Christopher Casson

Christopher T. Casson (20 March 1912 – 9 July 1996) was an English-born actor who later became an Irish citizen. Born in Prestwich, Lancashire, he was the youngest son of actors Sybil Thorndike and Lewis Casson. His stage debut came at the age of three, when he appeared in Julius Caesar at the Old Vic. He went on to work across stage, screen, radio, and television throughout his career.

Following a brief naval career, Casson trained at the Central School of Dramatic Art at the Royal Albert Hall and began his professional career in 1930. During the 1930s he toured Egypt, Palestine, Australia, and New Zealand. In 1938 he appeared on Broadway in Murder in the Cathedral, the same year he joined the company of Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir at the Gate Theatre in Dublin. He married Irish stage designer and artist Kay O'Connell in 1941, with Mac Liammóir serving as his best man. The couple had two daughters. Casson became a Roman Catholic and an Irish citizen in 1946, and he worked with Longford Productions until 1950, after which he pursued a freelance acting career.

Casson gained widespread recognition in Ireland through his portrayal of Canon Browne in the long-running television series The Riordans. He also appeared in The Irish RM, Autumn Sunshine, and Strangers and Brothers. His film work spanned four decades and included Captain Lightfoot (1955), Shake Hands with the Devil (1959), Broth of a Boy (1959), The Siege of Sidney Street (1960), Johnny Nobody (1961), Zardoz (1974), The Sleep of Death (1980), Educating Rita (1983), Attracta (1983), The Treaty (1991), and Frankie Starlight (1995).

In 1982, as a member of the RTÉ Players, Casson took part in a Jacob's Award-winning production in which he played the role of Virag in RTÉ Radio's unabridged, thirty-hour broadcast of James Joyce's Ulysses. Outside of acting, he was an accomplished harpist and ballad-singer. He resided in the coastal Dublin suburb of Sandymount.