JAMES Sid - Non Carry On Films
Born Solomon Joel Cohen in South Africa, Sid James (he changed it first to Sidney Cohen, then Sidney James), worked (or claimed to have worked) in a variety of jobs, including as a boxer, but rather surprisingly he actually trained as a hairdresser (allegedly). He moved to Britain straight after the war, and got small roles in two 'spiv' films, Black Memory (1947) - his first screen appearance - and Night Beat (1948) as 'Nighlife' Nixon, a piano player and police informant at the nightclub featured in the film.
Numerous other roles followed, including the (deservedly) much-maligned No Orchids for Miss Blandish, where he receives a bottle in the face for his troubles, although in most of these films he was not playing a comedy role, although in some cases - 1951's Last Holiday, starring Alec Guinness, is a good example - he plays a role quite familiar to us now, as a slightly iffy wheeler-dealer, or loveable crook, as in Ealing's famous The Lavender Hill Mob, teaming up with Alec Guinness again.
James continued to work steadily in the early 1950s - he was, according to wikipedia, in 9 films in 1952 alone - but his big break came in 1954 when he teamed up with Tony Hancock. Starting on radio, and later transferring to TV, Hancock's Half Hour set James' image for the 50s/early 60s generation; a wheeler-dealer verging on criminal, with his endless suspect schemes that he drags a naive Hancock into, James was just about the only other regular member of the cast that survived the transition to television, whilst Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques and Bill Kerr were slowly sidelined. Even that wasn't enough for Hancock; he was worried that they were being perceived as a double act - as indeed they were - and James was dropped from what turned out to be the last series, just entitled Hancock, in 1961. By now though James had made his Carry on debut in Constable (the third film of the series, made in 1960) with a fully established comic persona.
The 25 films listed below see Sid James cast in mostly comedic roles, other than the renowned 'Carry On' series, and are a great example of British comedy films of the early '50s to late '70s era. All these films are included in my collection of 5000 films.
Numerous other roles followed, including the (deservedly) much-maligned No Orchids for Miss Blandish, where he receives a bottle in the face for his troubles, although in most of these films he was not playing a comedy role, although in some cases - 1951's Last Holiday, starring Alec Guinness, is a good example - he plays a role quite familiar to us now, as a slightly iffy wheeler-dealer, or loveable crook, as in Ealing's famous The Lavender Hill Mob, teaming up with Alec Guinness again.
James continued to work steadily in the early 1950s - he was, according to wikipedia, in 9 films in 1952 alone - but his big break came in 1954 when he teamed up with Tony Hancock. Starting on radio, and later transferring to TV, Hancock's Half Hour set James' image for the 50s/early 60s generation; a wheeler-dealer verging on criminal, with his endless suspect schemes that he drags a naive Hancock into, James was just about the only other regular member of the cast that survived the transition to television, whilst Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques and Bill Kerr were slowly sidelined. Even that wasn't enough for Hancock; he was worried that they were being perceived as a double act - as indeed they were - and James was dropped from what turned out to be the last series, just entitled Hancock, in 1961. By now though James had made his Carry on debut in Constable (the third film of the series, made in 1960) with a fully established comic persona.
The 25 films listed below see Sid James cast in mostly comedic roles, other than the renowned 'Carry On' series, and are a great example of British comedy films of the early '50s to late '70s era. All these films are included in my collection of 5000 films.
List activity
708 views
• 3 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
25 titles