Cyril Raymond

Cyril William North Raymond MBE (13 February 1899 – 20 March 1973) was a British character actor whose stage, film, and television career extended from his teens until ill health forced his retirement in the 1960s. Born the son of Herbert Linton Raymond and his second wife, Rose (née Knowles), Raymond grew up in Bristol, where his parents operated the Grand Hotel on Broad Street until his father's death there in 1906. He trained at Sir Herbert Tree's Academy of Dramatic Art and made his professional debut in 1914 at the Garrick Theatre, London, playing the Second Spanish Gentleman in Bluff King Hal.

Raymond's early stage work placed him alongside prominent theatrical figures. In 1915 he appeared at His Majesty's Theatre as Little Billee in Trilby, supporting Tree's Svengali, and during his years as a boy actor he performed in plays by Louis N. Parker, Edward Knoblock, and Harold Brighouse. Parker's Disraeli in 1916 gave Raymond a substantial juvenile role, Lord Deerford, which The Observer noted he "played very cleverly." He subsequently repeated the role in a film adaptation of the play. His Broadway career ran from 1915 to 1937 and included productions such as There's Always Juliet, French Without Tears, The Shining Hour, Josef Suss, and Red Blinds, among others.

In 1922 Raymond married the actress Iris Hoey, with whom he had one child, John Raymond, who later became an author and critic. The couple appeared together in several West End productions during the 1920s, and Raymond also worked extensively with producer Basil Dean during this period. Raymond and Hoey divorced in 1936, and the following year he married the actress Gillian Lind.

By the mid-1930s Raymond had established a particular niche as a foil to leading actresses, contributing what his obituarist in The Times described as balanced, controlled, and humorous performances alongside more flamboyant leading players. Over the following two decades he co-starred with Sybil Thorndike in Short Story (1935), Ruth Chatterton in a 1937 revival of The Constant Wife, Gertrude Lawrence in September Tide (1948), Edith Evans in Waters of the Moon (1953), and Yvonne Arnaud in Mrs Willie (1956). His stage credits across his career also included Summertime (1919), The Last Hour (1928), The Return of the Soldier (1928), Tony Draws a Horse (1939), Under the Counter (1945), Happy with Either (1948), Towards Zero (1956), and Aunt Edwina (1959).

During the Second World War, Raymond served in the Royal Air Force from 1939 to 1945 and was awarded the MBE. His most celebrated screen performance came during this same period: he played Fred Jesson, the husband of Celia Johnson's character Laura Jesson, in David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945). Writing in The Observer, critic C. A. Lejeune praised the performances of Raymond, Johnson, and Trevor Howard for their sweetness, sobriety, and fresh delicacy.

Raymond's television work included an appearance as Nash in the 1961 Danger Man episode "Name, Date and Place." In the final phase of his career he appeared in plays by younger writers, among them Nigel Dennis, Giles Cooper, and John Osborne. His role in Osborne's Inadmissible Evidence in 1965, alongside Nicol Williamson and John Hurt, was among his last stage appearances before declining health brought his career to a close. Raymond died on 20 March 1973.