Irene Joan Marion Sims (9 May 1930 – 27 June 2001) was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, and latterly for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By.
Joan Sims was born, in 1930, the daughter of the station master of Laindon railway station in Laindon, Essex. Sims' 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 was certainly interested in pursuing show-business, and soon became a familiar face in a growing number of amateur productions locally, during her teens.
In 1946, Sims first applied to RADA, her audition was unsuccessful. Her first audition included a rendition of Winnie the Pooh. She did succeed in being admitted to PARADA, the academy's preparatory school, and finally, on her fourth attempt, Joan graduated and trained at RADA. She graduated from RADA in 1950 at the age of 19.
Sims appeared in a number of Brian Rix's Aldwych Theatre farces, but revue was Sims's greatest medium, especially in the works of Peter Myers. In 1958 she got a part in Peter Coke's "Breath of Spring" which played at the Cambridge Theatre for three years. She then played various classical roles, including a period at the Bristol Old Vic.
Sims made her first film appearance in Will Any Gentleman with George Cole in 1953, closely followed by Trouble in Store. In 1954 she made a cameo appearance in Doctor in the House, opposite Dirk Bogarde as the sexually repressed Nurse Rigor Mortis. Sims became a regular in the Doctors series, which was produced by Betty E. Box, and was hence spotted by Box's husband Peter Rogers.
A few years later, in 1958, Sims received another script from Peter Rogers, it was for Carry On Nurse. The film Carry On Sergeant had been a huge success at the box office and in the autumn of that year Rogers and Gerald Thomas began planning a follow up.
She first starred in Carry On Nurse, then Carry On Teacher, followed by Carry On Constable. Sims also appeared in Carry On Regardless, and this sealed her future as a Carry On film regular performer. Following a bout of ill health, Dilys Laye had to be brought in to take her place in Carry On Cruising at very short notice; however, Sims rejoined the team with Carry On Cleo. Following the success of Carry On Cleo she stayed with the films all the way though to the final film (excluding Carry On Columbus) , Carry On Emmannuelle, having appeared in 24 Carry On films.
Sims, like her fellow Carry On star Kenneth Williams, never married. Homosexual Williams did however propose a marriage of convenience to her, which she abruptly declined. From 1958, she lived for three years with fellow actor Antony 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 letter and as a devoted child, she ended the relationship. As a result, she threw herself into work, and worked harder but felt lonely.
With the end of the Carry On series in 1978, she had several roles in sitcoms such as On the Up. Sims also guest starred in two episodes of the British comedy series The Goodies.
Sims appeared opposite Katharine Hepburn and Sir Laurence Olivier in 1975's Love Among the Ruins. Sims played a frequent role in long-running British television series Till Death Us Do Part, playing Alf Garnett's cackling mother-in-law.
In 1986 Sims appeared in the long-running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who serial The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet in the part of Katryca. She also appeared as Miss Murgatroyd in A Murder Is Announced - one of the Miss Marple adaptations, Betsy Prig in an adaptation of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit, Lady Foulkes-Custard in Simon and the Witch and as hostel owner Susan in an episode of Victoria Wood Presents. She also appeared as Mrs Wembley in the BBC TV comedy "On the Up" which also starred Dennis Waterman and ran from 1990-1992, as well as Mrs White in the television version of the board game Cluedo. From 1994, she became famous on television for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By. Sims also appeared in the hit comedy series Only Fools and Horses, when she played the part of a family friend of the Trotters.
Sims suffered with Bell's Palsy, which with her loneliness caused depression. This was worsened by the deaths of her agent Brain Ede, her best friend Hattie Jacques and her mother within a two year period, which resulted in her falling into alcoholism. Sims fractured her hip in 2000, and having had a replacement fitted in the Conquest Hospital in Hastings, she recovered well. However, her alcoholism was beginning to dominate her life, and she refered to lifestyle in her rented Kensington flat as "the queen of puddings."
After assessment by a doctor, she was offered a place in an alcohol rehabilitation centre, but she decided to take control of her life. Offered the opportunity to write her autobiography, she took a role in the BBC Christmas film The Last of the Blonde Bombshells alongside Dame Judi Dench and Olympia Dukakis, from which with the release of autobiography in early 2000 resulted in a flood of work and a period of immense personal happiness for Sims.
Sims entered hospital again in June 2001, and complications of a routine operation caused her to slip into a coma. Her lifelong friend Norah Holland spoke of the doctors' amazement at her strength and courage throughout her final illness.
Ten minutes before she died, Holland spoke to her gently about Kenny (Kenneth Williams), Hattie (Hattie Jacques), and their time on the 'Carry On...' films. She died with Holland holding her hand. She was cremated at Putney Cemetery, and her ashes scattered in the grounds.
Following her death, surviving Carry On Barbara Windsor said: "To me she was the last of the great Carry Ons; she was there at the beginning. Her talent was wonderful; she could do any accent, dialect; she could dance, sing, play dowdy and glam. We laughed all the time, and giggled a lot. I will sorely miss her."
A plaque dedicated to her memory was unveiled where she lived at Thackeray Street in Kensington in September 2002 by Barbara Windsor, and in June 2005 a plaque in her memory was unveiled at Laindon railway station in Essex by the Joan Sims Appreciation Society.
An ITV Programme, 'The Unforgettable Joan Sims', was made in her memory.
