Cyril Raymond

Cyril Raymond
Cyril William North Raymond MBE (13 February 1899 – 20 March 1973) was a British character actor. He maintained a stage and screen career from his teens until his retirement, caused by ill health, in the 1960s.
His many stage, film and television roles include Fred Jesson, the husband of Celia Johnson's Laura Jesson in Brief Encounter (1945).
Life and career
Raymond was the son of Herbert Linton Raymond and his second wife, Rose (Knowles). Herbert died in 1906 at the Grand Hotel, Broad Street, Bristol, which he and his wife ran.
Raymond became a pupil at Sir Herbert Tree's Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his professional debut in 1914 at the Garrick Theatre, London, playing the Second Spanish Gentleman in Bluff King Hal.
As Little Billee in Trilby he supported Tree's Svengali at His Majesty's Theatre in 1915. While still a boy actor he appeared in plays by Louis N. Parker, Edward Knoblock and Harold Brighouse. In 1916, he played a major juvenile role, Lord Deerford, in Parker's Disraeli. The Observer reported that he "played very cleverly". A film was made of the play; he repeated his role of Deerford.
In 1922 Raymond married the actress Iris Hoey. They had one child, John Raymond, who became an author and critic. The couple co-starred in several West End plays in the 1920s; Raymond also worked extensively with the producer Basil Dean. He and Hoey divorced in 1936 and the following year he married the actress Gillian Lind.
In the view of Raymond's obituarist in The Times it was in the mid-1930s that "he found what might be called his vocation, in contributing balanced, controlled, humorous pieces of acting as foils to more flamboyant performances by highly accomplished leading ladies".
He co-starred as the spouse or partner of a range of leading ladies over the next twenty or so years, including Sybil Thorndike in Short Story (1935), Ruth Chatterton in The Constant Wife (1937 revival), Gertrude Lawrence in September Tide (1948), Edith Evans in Waters of the Moon (1953) and Yvonne Arnaud in Mrs Willie (1956).
During the Second World War Raymond served in the Royal Air Force from 1939 to 1945, and was awarded the MBE. In the cinema he appeared as Celia Johnson's character's husband in the 1945 film Brief Encounter. In The Observer, C. A. Lejeune praised "the sweetness, the sobriety, and the fresh delicacy" of his performance and those of Johnson and Trevor Howard.
On television, he appeared in the 1961 Danger Man episode entitled "Name, Date and Place" as Nash. http://danger-man.co.uk/episodeDetails.asp?episodeID=19&seriesNo=1
In the 1960s, Raymond appeared in plays by writers of the younger generation, including Nigel Dennis, Giles Cooper and John Osborne. In Osborne's Inadmissible Evidence in 1965 he appeared with Nicol Williamson and John Hurt. This was one of his last appearances, and ill health obliged him to retire several years before his death.
Filmography (incomplete)
The Hypocrites (1916) – Leonard Wilmore
Disraeli (1916) – Lord Deeford
I Will (1919) – Harris Giles
His Last Defence (1919) – David Hislop
The Scarlet Kiss (1920)
Wuthering Heights (1920) – Hareton
Sonia (1921) – Tom Dainton
Single Life (1921) – John Henty
Moth and Rust (1921) – Fred Black
Cocaine (1922)
The Faithful Heart (1922) – Albert Oughterson
These Charming People (1931) – Miles Winter
The Ghost Train (1931) – Richard Winthrop
The Happy Ending (1931) – Anthony Fenwick
A Man of Mayfair (1931) – Charles
Condemned to Death (1932) – Jim Wrench
The Frightened Lady (1932) – Sergeant Ferraby
The Shadow (1933) – Jim Silverton
The Lure (1933) – Paul Dane
Strike It Rich (1933) – Slaughter
The Man Outside (1933) – Captain Fordyce
Mixed Doubles (1933) – Reggie Irving
Home, Sweet Home (1933) – John Falkirk
Keep It Quiet (1934) – Jack
Royal Cavalcade (1935) – Undetermined Minor Role (uncredited)
The Tunnel (1935) – Harriman
It's Love Again (1936) – Montague
Tomorrow We Live (1936) – George Warner
Accused (1936) – Guy Henry
Thunder in the City (1937) – James
Dreaming Lips (1937) – PC
Stardust (1938) – Jerry Sears
Night Alone (1938) – Tommy
The Spy in Black (1939) – The Rev. John Harris
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) – Teacher (uncredited)
Come On George! (1939) – Jimmy Taylor
Saloon Bar (1940) – Harry Small
The First of the Few (1942) – Radio Control Officer (uncredited)
Brief Encounter (1945) – Fred Jesson
Men of Two Worlds (1946) – Education Officer
This Was a Woman (1948) – Austin Penrose
Quartet (1948) – Railway Passenger (segment "The Colonel's Lady")
The Jack of Diamonds (1949, co-wrote screenplay with Nigel Patrick) – Roger Keen
Angels One Five (1952) – Squadron Leader Barry Clinton
Rough Shoot (1953) – Cartwright
The Heart of the Matter (1953) – Carter (uncredited)
The Gay Dog (1954) – Rev. Gowland
The Crowded Day (1954) – Philip Stanton
One Just Man (1954)
Lease of Life (1954) – The Headmaster
Charley Moon (1956) – Bill
The Baby and the Battleship (1956) – P.M.O.
The Safecracker (1958) – Inspector Frankham
Dunkirk (1958) – General The Viscount Gort V.C.
No Kidding (1960) – Col. Matthews
Carry On Regardless (1961) – Army Officer
Don't Talk to Strange Men (1962) – Mr. Painter
Night Train to Paris (1964) – Insp. Fleming
Selected stage credits
Summertime by Louis N. Parker (1919)
The Last Hour by Charles Bennett (1928)
The Return of the Soldier by John Van Druten (1928)
There's Always Juliet by John Van Druten (1931)
Tony Draws a Horse by Lesley Storm (1939)
Under the Counter by Arthur Macrae (1945)
Happy with Either by Margaret Kennedy (1948)
Aunt Edwina by William Douglas Home (1959)
Notes, references and sources
Notes
References
Sources
External links
1899 births
1973 deaths
20th-century English male actors
English male film actors
English male silent film actors
English male stage actors
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Royal Air Force officers
Royal Air Force personnel of World War II