Cecil Bevan


Cecil Stuart Reginald Bevan was a British supporting and character actor on stage and screen.

Early life

Bevan was born in London, the son of a clergyman, Reverend Cecil Bevan. He worked as an accountant and partnership agent, and acted as an amateur with groups including the Romany Amateur Dramatic Club at St. George's Hall, London in 1900, and the Phoenix Amateur Dramatic Club at the Bijou Theatre, London, in 1901.

Career

By 1907, Bevan had begun acting professionally with George Alexander's company in Alfred Sutro's new play, John Glayde's Honour. He also appeared with the Herbert Sleath Company and the London Repertory Theatre under its director J. T. Grein.
In 1912, he played the governor of HM Prison Holloway in a satirical play by Lillie Langtry titled Helping the Cause, in which Langtry played a militant suffragist. The play, with the cast including Langtry, Bevan, Leonora Braham and Alfred Mansfield, toured the United Kingdom and the United States.
In the 1910s and 1930s-40s, Bevan appeared in West End theatres in supporting roles in plays by dramatists such as Harley Granville-Barker, Elmer Rice, Jerome K. Jerome, and Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein. He received praise for his performances, in particular for his role as Christopher Branley in John Glayde's Honour by Alfred Sutro, Captain Montgomerie in W. Somerset Maugham's Lady Frederick, and Dr. O'Shea in Roland Pertwee's Pink String and Sealing Wax.
Bevan also appeared on screen from 1921 to 1952. His performance as Sampson Brass in The [Old Curiosity Shop (1921 film)|The Old Curiosity Shop] was described as "excellent". His last appearance on screen was as Reverend Mayne in Autumn Crocus.

Personal life

He married twice, firstly to Violet Gordon Robbins in 1900, and later to Frieda Haesler. He was a member of the Green Room Club and the Conservative Association. He died in 1953 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, where he had lived for over thirty years.

Selected stage performances

Filmography