beginning with a live color telecast in 1955. The television version was well-received, and Ritchard reprised his role in 1956 and 1960. Additional Roles In 1958, he starred in the Cole Porter CBS television musical Aladdin. In 1959, he was nominated for a second Tony Award, for Best Actor in a Play, for “The Pleasure of His Company.” He appeared onstage in The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd (1965), with Anthony Newley, and Sugar (1972). He was also a Broadway director: The Happiest Girl in the World (1961) (in which he also appeared), Roar Like a Dove (1964) and The Irregular Verb to Love (1963) (in which he also appeared). His film appearances include the role of the villain in Alfred Hitchcock's early talkie Blackmail (1929) and much later in the Tommy Steele vehicle Half a Sixpence (1967). Ritchard also appeared regularly on a variety of television programs in the late 1950s and 1960s. For example, he appeared as a mystery guest on What's My Line? on the 22 December 1957 episode of the popular Sunday night CBS-TV program. In the 1950s Ritchard played the comic lead in Jacques Offenbach's operetta La Perichole at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Later Ritchard served as a guest panelist on the Met's radio quiz show, where he was referred to as Sir Cyril, although he was never knighted. His wife, Madge Elliott, died of cancer in 1955 in New York. Death Shortly before he died, Ritchard performed as the voice of Elrond in the Rankin/Bass television production of The Hobbit. Ritchard lived at The Langham, an apartment house in New York. He suffered a heart attack on 25 November 1977, while appearing as the narrator in the Chicago touring company of Side by Side by Sondheim. He died on 18 December 1977 in Chicago, aged 79. He was buried beside his wife at Saint Mary's Cemetery in Ridgefield, Connecticut, near his rural home. His funeral mass was celebrated by Archbishop Fulton Sheen. He and Madge had a baby boy who died in infancy in 1939. Filmography Piccadilly (1929) as Victor Smiles Blackmail (1929, directed by Alfred Hitchcock) as The Artist Just for a Song (1930) as Craddock Symphony in Two Flats (1930) as Leo Chavasse Service for Ladies (1932) as Sir William Carter (uncredited) Danny Boy (1934) as John Martin The Show Goes On (1937) as