Sylvia Syms obit

Sylvia Syms: Ice Cold In Alex star dies at the age of 89

Sylvia Syms' children say she "gave us joy and laughter right up to the end". 

She was not on the list.

Actress Sylvia Syms, best known for the films Ice Cold In Alex and Victim, has died at the age of 89.

Her family said she "died peacefully" early on Friday at Denville Hall, a care home in London for those in the entertainment industry.

A statement from her children, Beatie and Ben Edney, said: "She has lived an amazing life and gave us joy and laughter right up to the end.

"Just yesterday we were reminiscing together about all our adventures. She will be so very missed.

"We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Denville Hall for the truly excellent care they have taken of our mum over the past year."

Syms was born in Woolwich, London, and was educated at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Her more recent work included the BBC's The Young Ones, a series in which six celebrities in their 70s and 80s attempted to overcome some of the problems of ageing by harking back to the past.

From 2013 to 2019, Syms was the narrator of Talking Pictures on BBC2.

She best known for her roles in the films Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957), Ice Cold in Alex (1958), No Trees in the Street (1959), Victim (1961), and The Tamarind Seed (1974). In 2006 she portrayed The Queen Mother in the Stephen Frears movie The Queen, about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and days leading up to Diana's funeral.

In her second film, My Teenage Daughter (1956), she played Anna Neagle's troubled daughter. In 1958, she starred in the film Ice Cold in Alex (alongside John Mills, Anthony Quayle and Harry Andrews); that same year she appeared in the English Civil War film, The Moonraker. In 1959 she played in Expresso Bongo with Cliff Richard. She played opposite Dirk Bogarde in 1961 in the film Victim, as the wife of a barrister who is a closet homosexual. The film was thought to have broadened the debate which led to the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in private. In 1962, she played opposite to Patrick McGoohan as the wife of a condemned man in The Quare Fellow and in 1963 she played Tony Hancock's wife in The Punch and Judy Man. The film also featured her nephew, Nick Webb. Other comedies followed, such as The Big Job (1965) with Hancock's former co-star Sid James and Bat Out of Hell (1967), but it was for drama that she won acclaim, including The Tamarind Seed (1974) with Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif, for which she was nominated for a British Film Academy award. My Good Woman in 1972 was a husband-and-wife television comedy series which ran until 1974 with Leslie Crowther. At the same time, she was one of two team captains on the BBC's weekly Movie Quiz, hosted by Robin Ray. In 1975, she was the head of the jury at the 25th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1989, Syms appeared in the Doctor Who story "Ghost Light".

Shortly after the end of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's period of office in 1990, Syms portrayed her in Thatcher: The Final Days (1991), a Granada television film for ITV, which dramatises the events surrounding her removal from power. She later recreated the role on the stage.

 

Filmography

 

1956 My Teenage Daughter as Janet Carr

1957 The Birthday Present as Jean Scott

         Woman in a Dressing Gown as Georgie

         No Time for Tears as Nurse Margaret Collier

1958 The Moonraker as Anne Wyndham

         Ice Cold in Alex as Sister Diana Murdoch

         Bachelor of Hearts as Ann Wainwright

1959 No Trees in the Street as Hetty

         Ferry to Hong Kong as Liz Ferrers

         Expresso Bongo as Maisie King

1960 Conspiracy of Hearts as Sister Mitya

         The World of Suzie Wong as Kay O'Neill

1961 Amazons of Rome as Clelia

         Flame in the Streets as Kathie Palmer

         Victim as Laura Farr

1962 The Quare Fellow as Kathleen

1963 The Punch and Judy Man as Delia Pinner

         The World Ten Times Over as Billa

1964 East of Sudan as Miss Woodville

1965 Operation Crossbow as Flight Officer Constance Babington-Smith

         The Big Job as Myrtle Robbins

1967 Danger Route as Barbara Canning

1968 Hostile Witness as Sheila Larkin

         The Fiction Makers as Amos Klein

1969 Run Wild, Run Free as Mrs. Ransome

         The Desperados as Laura

1972 Asylum as Ruth

1974 The Tamarind Seed as Margaret Stephenson

1978 Give Us Tomorrow as Wendy Hammond

1980 There Goes the Bride as Ursula Westerby

1986 Absolute Beginners as Cynthia Eve

1988 A Chorus of Disapproval as Rebecca Huntley-Pike

1989 Shirley Valentine as Headmistress

1992 Shining Through as Linda's Mother

1993 Dirty Weekend as Mrs. Crosby

1994 Staggered as Margaret

1997 The House of Angelo as Mrs. Harvey-Brown

1998 Food of Love as Alice Angelo

2002 Deep Down as Vera

2003 What a Girl Wants as Princess Charlotte

         I'll Sleep When I'm Dead as Mrs. Bartz

2004 Mavis and the Mermaid as Gioga

2006 The Queen as the Queen Mother

2008 Is Anybody There? as Lilian

2009 Bunny and the Bull as Hotelier

2012 Booked Out as Mrs. Nicholls

         Run for Your Wife as Hospital Patient

2018 Together as Rosemary

 

Television

 

1964 The Saint ("The Noble Sportsman") as Lady Anne Yearley

1964 The Saint ("Jeannine") as Jeannine Roger

1965 Danger Man ("It's Up to the Lady") as Paula Glover

1965 The Human Jungle ("Success Machine") as Margo

1965 The Baron ("Farewell to Yesterday") as Cathy Dorne

1966 Bat out of Hell as Diana

1968 The Saint ("The Fiction Makers") as Amos Klein

1969 Strange Report

1971 Paul Temple

1972 The Adventurer

1972–1974 My Good Woman

1982 Nancy Astor as Nanaire Langhorne

1982 It's Your Move (1982 film) (TV Short) as The Wife

1985 Miss Marple: A Murder is Announced as Mrs Easterbrook

1989 Doctor Who (Ghost Light) as Mrs Pritchard

1991 Thatcher: The Final Days as Margaret Thatcher

1991 Countdown - guest in Dictionary Corner

1993 Mulberry as Springtime

1993-1995 Peak Practice as Isabel de Gines

1995 The Glass Virgin as Lady Constance

1998 Heartbeat ("Where There's a Will") as Peggy Tatton

2000–2003 At Home with the Braithwaites as Marion Riley

2002 Doctor Zhivago as Madame Fleury

2005 The Poseidon Adventure as Belle Rosen

2006 Dalziel and Pascoe episode: "The Cave Woman" as Maisie Barron

2007, 2009, 2010 EastEnders as Olive Woodhouse

2008 New Tricks ("Communal Living") as Beatrice

2009 Blue Murder

2009 Agatha Christie's Marple ("Murder Is Easy") as Lavinia Enid Pinkerton

2010 Doctors

2011 Case Histories

2011 Rev. as Joan

2014 Playhouse Presents as Alice

2019 Gentleman Jack as Mrs Rawson