Web Page No 2628

26th October 2019

1st Picture: Early publicity photograph

 2nd Picture: From Doctor in Love

 3rd Picture:  As scene from As Time Goes By

4th Picture: Blue Plague on the house in Esmond Court, Thackeray Street, Kensington.

Joan Sims

Joan Simms was one of many actors and actresses who appeared on our screens in the 1950’s and 60’s.

She was born Irene Joan Marion Sims on 9th May 1930 and died  on 27th June 2001 and remembered mainly for her roles in the Carry On films.

She was the only child of John Henry Sims, station master of Laindon railway station Gladys Marie Sims and she claimed that her early interest in being an actress came from living at the railway station. She would often put on performances for waiting passengers. She decided that she wanted to pursue show business during her teens, and soon became a familiar face in a growing number of amateur productions locally.

In 1946, she first applied to RADA, but her audition was unsuccessful. She did succeed in being admitted to PARADA, the academy's preparatory school, and finally, on her fourth attempt, she graduated and was trained at RADA. She graduated from RADA in 1950 at the age of 19. One of her first stage performances was in the 1951 pantomime, and she appeared in a number of Brian Rix's farces. She preferred film to stage work. "It was, of course, lovely to be in a successful play, to have the excitement of performing a hit to packed houses (and, not least, the assurance of a regular income for the foreseeable future). But, on the other hand, I found it extremely difficult to keep a performance fresh, and I'd soon get bored." She once said.

Her first film film was Will Any Gentleman? with George Cole in 1953, closely followed by Trouble in Store with Norman Wisdom. In 1954, she appeared in The Belles of St Trinian's, and made a cameo appearance in Doctor in the House, opposite Dirk Bogarde as the sexually repressed Nurse Rigor Mortis. She then became a regular in the Doctors series.

In 1958, she received a script from Peter Rogers; it was for Carry On Nurse. The film Carry On Sergeant had been a huge success in the autumn of that year and a follow-up was planned.

She first starred in Carry On Nurse, then Carry On Teacher followed by Carry On Constable and Carry On Regardless, and this sealed her future as a regular Carry On performer. Following a bout of ill health, she missed Carry On Cruising  however, rejoined the team for Carry On Cleo. 

Her characters evolved from objects of desire in the early films to frumpy, nagging wives in the later ones, epitomised by the Emily Bung role in Carry On Screaming. Following the success of Carry On Cleo, she stayed with the films all the way though to the final one in the original series, Carry On Emmannuelle, appeared in 24 Carry On films in all; she did not return for the one-off revival film, Carry On Columbus . However, she did appear alongside Kenneth Williams in the radio show Stop Messing About in 1969–70.

After the Carry On series ended in 1978, she continued to work on television and appeared opposite Katharine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier in the award-winning 1975 television film Love Among the Ruins and had a recurring role as Gran in Till Death Us Do Part.

From 1979 until 1981, she played the recurring character Mrs Bloomsbury-Barton in Worzel Gummidge. In 1986, she appeared in Doctor Who in the four episodes of The Trial of a Time Lord.  She played Mrs Wembley in On the Up, with Dennis Waterman and played Madge Hardcastle, drum playing wife to Rocky Hardcastle and stepmother of Geoffrey Palmer's character Lionel in As Time Goes By. She also appeared in episodes of Only Fools and Horses, the 1987 Christmas Day special The Frog's Legacy, and The Goodies, in the One Foot in the Grave special One Foot in the Algarve, and made a guest appearance in a sketch show with Victoria Wood.

In her later years, she fought a long battle against depression. This was worsened by the deaths of her agent Peter Eade, her best friend Hattie Jacques and her mother, all within a two-year period, after which she fell into alcoholism. Sims suffered from Bell's palsy in 1999 and fractured her hip in 2000, but recovered well. However, her alcoholism was beginning to dominate life in her Kensington flat, and she described herself as "the queen of puddings." After assessment by a doctor, she was offered a place in a rehabilitation centre, but declined. Offered the opportunity to write her autobiography, she took a role in the BBC television film The Last of the Blonde Bombshells, alongside Dame Judi Dench and  Olympia Dukakis.

During 1963, she made several recordings. "Hurry Up Gran" / "Oh Not Again Ken" was issued as a single, followed by "Spring Song" / "Men but neither single made an impact on the UK Singles Chart. This did not deter her from releasing a third and final single during 1967, "Sweet Lovely Whatsisname" / "The Lass With the Delicate Hair". Again it failed to chart, and as a result the singles are now quite rare.

Like her fellow Carry On star Kenneth Williams, she never married. However Kenneth Williams did however propose a marriage of convenience to her, which she promptly declined. From 1958, she lived for three years with fellow actor Tony Baird but, every time her parents visited, she asked Baird to remove all of his belongings from their London flat.

After she told her mother on a visit that she was living with Baird, her father wrote her a stern letter, condemning the relationship. She replied, telling her parents that they had to come to terms with Tony being an extremely important part of her life. For the next six months she had no contact with her parents being a devoted daughter and found the separation from her parents difficult. The partnership broke up finally when on returning from a tour she found that he had not done any washing or housework, she wrote "I could tell that he was genuinely heartbroken, and so was I, but I had to do it for my own survival." 

Following this came a relationship with John Walters whom she had known for a long time. They had had an 'innocent' romance earlier but they embarked on a more serious relationship after the break-up. However, she never felt it would be a long-term relationship they discussed marriage and children, but it came to nothing and the relationship ended after around two years of living together.

The tone of  autobiography High Spirits is revealing she wrote:-

In Doctor at Sea I was cast again as the Plain Jane character ... my rival in love was played by ... Brigitte Bardot. Joan Sims versus Brigitte Bardot. I'll leave you to guess which of us got her man.

She was diagnosed with diverticular disease in 1997 and she entered hospital in November 2000, and complications of a routine operation caused her to slip into a coma. Her lifelong friend and stand-in Norah Holland spoke of the doctors' amazement at her strength and courage throughout her final illness.

On 27th June 2001, ten minutes before she died, Norah Holland spoke to her gently about Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques and their time on the Carry On films.  She died from liver failure and diverticulitis, with diabetes and COPD cited as contributory factors. She was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium, and her ashes scattered in the grounds there.

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On this day 26th October 1960-1965

On 26th/1960 the number one single was Only the Lonely - Roy Orbison and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Take Your Pick (AR) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions

On 26th/1961 the number one single was Walkin' Back to Happiness - Helen Shapiro and the number one album was Black & White Minstrel Show - George Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Britain grants Malta autonomy.

On 26th/1962 the number one single was Telstar - The Tornadoes and the number one album was Best of Ball Barber & Bilk. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Cuban Missile Crisis

On 26th/1963 the number one single was Do You Love Me? - Brian Poole & the Tremoloes and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions

On 26th/1964 the number one single was (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me - Sandy Shaw and the number one album was A Hard Day's Night - Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 26th/1965 the number one single was Tears - Ken Dodd and the number one album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions