Cyril Delevanti (23 February 1889 – 13 December 1975), sometimes credited as Syril Delevanti, was an English-born character actor with a long career in American films.
Delevanti was born in London,as Harry Cyril Delevanti, the son of a music professor, Edward Prospero Richard Delevanti (1859-1911) and Mary Elizabeth Rowbotham (b.1861). He married Eva Kitty Peel (b.1890 in Portsea, Hampshire); they had three children, Kitty (b.1913, m. Ford Beebe), Cyril (b.1914 d. 1975 in Los Angeles) & Harry (b.1915).
His first film appearance was in Devotion (1931). In 1938, he appeared in Red Barry for director Ford Beebe who would become his son-in-law. From the 1940s, he appeared in countless small roles, frequently uncredited, in films such 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).
In the 1950s and 1960s, he was a fixture of many television series, including The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, The Virginian, Daniel Boone, Jefferson Drum, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mission: Impossible, Perry Mason, The Untouchables, Science Fiction Theater, The Twilight Zone, Dragnet while continuing to act in films. He was seen in Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Dead Ringer (1964), The Night of the Iguana (1964), Mary Poppins (1964), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad (1967), The Killing of Sister George (1968), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), The Girl Most Likely to... & Soylent Green both in (1973).
He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor in The Night of the Iguana.
He died in Hollywood, California of lung cancer. His interment was in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.