Sidney James: The Ealing Legend Who Laughed His Way into Carry-On History

Brought to you by:

Sam Habeeb

"Shadow MP Campaigner of Ealing North"

Sid James: The Ealing Legend Who Laughed His Way into Carry-On History
Credit: Moviestore collection Ltd / Alamy,

Sidney James was a South African–British actor and comedian whose career embraced radio, television, stage, and screen. Known for his signature dirty laugh, he is most famous for numerous appearances in the Carry-On film series.

James was born to a middle-class Jewish family in South Africa. His career began in his home country, but he reached the pinnacle of his success in the UK. He began his screen career playing small parts in films in 1947 and went on to feature in many minor and supporting roles until the 1950s. He appeared in the film The Lavender Hill Mob in 1951, starring Alec Guinness.

Where was Sid James born?

Born as Solomon Joel Cohen on 8 May 1913 to Jewish parents in South Africa (at that time a British dominion), the name was later changed to Sidney Joel Cohen and then to Sidney James. His family lived on Hancock Street in Hillbrow, Johannesburg.

Was Sid James a boxer?

He claimed various previous occupations, including diamond cutter, dance tutor, and boxer, but in reality had trained and worked as a hairdresser.

Career: 1947 to 1968

His first film credits came with Night Beat and Black Memory, two crime dramas of 1947. In Powell and Pressburger’s The Small Back Room, he was the barman of the alcoholic hero in 1949. He appeared in his first comedy in 1951, number 17 on the British Film Institute’s list of the 100 best British films: with Alfie Bass, he made up the bullion robbery gang headed by Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway.

He also was featured in such films as Lady Godiva Rides Again and The Galloping Major, both in 1951, and as Harry Hawkins in The Titfield Thunderbolt of 1953, and headlined in the film version of The Wedding of Lilli Marlene.

James had a supporting role as a producer of TV adverts in Charlie Chaplin’s non-comic support role as a journalist in the science-fiction film Quatermass 2, and he appeared in Hell Drivers, all 1957, with Stanley Baker. The next year he co-starred with Miriam Karlin in the half-hour East End, West End, a comedy series for six weeks from Associated-Rediffusion for ITV, though by that time in February and March 1958, more than enough of these episodes were made.

He had commenced working with Tony Hancock in 1954 for his BBC Radio series Hancock’s Half Hour. Having seen him in The Lavender Hill Mob, it was the conceit of the writers of Hancock’s to have James make an appearance in Hancock.

In 1964, he appeared twice on The Eamonn Andrews Show. A few seconds of the first scenes of one of these survive and can be heard and seen in the television program Undermind, Episode 6, “Intent to Destroy,” transmitted on 12 June 1965. His name is announced; the program is seen on a television camera seconds later.

In 1968, James, Val Doonican, and Arthur Askey were filmed playing golf in the village of Cockington near Torquay (British Pathé archives, film reference 457.1) for their production Viva Torbay: Travelling to the British Seaside.

How Many Times Did Sid James Marry?

He was married three times. In 1936, he married Berthe Sadie Delmont, and they had a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1937; they divorced in 1940, primarily because he had many girlfriends. In 1943 he married a ballerina, Meg Sergei (1913–1977); in 1947 they had a daughter, Reina.

They divorced on 17 August 1952. On 21 August 1952, he married Valerie Elizabeth Patsy Assan (1928–2022), an actress who used the stage name Ashton. They had a son, Steve James, born in 1954, who became a music producer, and a daughter, Sue, who became a television producer.

During his marriage to Valerie, he had a well-publicized affair with Carry On co-star Barbara Windsor that lasted three years. The affair was dramatized in the 1998 stage play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick and its 2000 television adaptation Cor, Blimey!.

Why Did Sid James Fall Out with Ronnie Knight?

James’s fixation on Windsor was such that it was even said that her then-husband Ronnie Knight had all of James’s furniture rearranged at home as a veiled threat and, on another occasion, put an axe in James’s floor, but close friends of the time, including Vince Powell and William G. Stewart, dismissed the suggestions.

Interest in Gambling

James was a compulsive gambler though largely hapless, and lost dozens of thousands of pounds over his lifetime. His gambling addiction was to such an extent that even an arrangement was struck that his wife did not know how much he was bringing back home because one part of it was being siphoned to pay over at the hands of his addiction of gambling.

What was the Cause of Sid James’ Death?

Four days after the sixth series of Bless This House ended on 26 April 1976, James was acting in a revival of a comedy, The Mating Season, when he suffered a heart attack on stage at the Sunderland Empire Theatre. Actresses Olga Lowe and Audrey Jeans thought he was playing a practical joke when he didn’t reply to their dialogue.

When they ad-libbed to him and he still failed to respond, they moved towards the wings to seek help. The technical manager, Melvyn James (no relation), called for the curtain to close and requested a doctor, while the audience—who were unaware of what was happening—laughed, believing the events to be part of the show. An ambulance was called, and he was pronounced dead on arrival at Sunderland General Hospital.

Funeral and Cremation

When he died, plans to shoot for the seventh and eighth series of Bless This House had already been agreed on, not to mention a new film version, as well as an hourlong television variety special featuring James. All those plans went down the drain with his death. Bruce Forsyth eventually became the lead player of the 1976 television adaptation of The Mating Season, which was broadcast on ITV in December of that same year. James was cremated, and his ashes had been scattered at Golders Green Crematorium.

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Brought to you by:

Sam Habeeb

"Shadow MP Campaigner of Ealing North"

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