Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE was a Scottish character actor. He began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his death in 1976. Starting in 1935, he also appeared in more than fifty British films, including an iconic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol. He formed a close professional association with the author James Bridie, which lasted from 1939 until the dramatist’s death in 1951.
About Alastair Sim in brief
Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE was a Scottish character actor. He began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his death in 1976. Starting in 1935, he also appeared in more than fifty British films, including an iconic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol. He formed a close professional association with the author James Bridie, which lasted from 1939 until the dramatist’s death in 1951. Though an accomplished dramatic actor, he is often remembered for his comically sinister performances. Sim was born in Edinburgh, the youngest child and second son of Isabella and Alexander Sim. His mother moved to Edinburgh as a teenager from Eigg, one of the Small Isles in the Hebrides, and was a native Gaelic speaker. Sim’s father was a Justice of the Peace and a successful tailor with a business on Lothian Road. He worked – probably part-time – in his father’s shop and then for the men’s outfitters Gieve’s, displaying no talent for the retail trade. In 1918 he was admitted to the University of Edinburgh to study analytical chemistry, but was called up for army training. After the end of the First World War in November 1918, Sim was released from military service. On his return home he told his family that he did not intend to resume his studies at the university, but instead would become an actor. His announcement was so badly received that he left the parental home, and spent about a year in the Scottish Highlands with a group of itinerant jobbing workers.
In his spare time, he joined poetry reading classes, winning the gold medal for verse speaking at the Edinburgh Music Festival. This led to his engagement to teach elocution at a further education college in Dalry, Edinburgh. He held this post from 1922 to 1924. While maintaining his university position, Sim also taught private pupils and later founded and ran his own drama school for children in Edinburgh. This developed his skills as a director and occasional actor. Later, he made fewer films and generally concentrated on stage work, including successful productions at the Chichester Festival and regular appearances in new and old works in the West End. They included Green for Danger, Hue and Cry, The Happiest Days of Your Life, Scrooge, The Belles of St. Trinian’s and An Inspector Calls. He performed in ten plays by Shakespeare, two by Sheridan, one by Shaw and one by Bax Bax. Sim performed in As You Like It as Duke George Devine in The Venian, The Duke of Devine and Devine as Devine. He was engaged for sixteen months as a member of the Old Vic company, headed by Peggy Ashcroft. In 1932–33 he was engaged as a part of a company headed by Peggy Ashcroft, and played the role of the messenger in Othello at the Savoy Theatre, London.
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