Cyril Ring

Cyril Ring was an American actor who started on the stage while young in Boston, Massachusetts, and went on to appear in hit plays including The Yankee Girl, So Long Letty, Linger Longer, and Madam Sherry. By 1929 he had been with Paramount Pictures' stock company for several years, and the new talking pictures needed stage-trained actors. He played the swindler Harvey Yates in the Marx Brothers' first film, The Cocoanuts (1929), his best-remembered screen role. The part led to criticism rather than major offers, but his businesslike appearance brought him steady work as an incidental player at Hollywood studios. Frequently cast as a desk clerk, reporter, or face in a crowd, he also appeared in Monkey Business (1931) and A Day at the Races (1937). Ring was prolific, with 33 documented appearances in 1937 and 36 in 1939, and he worked in films until 1951, appearing in more than 350 films, nearly all small or uncredited.