Sidney James
Sid James (born May 8, 1913 in Hillbrow , Johannesburg , † April 26, 1976 in Sunderland ; actually Solomon Joel Cohen ) was a South African - English actor .
Life
Sid James played roles on stage as a teenager . Both parents were also employed in the theater. However, he did not become an actor at first, but worked as a hairdresser in his native South Africa and only occasionally took on appearances as a singer and actor. During the Second World War he worked in a number of theater productions as part of troop support .
In 1946 he moved to England . There he made acting a profession. In 1947 he made his film debut in the production of Night Beat . From 1954, James was a member of Tony Hancock's comedian troupe for five years in his popular radio show Hancock's Half Hour and the subsequent television series.
In 1959, Hancock fell out with James because he saw his increasing popularity as undesirable competition and released him from production. The following year, James received a role in the British comedy Watch Your Stern , directed by Gerald Thomas .
Thomas and the producer Peter Rogers had started a series of films in 1958, the titles of which began with Carry on . Since the main actor of the third and up to this point the newest film, Ted Ray , was unable to contract, they hired James for the lead role of the fourth Carry on ... film, It's crazy - These tight cops . Sidney James played a good-natured and initially unlucky police officer who had to deal with police students. In addition to director Thomas and producer Rogers, he already knew a large part of the cast and production staff such as cameraman Alan Hume , film composer Bruce Montgomery and the actors Hattie Jacques , Kenneth Connor , Joan Sims and Leslie Phillips from working on Watch your Stern .
With Carry on Constable , James quickly became a fixture in the Carry on ... productions and next to Kenneth Williams , with whom he shared a lifelong mutual antipathy, the highest paid actor in the series. In a total of 19 (of 30) films in the series, he mostly played leading roles, often down-to-earth and good-natured characters with farmer's cunning and a pinch of self-irony . In the following years, James became one of the most popular comedians in Great Britain, especially due to his somewhat coarse humor and his characteristic laugh.
In addition to his carry on ... roles, the multifaceted James also played in the artist drama Trapez (with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis ), alongside Charlie Chaplin in his melancholy comedy A King in New York , in the science fiction shocker enemies from nowhere , alongside Alec Guinness , Stanley Holloway and Audrey Hepburn in the rogue comedy The Luck came overnight and in the spy comedy The Iron Petticoat alongside Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn and was the star of several television series, u. a. Taxi and Bless this House .
James, who had already suffered a heart attack in 1967 - which is why he had to be replaced by Phil Silvers at short notice in Is Yes - In the Desert No Water Flows -, in addition to his numerous film and television productions, also returned to the stage again and again. On the evening of April 26, 1976, he was starring in the premiere of The Mating Game at the Empire Theater in Sunderland, County Durham , when he suffered his second heart attack. Despite immediate medical care, he died on the way to hospital at the age of only 62. He was in the Golders Green Crematorium in London cremated , where his ashes is located.
Sid James was married three times and had an affair with his carry-on colleague Barbara Windsor for several years . This liaison became the TV movie Cor Blimey! In 2000 . in which Geoffrey Hutchings played Sid James. In the TV movie Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! , the autobiography of Kenneth Williams, it is played by Ged McKenna .
In the German dubbed versions of his films he is often spoken by Edgar Ott and Friedrich W. Bauschulte .
Filmography (selection)
- 1947: Night Beat
- 1949: House of Sehnsucht (Give Us This Day)
- 1950: Holidays like never before (Last Holiday)
- 1951: Luck Came Overnight (The Lavender Hill Mob)
- 1951: The Wonderful Flicker Box (The Magic Box)
- 1954: The Fair of St. Trinian's (The Belles of St. Trinian's)
- 1954: The Strange Ways of Father Brown (Father Brown)
- 1954: The inheritance of Aunt Clara (Aunt Clara)
- 1954: Little jockey really big (The Rainbow Jacket)
- 1955: Life is full of wonder (A Kid for Two Farthings)
- 1956: Ramsbottom Rides Again
- 1956: Trapeze (Trapeze)
- 1956: The Iron Petticoat
- 1957: Enemies from Nowhere (Quatermass II - Enemy from Space)
- 1957: A King in New York (A King in New York)
- 1957: Duel at the wheel (Hell Drivers)
- 1957: The smallest show on earth (The Smallest Show on Earth)
- 1957: Esther Costello (The Story of Esther Costello)
- 1958: Froschmann Crabb (The Silent Enemy)
- 1958: Too many crooks
- 1958: The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw)
- 1959: The 39 Steps (The 39 Steps)
- 1960: It's crazy - these tight cops (Carry on Constable)
- 1960: It's crazy - our torpedo returns (Watch Your Stern)
- 1961: Whigmore High Scandal (Raising the Wind)
- 1961: Not so great, sweetie (Carry on Regardless)
- 1961: Corpse on vacation (What a Carve Up!)
- 1962: It's crazy - the ship's cook is seasick (Carry on Cruising)
- 1963: It's crazy - those tired taxi drivers (Carry on Cabby)
- 1965: It's crazy - the brazen cowboy (Carry on Cowboy)
- 1965: It's crazy - Caesar loves Cleopatra (Carry on Cleo)
- 1966: It's crazy - Just don't lose your head (Carry on ... Don't Lose Your Head)
- 1967: Carry On Doctor (Carry on Doctor)
- 1968: Everything under control - nobody looks through (Carry on Up The Khyber)
- 1969: The totally crazy camping paradise (Carry on Camping)
- 1969: Carry On Again Doctor (Carry on Again, Doctor)
- 1970: The Mad Queen of the Amazons (Carry on Up The Jungle)
- 1970: Love, Love, etc. (Carry on Loving)
- 1971: Heinrichs Bettgeschichten or How Garlic Came to England (Carry on Henry)
- 1971: A strike rarely comes alone (Carry on at Your Convenience)
- 1972: The Totally Crazy Head Sister (Carry on Matron)
- 1972: Bless this House
- 1974: Voting in English (Carry on Girls)
- 1973: A Crazy Vacation (Carry on Abroad)
- 1974: Go on, Dick! (Carry on Dick)
Web links
- Sidney James in the Internet Movie Database (English)
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | James, Sidney |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | James, Sid; Cohen, Solomon Joel (real name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | South African actor |
DATE OF BIRTH | May 8, 1913 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Hillbrow , Johannesburg |
DATE OF DEATH | April 26, 1976 |
Place of death | Sunderland |