Sylvia Syms(1934-2023)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
London-born Sylvia May Laura 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 made her stage debut in a production of "The Apple Cart" in 1954.
A repertory player by the time she was discovered for films by the
British star Anna Neagle and her
director/husband Herbert Wilcox, the
lovely demure blonde started out auspiciously enough in the delinquent
film
Teenage Bad Girl (1956) in
which she played Neagle's troubled daughter. This was followed by a
second Neagle/Wilcox collaboration with
No Time for Tears (1957).
Excelling whether cast in stark melodrama, spirited adventure or
harmless comedy fluff, Syms' film list grew impressive in the late
1950s and early 1960s working alongside the likes of
John Mills and
Anthony Quayle in
Ice Cold in Alex (1958),
Curd Jürgens and
Orson Welles in
Ferry to Hong Kong (1959),
Lilli Palmer and
Yvonne Mitchell in
Conspiracy of Hearts (1960),
Laurence Harvey in
Expresso Bongo (1959),
William Holden in
The World of Suzie Wong (1960),
and Dirk Bogarde in the landmark gay-themed
Victim (1961), playing the unsuspecting
wife of Bogarde's closeted male. After nearly a decade's absence, Sylvia returned briefly to the London theatre lights in 1964 to play the title role in "Peter Pan."
Ably portraying innocent love
interests throughout the years, she graced a number of pictures without
ever nabbing that one role that would truly put her over the top. She
was nominated, however, three times for British Film Academy
Awards--twice for best actress in
Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957)
and
No Trees in the Street (1959)
and once for supporting actress in
The Tamarind Seed (1974) that
starred Julie Andrews and
Omar Sharif.
The 1970s saw quite a bit of TV
series work and she played British prime minister
Margaret Thatcher at one point on both
stage and TV. She grew plumper with middle age and found herself
immersed in character roles, offering support in such films as
Absolute Beginners (1986),
Shirley Valentine (1989) and
Shining Through (1992).
The stage once again beckoned in the mid-to-late 1980's with touring performances, among many others, in "The Heiress," "The Beaux Stratagem," "The Ideal Husband," "A Doll's House," "Ghosts," "The Vortex," "Hamlet," "Anthony and Cleopatra" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" She portrayed the Queen and Margaret Thatcher in a production of "Ugly Rumours" and was among the cast in a musical presentation of "On the Town" in 2005.
Into the millennium, Sylvia has continued to have remarkable agility. American audiences have recently seen her as the dog-doting "Princess Charlotte"
in the light teen comedy
What a Girl Wants (2003) with
Amanda Bynes and
Colin Firth, and treading water as the
Shelley Winters character in the
TV-remake of
The Poseidon Adventure (2005). Other movies have included the role of the Queen Mum in The Queen (2006) starring Oscar-winning Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, as well as featured roles in Is Anybody There? (2008) starring Michael Caine and Booked Out (2012). She also co-starred opposite Peter Bowles in the heart-warming senior character study Together (2018).
Married once and divorced in the 1980s from Alvin Edney, daughter Beatie Edney (aka Beatrice) is a highly prolific actress in her own right, and her son, Benjamin Edney, was briefly an actor while young and appeared with his mother as her son in the western The Desperados (1969). Ms. Syms is sometimes confused with Brooklyn-born jazz/cabaret performer and recording artist
Sylvia Syms (1917-1992) (née Sylvia Blagman).
age. Born on January 6, 1934, she was educated at convent schools
before receiving dramatic training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic
Art. She made her stage debut in a production of "The Apple Cart" in 1954.
A repertory player by the time she was discovered for films by the
British star Anna Neagle and her
director/husband Herbert Wilcox, the
lovely demure blonde started out auspiciously enough in the delinquent
film
Teenage Bad Girl (1956) in
which she played Neagle's troubled daughter. This was followed by a
second Neagle/Wilcox collaboration with
No Time for Tears (1957).
Excelling whether cast in stark melodrama, spirited adventure or
harmless comedy fluff, Syms' film list grew impressive in the late
1950s and early 1960s working alongside the likes of
John Mills and
Anthony Quayle in
Ice Cold in Alex (1958),
Curd Jürgens and
Orson Welles in
Ferry to Hong Kong (1959),
Lilli Palmer and
Yvonne Mitchell in
Conspiracy of Hearts (1960),
Laurence Harvey in
Expresso Bongo (1959),
William Holden in
The World of Suzie Wong (1960),
and Dirk Bogarde in the landmark gay-themed
Victim (1961), playing the unsuspecting
wife of Bogarde's closeted male. After nearly a decade's absence, Sylvia returned briefly to the London theatre lights in 1964 to play the title role in "Peter Pan."
Ably portraying innocent love
interests throughout the years, she graced a number of pictures without
ever nabbing that one role that would truly put her over the top. She
was nominated, however, three times for British Film Academy
Awards--twice for best actress in
Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957)
and
No Trees in the Street (1959)
and once for supporting actress in
The Tamarind Seed (1974) that
starred Julie Andrews and
Omar Sharif.
The 1970s saw quite a bit of TV
series work and she played British prime minister
Margaret Thatcher at one point on both
stage and TV. She grew plumper with middle age and found herself
immersed in character roles, offering support in such films as
Absolute Beginners (1986),
Shirley Valentine (1989) and
Shining Through (1992).
The stage once again beckoned in the mid-to-late 1980's with touring performances, among many others, in "The Heiress," "The Beaux Stratagem," "The Ideal Husband," "A Doll's House," "Ghosts," "The Vortex," "Hamlet," "Anthony and Cleopatra" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" She portrayed the Queen and Margaret Thatcher in a production of "Ugly Rumours" and was among the cast in a musical presentation of "On the Town" in 2005.
Into the millennium, Sylvia has continued to have remarkable agility. American audiences have recently seen her as the dog-doting "Princess Charlotte"
in the light teen comedy
What a Girl Wants (2003) with
Amanda Bynes and
Colin Firth, and treading water as the
Shelley Winters character in the
TV-remake of
The Poseidon Adventure (2005). Other movies have included the role of the Queen Mum in The Queen (2006) starring Oscar-winning Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, as well as featured roles in Is Anybody There? (2008) starring Michael Caine and Booked Out (2012). She also co-starred opposite Peter Bowles in the heart-warming senior character study Together (2018).
Married once and divorced in the 1980s from Alvin Edney, daughter Beatie Edney (aka Beatrice) is a highly prolific actress in her own right, and her son, Benjamin Edney, was briefly an actor while young and appeared with his mother as her son in the western The Desperados (1969). Ms. Syms is sometimes confused with Brooklyn-born jazz/cabaret performer and recording artist
Sylvia Syms (1917-1992) (née Sylvia Blagman).