Cyril Raymond

Cyril William North Raymond MBE (13 Feb 1899, Rowley Regis, Staffordshire – 20 Mar 1973, Ripe, near Lewes, Sussex) was a British character actor.

Of dozens of film and television appearances, probably his best-remembered role was as Fred Jesson, the husband of Celia Johnson's Laura Jesson in Brief Encounter (1945).

Royal Air Force career

During the Second World War he served as a RAF fighter controller during the Battle of Britain and was awarded the MBE in the 1945 King's Birthday Honours. He reached the rank of Wing Commander.

Personal life

1911 Census shows that he was 12-year-old, a schoolboy living at the Grand Hotel, Broad Street, Bristol. His mother Rose Raymond, 44-years-old, was managing the hotel. His father Herbert Linton Raymond had died in 1906 at the hotel, Herbert is buried at Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol.

He was married twice. First to Iris Hoey and then to Gillian Lind, both of whom were actresses.

Cutting from The Times 18 Sept 1922 - Miss Iris Hoey, the actress, was married yesterday at a Bristol register office to Mr Cyril Raymond, of Bristol, an actor. Mr Raymond's mother, Rose L. Raymond, is the manageress of the Grand Hotel, Bristol.

Witnesses were Rose L. Raymond, Florence M. Hingley, Alice Baines and A. S. Baines. Florence is a cousin of Cyril. Bridesmaid was Miss Shelley Carlton.

On 4 December 1923 with Iris Hoey he had a son John North Blagrave Raymond, who was born in Bristol.

1936 Divorced by Iris Hoey.

1937 Married Gillian Pratt (Lind) in, Hailsham, who was related to Boris Karloff. Her nephew is production designer, Anthony D. G. Pratt.

Theatre career

1915 - Cyril is at Tree’s Academy of Dramatic Art which went on to become RADA.

1920 - Harry Armytage in Mumsee, Little, London.

1921 - Lt the Hon Cecil Plumley RN in Sweet William, Shaftesbury, London.

1921 - Arthur Chesney in Seen Through A Veil, Lyceum, London.

1930 - Played on Broadway in New York in the play Josef Suss. (Jud Süß)

1965 - Hudson in Inadmissible Evidence, Wyndham, London.

Selected filmography

• Wuthering Heights (1920)
• Sonia (1921)
• Single Life (1921)
• Cocaine (1922)
• The Faithful Heart (1922)
• These Charming People (1931)
• The Ghost Train (1931)
• A Man of Mayfair (1931)
• The Frightened Lady (1932)
• The Man Outside (1933)
• Keep It Quiet (1933)
• The Shadow (1933)
• The Tunnel (1935)
• Tomorrow We Live (1936)
• It's Love Again (1936)
• Thunder in the City (1937)
• The Spy in Black (1939)
• Saloon Bar (1940)
• Brief Encounter (1945)
• Quartet (1948); segment "The Colonel's Lady"
• The Jack of Diamonds (1949); co-wrote screenplay with Nigel Patrick
• Angels One Five (1952)
• Rough Shoot (1953)
• The Gay Dog (1954)
• Lease of Life (1954)
• Charley Moon (1956)
• The Baby and the Battleship (1956)
• Dunkirk (1958)
• The Safecracker (1958)
• No Kidding (1960)
• Carry On Regardless (1961)
• Don't Talk to Strange Men (1962)
• Night Train to Paris (1964)

External links

• Cyril Raymond at the Internet Movie Database