Cyril Delevanti

Early years

Harry Cyril Delevanti was born in London to the Anglo-Italian music professor, Edward Prospero Richard Delevanti (1859–1911) and his wife, Mary Elizabeth (née Rowbotham).

Career

Delevanti had a career as an actor on the English stage and, following his emigrated 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, thus becoming the actor's son-in-law. 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 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, U.S. Marshal, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, 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" 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 (1890–1975); they had three children: Kitty (born 1913), Cyril (1914–1975), and Harry (born 1915).

Death

On December 13, 1975, Delevanti died in Hollywood of lung cancer,. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California.