At Home With The Braithwaites And The Queen Actor Sylvia Syms Dies, Aged 89
Actress Sylvia Syms, best known for the films Ice Cold In Alex and Victim, has died at the age of 89.
Her most recent role was as Mrs Rawson in 2019 in BBC period drama Gentleman Jack, before she moved into Denville Hall last year.
“She has lived an amazing life, and gave us joy and laughter right up to the end. Just yesterday we were reminiscing together about all our adventures.
“She will be so very missed. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Denville Hall for the truly excellent care they have taken of our mum over the past year.”
Her career took off in 1953 when she starred in American comedy It Happens Every Thursday alongside John Forsythe, followed by her second film, 1954’s My Teenage Daughter, in which she played Anna Neagle’s problem daughter.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she worked with Flora Robson, Orson Welles, Stanley Holloway, Lilli Palmer and William Holden as she landed her most famous roles.
In 1958, she played Sister Diana in the war film Ice Cold In Alex, with Sir John Mills, Sir Anthony Quayle and Harry Andrews, which chronicled the Western Desert campaign during the Second World War.
Syms was also known for the 1961 film Victim, in which she starred as the wife of a barrister played by Sir Dirk Bogarde, who is having a gay relationship.
From 1972, Syms had her own show as Leslie Crowther’s wife in My Good Woman for two years until she starred in the Dame Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif film The Tamarind Seed, for which she got a Bafta nomination.
After Margaret Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, Syms played the former prime minister in a TV play which she recreated for the stage.
Her appearances on TV in the 1990s and 2000s included Peak Practice, EastEnders, Doctor Zhivago, At Home With The Braithwaites and Heartbeat.
Her daughter Beatie Edney is also an actress, known for 1986 supernatural film Highlander, Jim Sheridan-directed 1993 film In The Name Of The Father and period drama series Poldark.
