Cyril Ring (December 5, 1892 – July 17, 1967) was an American actor. By the time of his final performance in 1951, he had appeared in more than 350 films, nearly all of them in small and/or uncredited bit parts.

Ring is probably best known today for his featured role as Harvey Yates, a swindler and accomplice to fellow swindler Penelope, played by Kay Francis in the Marx Brothers' first film The Cocoanuts (1929). He also appeared in uncredited small parts in two other Marx films, Monkey Business (1931) and A Day at the Races (1937).

Early life

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Cyril Ring began his stage career as a young man, following his older sister Blanche Ring into show business. In 1915 he married comedienne and dancer Charlotte Greenwood.[1][2] During their marriage Ring acted as her personal manager;[3] they divorced in 1922. Although a studio biography states that Cyril Ring entered motion pictures in 1917,[4] his wedding announcement of 1915 identifies him as already working in this field. He also appeared in many hit plays including The Yankee Girl, So Long Letty, Linger Longer, and Madam Sherry. Ring's nephew was prominent film director Eddie Sutherland.[5]

Career

By 1929 Cyril Ring had been with Paramount Pictures for several years as a member of its stock company, and with the new talking pictures requiring stage-trained actors who could deliver dialogue persuasively, Ring was a qualified candidate for the villainous role in The Cocoanuts. It turned out to be Ring's best-remembered screen role. In the New York Times review on May 25, 1929, Mordaunt Hall singled Ring out for criticism: "Cyril Ring, in an amateurish fashion, does the honors as the conspiring Mr. Yates, whose great hope in this adventure is to cash in on Mrs. Potter's gems. Mr. Ring, who has impersonated regiments of villains on the silent screen, here plays his part as though everybody but his determined female partner were both sightless and deaf."[6]

Marx Brothers historian Matthew Coniam observes, "It seems to me he makes a perfectly good job of villainous Harvey Yates in The Cocoanuts. But for some reason he got the most terrible reviews, and his career didn't so much decline as nosedive almost immediately afterwards."[7]

Successful bit player

The Cocoanuts didn't lead to further major roles, but Cyril Ring's well-tailored and businesslike appearance guaranteed him steady work in motion pictures. He began freelancing at most of the Hollywood studios, playing any number of incidental characters. His nephew Eddie Sutherland cast him in Sutherland's pictures (like International House with W. C. Fields).

Cyril Ring is usually seen as a desk clerk or reporter, but can also be spotted in restaurant or theater scenes (either as a staff member or a patron), or just as a recognizable face in the crowd (as in Laurel and Hardy's Block-Heads, where a crowded elevator opens to reveal Cyril Ring standing quietly and pleasantly in the front row). Many directors often sent out casting calls for big crowd scenes, and Cyril Ring could be depended upon to report for duty. In the 1937 film Nothing Sacred, for example, director William A. Wellman needed 18 bit players and 193 extras for a banquet scene;[8] and Ring answered the call. One of his few leads was in a Gertrude Niesen musical short filmed for coin-operated jukeboxes in 1940, co-produced by singer Rudy Vallee and businessman William Kemble;[9] Niesen sings the current hit "Jim" longingly while Cyril Ring (as Jim) gleefully enjoys the company of every girl but Niesen.

Cyril Ring was extraordinarily prolific, with 33 documented appearances in 1937 alone, and 36 more in 1939. He worked steadily through 1945. After World War II most studios decided to make fewer lower-budget pictures, leaving Ring with fewer assignments, but he continued to work in pictures until 1951.

Death

Cyril Ring died on July 17, 1967, in Hollywood, California, at age 74.

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ "MISS GREENWOOD WEDS.; Comedienne Quickly Marries Cyril Ring, a Moving Picture Actor". NY Times. 1915-07-25. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
  2. ^ "Cyril Ring biography". AllMovie. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
  3. ^ Variety, Nov. 19, 1915, p. 40.
  4. ^ Press Sheets for Paramount and Metro Extended Season Releases, 1923.
  5. ^ Jerome Weatherby, "The Nephew of Seven Stars", Picture Play, August 1920, p. 58.
  6. ^ Hall, Mordaunt (May 25, 1929). "The Screen". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  7. ^ Coniam, Matthew (2015). The Annotated Marx Brothers: A Filmgoer's Guide to In-Jokes, Obscure References and Sly Details. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0786497058.
  8. ^ Nothing Sacred pressbook, "Huge Banquet Scene in Nothing Sacred, United Artists, 1937, p. 11.
  9. ^ Scott MacGillivray and Ted Okuda, The Soundies Book, iUniverse, 2007, p. 380. ISBN 978=0-595-42060-5.
Allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Ring
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