargo (Apr 20, 1956)
- Episode 4x24: The Way to Freedom (Feb 18, 1955)