Cyril Ring

Cyril Ring (December 5, 1892 – July 17, 1967) was an American actor born in Boston, Massachusetts, who built careers on both the Broadway stage and in Hollywood films. He entered show business following the path of his older sister, actress Blanche Ring, and went on to accumulate more than 350 film appearances before his final screen performance in 1951.

Ring's stage career began in the early 1910s, and he appeared on Broadway between 1912 and 1928. His credited Broadway productions include the plays Back Seat Drivers and Trilby, as well as the musicals Linger Longer Letty and The Wall Street Girl. He also performed in additional stage productions during this period, among them The Yankee Girl, So Long Letty, and Madam Sherry. In 1915 he married comedienne and dancer Charlotte Greenwood, and during their marriage he served as her personal manager in addition to pursuing his own acting work. The couple divorced in 1922. Ring's nephew was film director Eddie Sutherland.

Although a studio biography placed his entry into motion pictures at 1917, his 1915 wedding announcement already identified him as working in film. By 1929 he had spent several years as a member of Paramount Pictures' stock company. The transition to sound film created demand for stage-trained performers capable of delivering spoken dialogue, and Ring was among those positioned to benefit. That year he was cast as Harvey Yates, a swindler who conspires with a character played by Kay Francis, in the Marx Brothers' first film, The Cocoanuts. The role became his most recognized screen credit. A New York Times review published May 25, 1929, written by Mordaunt Hall, criticized Ring's performance, describing it as amateurish and suggesting he played the part as though the other characters could neither see nor hear him. Marx Brothers historian Matthew Coniam later offered a more favorable assessment, arguing that Ring handled the villainous role competently and that the harsh critical reception contributed to an immediate decline in his career prospects.

The Cocoanuts did not produce further prominent roles, but Ring's neat, businesslike appearance kept him in steady demand as a bit player across most of the major Hollywood studios. He transitioned to freelance work, taking on incidental characters including desk clerks, reporters, restaurant patrons, and theater staff, as well as appearances in large crowd scenes. His nephew Eddie Sutherland cast him in several productions, including International House with W. C. Fields. Ring appeared in uncredited small parts in two additional Marx Brothers films, Monkey Business in 1931 and A Day at the Races in 1937. Director William A. Wellman called on him for a banquet scene in the 1937 film Nothing Sacred, which required 18 bit players and 193 extras. Ring's output during this period was substantial, with 33 documented appearances in 1937 alone and 36 more in 1939. One of his rare leading roles came in a 1940 musical short filmed for coin-operated jukeboxes, co-produced by singer Rudy Vallee and businessman William Kemble, in which singer Gertrude Niesen performs the song "Jim" while Ring plays the title character.

Ring worked consistently through 1945, but the postwar shift by major studios away from lower-budget productions reduced the volume of available assignments. He continued to appear in films through 1951. Ring died on July 17, 1967, in Hollywood, California, at the age of 74.