Alistair Sim
Posted: March 21st, 2014, 10:34 am
He was in 61 films during his 40-year career (1936 to his death in 1976).
Like Margaret Rutherford, he played comedy so convincingly that you have to wonder how much of his real self was in those screwball characters. From IMDb: “His performance in Dulcimer Street (1948) so impressed Alec Guinness that he based his performance in The Ladykillers (1955) on it. So much so that Alastair is often thought to have done it.”
I enjoyed reading the comments re Stage Fright and his part in it in the Alfred Hitchcock thread. I, too, wonder what he would have done with Edmund Gwenn’s part in The Trouble with Harry. Actually, he might have been so good in it that he threw the balanced ensemble casting off.
My personal favorite of his roles was in The Green Man (1956). No, he wasn’t green; it was the name of a pub. Saw the film a lifetime ago, and have never forgotten it. I guess he was just born to play an insanely frustrated freelance assassin! His performance as Miss Fritton in the St. Trinian’s films is certainly memorable as well.
Also from IMDb, a quote from him: “It was revealed to me many years ago with conclusive certainty that I was a fool and that I had always been a fool. Since then I have been as happy as any man has a right to be.”
And it showed!