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Irene Joan Marion Sims (9 May 1930 – 27 June 2001) was an English actress and comedienne, best remembered for her roles in the Carry On franchise, appearing in 24 of the films (the most for any actress).
On television, she is known for playing Gran in Till Death Us Do Part (1967–1975), Madge Kettlewell in Sykes (1972–1978), Mrs Bloomsbury-Barton in Worzel Gummidge (1979–1981), an eccentric youth hostel owner in Victoria Wood (1989), Mrs Wembley, the cook with a liking for sherry, in On the Up (1990–1992), and Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By (1994–1998).
In 1946, Sims first applied to Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), but 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 after her successful fourth attempt, she joined and was trained at RADA, graduating in 1950 at the age of 19. One of her first stage performances was in the 1951 pantomime, The Happy Ha'penny, opposite Stanley Baxter at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre.
She had a small part in the 1957 film Carry On Admiral, unrelated to the later Carry On series and with no other cast members in common with the series.
She first starred in Carry On Nurse, then Carry On Teacher, followed by Carry On Constable and Carry On Regardless, and this sealed her future as a regular Carry On 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.
From 1979 to 1980, she played the recurring character Mrs Bloomsbury-Barton in Worzel Gummidge for Southern Television. During 1986 and 1987, Sims starred as Annie Begley alongside Angela Thorne in the Yorkshire Television sitcom Farrington of the F.O. Also in 1986, Sims appeared in the long-running BBC science fiction series Doctor Who in the four episodes of The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet as Katryca. She also played Miss Murgatroyd in the Miss Marple adaptation A Murder is Announced (1985).
In 1989, she appeared as a spirit medium in the video for Morrissey's "Ouija Board, Ouija Board".
She played Mrs Wembley in the BBC comedy series On the Up, which starred Dennis Waterman and ran from 1990 to 1992. From 1994, she played Madge Hardcastle, drum-playing wife to Rocky Hardcastle played by Frank Middlemass, and stepmother of Geoffrey Palmer's character Lionel in As Time Goes By. She also played Betsey Prig in a star-studded adaptation of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit (1994) and Lady Fox-Custard in Simon and the Witch.
After she told her mother on a visit that she was living with Baird, her father wrote her a stern letter, condemning the relationship. Sims replied, telling her parents that they had to come to terms with Tony being an extremely important part of her life. For the next six months she had no contact with her parents. Sims was a devoted daughter and found the separation from her parents difficult.
The relationship with Baird began to founder, Sims said, due to her success and Tony Baird's failure as an actor. Sims writes
Had house husbands been in vogue in those days we'd have made an excellent couple, since Tony was not very successful as an actor and I soon became the main breadwinner. If we had been able to accept that I would go out and earn the money and he would concentrate on running the home, things might have turned out better... For three years I was besotted with this loveable reprobate, but then the icing on the cake began to chip off and the love started to wear thin. I was virtually keeping him and the friction of the situation was getting harder to bear.Of the break-up, which was finally triggered by Sims returning from a tour to find Baird had not done any washing or housework, she wrote "I could tell that he was genuinely heartbroken, and so was I, but I had to do it for my own survival."
Following this came a relationship with John Walters whom Sims had known for a long time. He had been assistant stage manager for the revue High Spirits, in which she appeared. They had had an 'innocent' romance at the time, but they embarked on a more serious relationship after Sims's break-up with Baird. However, Sims never felt it would be a long-term relationship: John was a much moodier character than Tony. During what she described as the 'one broody phase of my life', they discussed marriage and children, but it came to nothing and the relationship, the last serious one of Sims's life, ended after around two years of living together.
High Spirits concluded with Sims in reflective and rueful mood. Having been disappointed to miss out on the part in a BBC adaptation of Vanity Fair, she is somewhat crestfallen to discover that there are only two entries on her 'Trivia' page on IMDb. It ends:
On 27 June 2001, ten minutes before she died, Holland spoke to her gently about Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jacques and their time on the Carry On films. Sims died from liver failure and diverticulitis, with diabetes and COPD cited as contributory factors.GRO Register of Deaths: 2002, Kensington and Chelsea - Irene Joan M. Sims. She was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium, and her ashes scattered in the grounds there.
Her authorised biography, Too Happy A Face, by Andrew Ross, was published in 2014.
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