Obituary: Joan Sims

Actress. Died aged 71

LONDON - As the slightly plump and cheerful star of 24 Carry On British film comedies, Joan Sims made the transformation from man-hungry sexpot to nagging, dragon-like wife.

One of half-a-dozen regulars over 20 years in the series of bawdy romps, which relied for their humour on innuendo and double entendre, she became a screen institution.

She went from the buxom, no-nonsense gym mistress in Carry On Teacher (1959) to the vase-throwing wife in Carry On Screaming (1966) and the nosey-parker mother-in-law in Carry On Behind (1975).

Whether flighty or haughty, Sims brought to her performances a sexual frisson that was a gift to the films' producer, Peter Rogers, although the actress was always dogged by her own insecurities.

For instance, as Lady Evelyn Bagley in Carry On Up the Jungle (1969), she was seen showering naked in a jungle encampment while being ogled by Kenneth Williams and a gorilla.

However, in her autobiography, High Spirits, last year Sims revealed: "Try as I might, I couldn't bring myself to do that nude shot. As usual, I was feeling overweight and it just didn't feel right." In the end, a double was used.

Sims lived alone for most of her life (she never married) and enjoyed the camaraderie of the Carry On team. "We would work together twice a year and it was always a very happy time.

"There were pranks and jokes, but it was hard work. Of course, they were all the same variations on a theme and the familiar tired jokes. It was saucy postcard humour, but never got beyond family entertainment."

Born in Laindon, Essex, in 1930, the daughter of a railway stationmaster, Sims had a lonely childhood and developed a love of acting while giving the signalman and passengers impromptu imitations of Ginger Rogers, Betty Grable and other film stars on the platform.

After appearing in local amateur dramatics productions, she was finally accepted by Rada after four attempts and, on graduating in 1950, was signed up by a young theatrical agent, Peter Eade, who also represented Kenneth Williams and Ronnie Barker.

Sims made her first professional stage appearance with the repertory theatre in 1950 and progressed to music hall, then revues, mostly in the West End.

She made her screen debut alongside George Cole in Will Any Gentleman ... ? (1953) and was soon acting in film farces such as The Belles of St Trinian's (1954), in which she played a teacher. She also became a regular in the Doctor series.

However, it was the long-running Carry On pictures that made Sims such an enduring screen actress.

- INDEPENDENT