London-Born Sylvia Syms Hit Major Film Appeal at a Relatively Young Age

London-born Sylvia Syms hit major film appeal at a relatively young age. Born on January 6, 1934, she was educated at convent schools before receiving dramatic training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

She was a repertory player when she was discovered by Herbert Wilcox (already a fairly established Director) who really assisted the young actress in her career. She began by playing Anna Neagles (actually Wilcox’s wife) unruly daughter in the film ‘My Teenage Daughter’ (1956). It was I believe at that point she signed a contract with Associated British which she notes later that she regretted but it did give her good work at the time. Soon after this was a second Neagle/Wilcox collaboration in ‘No Time for Tears’ (1957).

Also that year she worked with the great British director J. Lee Thompson in the superb ‘Woman in a dressing gown’. This told of a middle aged couple played by the great Yvonne Mitchell and the superb Anthony Quayle and of course the nightmare scenario for a guy when he meets a beautiful young girl (Syms). All the actors give there best and it established the film as a critically acclaimed piece of work.

It was to be however the second J Lee Thompson film that would truly catapult her to stardom as the 24 year old appeared as an army nurse in Ice Cold in Alex (1958) he film is documented on the site so I won’t go into laborious detail. Suffice to say that the film established Syms as not only as one of the sexiest girls on the screen but also as a very capable and credible actress. How on earth Sir John Mills resisted her – well hell we’ll never know!! The very diverse actress then played a more comic role the following year as Laurence Harvey's strip-tease girlfriend in ‘Express Bongo’

She was nominated for two British Film Academy Awards at this point of her career once for ‘Woman in a Dressing Gown’ and then again the next year for ‘No Trees in the Street’.

The work did continue for her and she played some extremely difficult and challenging roles (especially for the time). In 1961 she was the bigot's daughter in love with a black man in ‘Flame in the Streets’. Then later that year with the superb Basil Dearden she was a torn and unhappy wife as she discovered she was married to a gay barrister in Victim. At the time the part was so controversial several actresses shied away from it.

One particularly well known role was as Tony Hancock's wife in his film The Punch and Judy Man (1960). She was able to appear in comedy films like The Big Job (1965) with Sid James, but also in drama films like The Tamarind Seed (1974) along with Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif, for which she was nominated for a British Film Academy award.

In the eighties and nineties she has continued to work – carrying a wide variety of character roles, offering support in such films as Absolute Beginners (1986), Shirley Valentine (1989) and Shining Through (1992). She is now making plenty of appearances in both films and on TV. She is involved with the theatre and is good friends with two other significant British actresses, Jenny Agutter and Jenny Seagrove. She was married for 35 years but got divorced in 1989. She has one daughter, Beatie Edney who is is a well-known actress in her own right – probably most famous as Chris Lamberts first wife in the cult film – Highlander (1985).