Cyril Ritchard Trailers
The Hobbit TrailerThe First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow TrailerTubby the Tuba Trailer
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.
Most Popular Cyril Ritchard Trailers
Total trailers found: 30
23 July 1938
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.
21 February 1972
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.
19 December 1975
A young shepherd, Lucas, is blinded by lightening, and some kindly nuns at a nearby abbey take him in.
01 January 1937
An unemployed man wins the football pools, and decides to buy a country house for his actress girlfriend.
28 July 1929
London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend.
08 December 1960
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.
09 January 1956
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.
26 November 1955
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.
10 February 1938
George Bright is a props man in an ice ballet company, and a keen amateur photographer who accidentally snaps crooks at work.
30 April 1975
When Tubby the Tuba sets out to find a melody all of his own, his journey results in this enchanting and exciting musical tale.
14 December 1969
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.
13 October 1948
An English lord who dislikes women meets a French movie star who dislikes men.
27 November 1977
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.
14 December 1958
The Christmas Tree is a 1958 Hallmark Hall of Fame made-for-television film that was broadcast on NBC on December 14, 1958.
31 March 1937
A mill worker with show biz dreams catches a big break when she's discovered by an ailing composer who's seeking the right singer for his songs.
01 January 1964
A Christmas Carol retelling
01 February 1929
A young Chinese woman, working in the kitchen at a London dance club, is given the chance to become the club's main act.
16 July 1930
A young composer goes blind, and shortly afterward enters his most recent work in a competition. He believes he's won, but doesn't know that his wife couldn't bear to tell him that he didn't.
01 June 1966
A young Hans Christian Andersen goes in search of knowledge in the Garden of Paradise in order to make his studies easier.
21 December 1967
"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.
07 April 1952
The story, set 15 years after the Crucifixion, of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who is depicted as a victim of circumstances.
07 March 1955
This musical version of the tale of the boy who wouldn't grow up aired live on television on March 7, 1955.
24 September 1948
In pre-WW1 England, a youngster is expelled from a naval academy over a petty theft, but his parents raise a political furor by demanding a trial.
01 January 1962
A film version of Edward Lear's narrative poem about the owl and the pussycat who went to sea in a pt
28 November 1965
Everyone knows the story of Red Riding Hood. But every story has two sides and now the wolf has finally told his.
11 March 1930
A jealous agent uses a girl singer to break up a double act.
21 February 1958
Cole Porter's version of the story of Aladdin--his only musical written especially for television.
14 January 1932
Max Tracey is the head waiter at a London hotel. He falls in love at first sight with Sylvia Robertson, an aristocratic woman, and poses as a prince to win her love.
21 February 1966
Hosted by Cyril Ritchard, with performances by Florence Henderson, Barbara Harris, Stanley Holloway, John Cullum, Patricia McBride and Edward Villella.
01 January 1937
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.
