# Cyril Delevanti

Harry Cyril Delevanti (23 February 1887 – 13 December 1975) was an English character actor with a long career in American films. He was sometimes credited as Syril Delevanti.

## Early years

Delevanti was born in London to Anglo-Italian music professor Edward Prospero Richard Delevanti and his wife Mary Elizabeth (née Rowbotham).

## Career

Delevanti had a career as an actor on the English stage and, after his emigration to the United States in 1921, performed on the American stage throughout the 1920s. His first film appearance was in Devotion (1931). In 1938 he appeared in Red Barry for director Ford Beebe, who would later marry Delevanti's daughter, Kitty. From the 1940s, he appeared in many small roles, frequently uncredited, in such films as Phantom of the Opera (1943), Confidential Agent (1945), Deception (1946), Monsieur Verdoux (1947), Forever Amber (1947), David and Bathsheba (1951), Limelight (1952), Les Girls (1957), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), and Mary Poppins (1964).
In 1957 he played a superstitious king (with John Banner as his concerned valet) in Adventures of Superman. In 1958, Delevanti was cast as the printer Lucius Coin in all twenty-six episodes of the NBC western television series, Jefferson Drum, starring Jeff Richards. He made two guest appearances on Perry Mason during the first and final (ninth) seasons of the series. In 1957 he played florist Mr. Tulloch in "The Case of the Silent Partner". In 1965, he played bookie Craig Jefferson in "The Case of the Silent Six".
Delevanti made guest-starring appearances on Dennis the Menace, US Marshal, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Have Gun – Will Travel, The Tall Man, Bourbon Street Beat, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Virginian, Daniel Boone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mission: Impossible, Ironside, The Untouchables; Science Fiction Theater, Adventures of Superman; The Twilight Zone (in the episodes "A Penny for Your Thoughts", "The Silence", "Passage on the Lady Anne", and "A Piano in the House"), Dundee and the Culhane, Peter Gunn, and Dragnet.
He continued to act in films, such as The Night of the Iguana (1964, nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor), Mary Poppins (1964), The Killing of Sister George (1968), and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971).

## Personal life

In 1913, Delevanti married Eva Kitty Peel; they had three children: Kitty, Cyril, and Harry. In the early 1950s, they operated a toy shop in the Los Angeles area.

## Death

On 13 December 1975, Delevanti died in Hollywood of lung cancer.

## Credited filmography

* Devotion (1931) – Reporter (uncredited)
* Arrowsmith (1931) – committee member (uncredited)
* Red Barry (1938, Serial) – Wing Fu
* A Dispatch from Reuter's (1940) – Cockney News Vendor (uncredited)
* Man Hunt (1941) – Cab Driver (uncredited)
* Confirm or Deny (1941) – Bellhop (scenes deleted)
* Night Monster (1942) – Torque
* Journey for Margaret (1942) – Stage Manager (uncredited)
* When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1942) – Professor (uncredited)
* The Adventures of Smilin' Jack (1943, Serial) – Mah Ling / Han Po
* Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) – Freddy Jolly—Graverobber (uncredited)
* All by Myself (1943) – Mr. Vincent (uncredited)
* Two Tickets to London (1943) – Scottish Man (uncredited)
* Phantom of the Opera (1943) – Bookkeeper (uncredited)
* Holy Matrimony (1943) – Townsman (uncredited)
* Son of Dracula (1943) – Dr. Peters, the Coroner (uncredited)
* The Lodger (1944) – Stagehand (uncredited)
* The Impostor (1944) – Bartender (uncredited)
* Phantom Lady (1944) – Claude (uncredited)
* Her Primitive Man (1944) – Scientist (uncredited)
* The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944) – Malty Bill – Shopkeeper (uncredited)
* Shadow of Suspicion (1944) – Mr. Lewis (uncredited)
* Ministry of Fear (1944) – Railroad Agent (uncredited)
* Enter Arsène Lupin (1944) – Wine Expert (uncredited)
* Double Exposure (1944) – Henry – Waiter (uncredited)
* Jungle Queen (1945) – Rogers (uncredited)
* The Jade Mask (1945) – Roth
* Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear (1945) – Stanley Raeburn (uncredited)
* The Phantom of 42nd Street (1945) – Roberts
* The Shanghai Cobra (1945) – Detective Larkin (uncredited)
* The Fatal Witness (1945) – Second Coroner (uncredited)
* Scotland Yard Investigator (1945) – Police Surgeon (uncredited)
* Kitty (1945) – All Hot Hawker (uncredited)
* This Love of Ours (1945) – Secretary (uncredited)
* Confidential Agent (1945) – Businessman (uncredited)
* Captain Tugboat Annie (1945) – Fred
* The Daltons Ride Again (1945) – Jennings (uncredited)
* Three Strangers (1946) – Stockbroker (voice, uncredited)
* The Shadow Returns (1946) – John Adams
* Lost City of the Jungle (1946, Serial) – Representative to Peace Foundation [Ch. 1] (uncredited)
* Dressed to Kill (1946) – Convict at Dartmoor Prison (uncredited)
* The Mysterious Mr. M (1946) – Professor Jackson Parker (uncredited)
* Deception (1946) – Beggar (uncredited)
* I'll Be Yours (1947) – Businessman (uncredited)
* Monsieur Verdoux (1947) – Postman (uncredited)
* Lured (1947) – Medical Examiner (uncredited)
* Forever Amber (1947) – Cobbler (uncredited)
* The Emperor Waltz (1948) – Diplomat (uncredited)
* David and Bathsheba (1951) – Undetermined Minor Role (uncredited)
* Limelight (1952) – Griffin – a Clown (uncredited)
* Gunsmoke (1956) (S2E8) “The Mistake") - Hearse Driver
* Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1956) (Season 1 Episode 19: "The Derelicts") - Alfred J. Sloane
* D-Day the Sixth of June (1956) – Coat Room Attendant (uncredited)
* Johnny Tremain (1957) – Mr. Robert Newman (uncredited)
* Trooper Hook (1957) – Junius
* Les Girls (1957) – Fanatic with 'What Is Truth' Sign (uncredited)
* Ride Out for Revenge (1957) – Preacher
* Sabu and the Magic Ring (1957) – Abdul
* Gun Fever (1958) – Jerry
* Teacher's Pet (1958) – Copy Man (uncredited)
* Kings Go Forth (1958) – Blairs' Butler (uncredited)
* I Bury the Living (1958) – William Isham (uncredited)
* Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1959) (Season 5 Episode 12: "Specialty of the House") - Club Member (uncredited)
* Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) (Season 5 Episode 36: "Letter of Credit") - Josiah Wingate
* From the Terrace (1960) – MacHardie's Secretary (uncredited)
* Paradise Alley (1962) – Grandpa
* Dead Ringer (1964) – Henry, the Butler
* The Night of the Iguana (1964) – Nonno
* Mary Poppins (1964) – Mr. Grubbs (uncredited)
* The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) – Melchior
* Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad (1967) – Hawkins
* Counterpoint (1968) – Tartzoff
* The Killing of Sister George (1968) – Ted Baker
* Macho Callahan (1970) – Old man
* Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) – Elderly Farmer
* Soylent Green (1973) – Book # 4
* The Girl Most Likely to... (1973) – Chaplain
* Black Eye (1974) – Talbot (final film role)