Van Gyseghem was born on 18 August 1906 in Eltham, Kent, the son of Georges Emil van Gyseghem and his wife Minnie Evison . He went to school in Greenwich, then studied for the stage at RADA. He worked initially in a music-publishing business. He made his stage debut at the Theatre Royal, Bognor, in September 1927, as Peveril Leyburn in The Constant Nymph, then in January 1928 toured as Lewis Dodd in the same play. From September 1928 to July 1930 he was engaged at the Hull Repertory Theatre, then under the direction of A.R. Whatmore, playing a round of leading juvenile parts.
Return to London
At the Arts Theatre in July 1930 he played Vitek in The Macropulos Secret. He then joined the repertory company at the Embassy Theatre, and remained there from September 1930 until October 1934. He continued to take parts in plays, such as Florindo in The Liar and Master Klaus in The Witch, but also began his long career as director, starting with the Agatha Christie play Black Coffee in December 1930. Other subsequent productions which he directed at the Embassy included:
Between 1933 and 1935 he made several trips to the Soviet Union, including a year's work at Nikolay Okhlopkov's Realistic Theatre in Moscow. He attributed much of his own acting expertise to the education he received there. He became a member of the Communist Party and president of the Unity Theatre's "Management Committee". In 1939 he appeared in a short BBC television play Rehearsal for a Drama. In 1944 played Cecil Tempest in the film Candles at Nine, and in 1949 Oblensky in Warning to Wantons. In 1953 he played the Stage Door Keeper in The Limping Man. Between 1951 and his death in 1979 he appeared in over 50 British television dramas. These included in 1963 as Vennekohl in Rudolph Cartier's production of Stalingrad for the BBC's Festival series. He was one of several Number Twos in the 1960s cult classic television seriesThe Prisoner. He played the retiring Number Two in the episode "It's Your Funeral". Van Gyseghem also appeared in an episode of The Saint in 1968 with Roger Moore.
