{{Short description|English actor & director}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|Cyril Butcher aged 20
'''Cyril George Butcher''' (31 July 1909 – 23 February 1987) was an English actor and director and longtime companion of Beverley Nichols.
==Biography== Butcher was born on 31 July 1909, in Suffolk, England.
In 1930, the magazine ''Film Weekly'' sponsored a pair of film acting scholarships. The two winners (Cyril Butcher and Aileen Despard) went on to appear in the now lost Alfred Hitchcock short ''An Elastic Affair'' and placed under contract by British International Pictures.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kerzoncuf|first1=Alain|last2=Barr|first2=Charles|title=Hitchcock Lost and Found: The Forgotten Films|date=2015|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=9780813160832|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j9PtBgAAQBAJ&q=Cyril+Butcher+the+winner+of+film+weekly&pg=PT83|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref>
In the early 1930s, he met novelist and playwright Beverley Nichols and they remained lifelong partners from then. Their friends were Hugh Walpole and Lord Berners, among others.<ref name="papers">{{cite web|title=Beverley Nichols papers|url=http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/html/mss0620.html|website=Special Collections University of Delaware Library|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref> In 1939 Butcher was living with Nichols and a valet at 1 Ellerdale Close, Hampstead, London.<ref>1939 Register. The valet was Arthur Gaskin Born 27 Oct 1904</ref>
In 1934, he published ''In Extremis, Worst Moments in the Lives of the Famous'' with a foreword by Beverley Nichols.<ref>{{cite journal|title=In Extremis – 18 Nov 1934, Sun • Page 7|journal=The Observer|date=1934|page=7|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16787065/the_observer/|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref> In 1939, together with Albert Arlen, he directed the play ''Counterfeit!'' at the Duke of York's, London.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Counterfeit! – 20 Aug 1939, Sun • Page 9|journal=The Observer|date=1939|page=9|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16787104/the_observer/|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref>
In 1953, Butcher adapted ''Evensong'' by Beverley Nichols for the television,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Documentaries – 21 Oct 1953, Wed • Page 3|journal=The Guardian|date=1953|page=3|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16787146/the_guardian/|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref> while in 1956 he directed the television adaptation of ''Macadam and Eve'' from the play by Roger Macdougall.<ref>{{cite journal|title=First Flashes of a New Spirit – 30 Jun 1956, Sat • Page 3|journal=The Guardian|date=1956|page=3|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16787086/the_guardian/|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref> Butcher was the producer of the 1957 television drama ''Granite Peak''.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Australian Authoress's Play – 27 Apr 1957, Sat • Page 5|journal=The Guardian|date=1957|page=5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16787051/the_guardian/|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref>
Between 1959 and 1963, he directed for television: ''Ideal Home Exhibition'' (1963), ''The English Captain'' (1960), ''The Last Hours'' (1959), ''Old People; Part 1'' (1959) and ''Election Results 1959'' (1959).<ref>{{cite web|title=Cyril Butcher|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f27dea5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123190623/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f27dea5|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 January 2018|website=British Film Institute|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref>
Butcher and Nichols shared a home together – Sudbrook Cottage at Ham Common in Richmond, Surrey.<ref name= "observer"/> On Nichols' death in 1984, Butcher was the main beneficiary in his will, amounting to £131,750 (£{{formatnum:{{inflation|UK|131750|1984}}}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}} sterling).<ref name= "observer">{{cite news|title=Beverley Nichols' will|date= 22 January 1984|work=The Observer|page=5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-observer/16787118/|access-date=13 March 2026}}</ref> Butcher died Sudbrook Cottage on 23 February 1987, aged 77.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1044941/?ref_=tt_ov_st Cyril Butcher] at IMDb
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Butcher, Cyril}} Category:1909 births Category:1987 deaths Category:20th-century English LGBTQ people Category:20th-century English male actors Category:Actors from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Category:English male film actors Category:English theatre directors Category:LGBTQ theatre directors Category:Male actors from Suffolk Category:People from Richmond, London