Arthur Cecil

Who was Arthur Cecil?

Arthur Cecil Blunt, better known as Arthur Cecil was an English actor, comedian, playwright and theatre manager. He is probably best remembered for playing the role of Box in the long-running production of Cox and Box, by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand, at the Royal Gallery of Illustration.

Born in London, Cecil took up amateur dramatics from an early age. In 1869, he made his professional debut in the one-act comic opera Cox and Box at the Gallery of Illustration in the role of Mr. Box, a part that became his signature role. There Cecil started a successful association with the German Reed Entertainments, appearing in numerous comedies, farces, operettas and burlesques, such as Beggar My Neighbour: A Blind Man's Bouffe and Charity Begins at Home in 1872. He remained with the company for five years.

Cecil appeared at many London theatres during his career including the Globe, the Gaiety, and Prince of Wales's Theatre. He appeared in such successful pieces as Peril as Sir Woodbine Grafton, Duty, The Vicarage, as Noel Haygarth and Caste by T. W. Robertson with the Bancrofts also in the cast, all in 1879, and later in other Robertson pieces. Cecil joined a company at the Royal Court Theatre in 1881 and was a co-manager of that theatre from 1883. There, he played in farces including The Rector, The Magistrate, The Schoolmistress and Dandy Dick, as well as the title role in The Cabinet Minister in 1890. Later productions there included The Millionaire, as Mr. Guyon, and Mamma, as Miles Henniker.