The Probert Encyclopaedia of Actors

SIDNEY JAMES

Sidney Joel James was a South African-born English actor. He was born in 1913 at Natal, South Africa and died in 1976 of a heart attack while appearing in 'The Mating Game' at the Empire Theatre, Sunderland. A former top lady's hairdresser in South Africa, he came to England in 1946 using his army demob money to buy a one-way ticket and went on to appear on television beside Tony Hancock and star in many of the Carry On films, where his dirty laugh made him popular. From 1956 to his death he was having an affair with fellow Carry On film star, Barbara Windsor.
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