Alastair Sim (1900 - 1976) 

If British cinema excelled in one thing, it was in producing eccentric character actors. Alastair Sim was king of them all. With his great dome of a head and bulging eyes he had the features of a comic and also possessed the intelligence to use them to their full advantage.

He was born in Edinburgh and started his working life in the family tailoring business. The call of the stage proved too strong to resist and he was soon doing small parts in the West End. Pretty soon he was also doing small parts in Fox' quota quickies. As the parts got bigger the public took more notice and it was with the Inspector Hornleigh series that he really broke through, playing side-kick to Gordon Harker.

The golden period started in the mid-forties. He created a gallery of memorable characters such as Inspector Cockerill in Green For Danger, the spiritualist in London Belongs to Me and the headmaster battling against Margaret Rutherford in The Happiest Days of Your Life. One of his most distinctive roles was as the headmistress in The Belles of St Trinian's: all the familiar Sim gestures are present, but softened and feminised.   

With the advent of the swinging sixties the film roles dried up but he'd always had a thriving stage career so he was rarely out of work. From 1967-71 he did three series of the sit-com Misleading Cases as the judge presiding over Roy Dotrice's bizarre legal complaints (only four episodes of this series is known to exist).

Filmography

 Alastair Sim at Amazon UK

 Alastair Sim at Amazon US