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The Scottish actor Alastair Sim (1900–1976) performed in many media of light entertainment, including theatre, film and television. His career spanned from 1930 until his death. During that time he was a "memorable character player of faded Anglo-Scottish gentility, whimsically put-upon countenance, and sepulchral, sometimes minatory, laugh".

After studying chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, he was employed, between 1925 and 1930, as a lecturer in elocution at New College, Edinburgh, and also established his own school of drama and speech training. In 1930 he made his professional stage debut as a messenger in Othello at the Savoy Theatre, London—with Paul Robeson and Peggy Ashcroft in the lead roles. During the next five years he appeared on stage in New York and the UK, and spent two years at the Old Vic.

In 1935 he made his film debut, appearing in The Riverside Murder (dir. Albert Parker); he appeared in four films that year, and five the following. His film career progressed and by the mid-1940s he was a well-known figure in the theatre and cinema. The Times highlighted some of his more notable films, including Green for Danger (1946), The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950), Scrooge (1951), An Inspector Calls (1954), The Green Man (1956) and School for Scoundrels (1960).

Sim had been Rector of the University of Edinburgh in 1951, and was awarded CBE in 1953, although he turned down a knighthood that was offered to him by Edward Heath. His biographer, Bruce Babington, considered that "Sim was the paradigm – authority figure, yes, but often shadily duplicitous, often a manipulator of official rhetoric, his sexless bachelor persona containing strains of sexual ambiguity, his jolliness a latent vampirism." Sim died in August 1976.

Stage credits

Filmography

Television

Notes and references

Notes

1. Short film on behalf of the Ministry of Fuel

References

1. ^ "Obituary: Mr Alastair Sim". The Times. No. 59788. London. 21 August 1976. p. 14.
2. ^ Babington, Bruce. "Sim, Alastair (1900–1976)". Screenonline. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
3. ^ Gilbert 2010.
4. Simpson 2009, p. 38.
5. Herbert 1978, p. 1128.
6. Simpson 2009, pp. 193–197.
7. Herbert 1978, pp. 1128–29.
8. Simpson 2009, pp. 219–21.
9. Rowell 1993, p. 116.
10. Wearing 2014, p. 369.
11. Wearing 2014, p. 390.
12. ^ "Alastair Sim". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
13. ^ Simpson 2009, pp. 193–218.
14. "The Riverside Murder". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
15. "The Private Secretary". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
16. "Late Extra". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
17. "A Fire Has Been Arranged". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
18. Simpson 2009, p. 49.
19. "Wedding Group". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
20. "Troubled Waters". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
21. "The Man in the Mirror". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
22. "Keep Your Seats, Please!". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
23. "The Big Noise". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
24. "Strange Experiment". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
25. Simpson 2009, p. 199.
26. "Melody and Romance". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
27. "Clothes and the Woman". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
28. "Gangway". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
29. "The Squeaker". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
30. "This Man Is News". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
31. "The Terror". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
32. "Sailing Along". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
33. "Alf's Button Afloat". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
34. "Climbing High". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
35. "This Man in Paris". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
36. "The Mysterious Mr. Davis". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
37. "Inspector Hornleigh". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
38. "Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
39. "Law and Disorder". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
40. "Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
41. "Cottage to Let". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
42. "Her Father's Daughter". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
43. "Let the People Sing". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
44. ^ "Nero". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
45. "Waterloo Road". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
46. "Green for Danger". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
47. "Captain Boycott". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
48. "Hue and Cry". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
49. "London Belongs to Me". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
50. "Stage Fright". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
51. "The Happiest Days of Your Life". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
52. "Laughter in Paradise". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
53. "Lady Godiva Rides Again". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
54. "Scrooge". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
55. "Innocents in Paris". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
56. "Folly to Be Wise". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
57. "The Belles of St. Trinian's". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
58. "An Inspector Calls". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
59. "Geordie". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
60. "Escapade". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
61. "The Green Man". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
62. "Blue Murder at St. Trinian's". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
63. "The Doctor's Dilemma". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
64. "Left Right and Centre". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
65. "The Millionairess". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
66. "School for Scoundrels Or How to Win without Actually Cheating". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
67. "A Christmas Carol". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
68. "The Ruling Class". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
69. "Royal Flash". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
70. "Escape from the Dark". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
71. "The Anatomist". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2014.

Sources

• Gilbert, Michael (2010). "Sim, Alastair George Bell (1900–1976)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31686. Retrieved 3 July 2014. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Herbert, Ian (1978). Who's Who in the Theatre: a Biographical Record of the Contemporary Stage. London: Pitman Publishing. ISBN 978-0-273-01195-8.
• Rowell, George (1993). The Old Vic Theatre: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-34625-2.
• Simpson, Mark (2009). Alastair Sim: The star of Scrooge and The Belles of St Trinian's. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-5372-9.
• Wearing, J. P. (2014). The London Stage 1930–1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8108-9304-7.

External links

• Alastair Sim at the BFI
• Alastair Sim at the BFI's Screenonline
• Alastair Sim at IMDb
• Alastair Sim at the TCM Movie Database

• Male actor filmographies
• British filmographies
• Scottish filmographies