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

+ Stage credits of Alastair Sim Production Date Theatre(London, unless otherwise noted) Role Notes Othello Savoy Theatre Messenger Caviare Little Theatre Revue Betrayal Little Theatre Vasiliy Little Theatre Masque Theatre, New York Julius Caesar Trebonius/Lucilius Lincoln Othello Twelfth Night Antonio Hamlet Caesar and Cleopatra Pothinus Cymbeline Cymbeline As You Like It Macbeth Banquo Polixenes Cetewayo Mary Stuart Romeo and Juliet Apothecary Crabtree Antonio As You Desire Me Gate Theatre Duke of York's Theatre Vaudeville Theatre Grafton Theatre Dominican Friar Volpone Fortune Theatre Voltore One performance Little Theatre Don Giorgio Murder Trial Little Theatre Youth at the Helm Westminster Theatre Ponsonby Lady Precious Stream Little Theatre Alice in Wonderland Duke of York's Theatre Youth at the Helm Globe Ponsonby Strand Theatre Collie Prince's Theatre What Say They? Old Master You of all People Prince of Wales Theatre Portwine What Say They? Golders Green Theatre Cottage to Let Wyndham's Theatre Cottage to Let Wyndham's Theatre Peter Pan Adelphi Theatre & Mr Darling Peter Pan Winter Garden Theatre & Mr Darling Mr Bolfry Westminster Theatre Also director It Depends What You Mean Westminster Theatre Also director Sadler's Wells Theatre Also director Death of a Rat Lyric Theatre Wouterson Peter Pan Scala Theatre Dr Angelus Phoenix Theatre Also director Westminster Theatre Also director Mr Gillie Garrick Theatre Also director Mr Bolfry Aldwych Theatre Also director Strand Theatre Emperor Also director St Martin's Theatre Also director Prospero Windfall Lyric Theatre Also director Peter Pan Scala Theatre Nottingham Playhouse Shylock Peter Pan Scala Theatre Touring Freer Also director Too True to Be Good Strand Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre Number 10 Strand Theatre Patrick Pyrton Peter Pan Scala Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre Vaudeville Theatre Marquis of Candover Siege Cambridge Theatre Willy Vaudeville Theatre Dandy Dick Chichester Festival Theatre Dandy Dick Garrick Theatre Savoy Theatre

Filmography

+ Filmography of Sim Film Year Role Late Extra MacPherson Cutte Minor role (uncredited) Wedding Group Troubled Waters Mannering Keep Your Seats, Please Finny Strange Experiment Melody and Romance Clothes and the Woman Francois Gangway Detective Taggett This Man Is News Sailing Along Sylvester Alf's Button Afloat Climbing High Max George, the lunatic Inspector Hornleigh Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday Law and Disorder Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It Cottage to Let Her Father's Daughter Let the People Sing Nero Nero Waterloo Road Green for Danger Captain Boycott Hue and Cry London Belongs to Me Stage Fright Laughter in Paradise Lady Godiva Rides Again (uncredited) Scrooge Innocents in Paris Folly to Be Wise Geordie Escapade Blue Murder at St Trinian's Left Right and Centre School for Scoundrels Royal Flash Escape from the Dark

Television + Television appearances of Sim Programme Date Channel Role Notes Mr. Gillie BBC Television film Play of the Week ITV "The Anatomist" Misleading Cases – 25 July 1967 BBC 6 episodes Cold Comfort Farm – 6 July 1968 BBC Amos Starkadder 3 episodes Misleading Cases – 30 October 1968 BBC 6 episodes Misleading Cases – 10 September 1971 BBC 6 episodes A Christmas Carol ABC Ebenezer Scrooge (voice) Television film Play for Today BBC "The General's Day" The Prodigal Daughter ITV Television film Rogue Male BBC Television film

Notes and references Notes

References

Sources

External links Alastair Sim at the BFI