Ramsay Hill

Ramsay Hill (born Cyril Seys Ramsay-Hill; November 30, 1889 – February 3, 1976) was a British radio and film actor, and a former British and Egyptian army officer, whose military experience and multilingual proficiency helped make him a much-in-demand technical advisor and dialogue coach in Hollywood.

Early life and career

Born in Georgetown, Guyana, Ramsay Hill was the child of John Ramsay-Hill and Rosalie Vansolsman. He obtained a degree in Chemistry from Brighton Technical School in 1909, and served with the Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars in World War I.

Speaking more than two decades after his death, actor Parley Baer—who had appeared with Ramsay Hall at least once on one of the most popular old-time radio anthology series—recalled that his late colleague was "a good actor who put a lot of imagination into the parts he was given." Regarding his performance as John, Prince of England in Cecil B. DeMille's The Crusades, Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph critic George Seibel wrote that, amidst the film's many romantic episodes and spectacular combat sequences, the "best acting of the spectacle" is done by Ramsay Hill and Joseph Schildkraut—as the Marquis of Montferrat—while playing a game of chess.

In contrast to his film career, consisting primarily of small, often uncredited roles overshadowed by his crucial and relatively well-publicized contributions as a technical consultant, Ramsay-Hill had a lengthy radio acting career including many substantial roles, some of the most notable being Roderick Usher (from Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"), Godfrey Ablewhite (in Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone), Merlin in Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and the title character in the NBC University Theatre production of Eric Knight's short story "The Old General."

Personal life and death

Ramsay-Hill became a naturalized United States citizen on May 23, 1952, at the age of 62. He was married at least four times, the second being to Edith Mary Agnes Hughes (née Maude), beginning on November 22, 1924, and continuing until their divorce on Jun 18, 1928. The third marriage, commencing on December 17, 1930, was to Patsey Morris (daughter of writer Gouverneur Morris), with whom Ramsay-Hill had one son, John, and to whom he remained married at least until February 1949, at which time it was reported that the couple resided on Foothill Boulevard in Pasadena. The younger Ramsay-Hall had a brief career as a child actor on radio before committing suicide in 1957 at age 19, reportedly due to a failed love affair. By that point, Ramsay-Hill and Morris had evidently divorced, as the Los Angeles Mirror lists the deceased's parents as Cyril Ramsay-Hill and Patsy Splane.

On February 3, 1976, having fallen seriously ill more than two months prior, Ramsay-Hill died of undisclosed causes at the Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, survived by his wife Polly Ramsay-Hill. His remains are interred at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood.