Ice Cold In Alex and Victim Sylvia Syms Actresses Die At 89
Actress Sylvia Syms, best known for her films Ice Cold In Alex and Victim, has died at the age of 89.
yms “passed away peacefully” early Friday morning at Denville Hall, a London nursing home for entertainers.
Her children said the actress, who played the Queen Mother opposite Dame Helen Mirren in the 2006 film The Queen, “lived a wonderful life”.
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Sylvia Syms after her wedding to Alan Edney at St Paul’s Cathedral in London in 1956 (PA)
Her most recent role was as Mrs Rawson in 2019 in the BBC historical drama Gentleman Jack, before she moved to Denville Hall last year.
In a statement, Beatie and Ben Edney, Syms’ children, said: “Our mother, Sylvia, passed away peacefully this morning.
“She lived a wonderful life, bringing us joy and laughter until the very end. Just yesterday, we reminisced about all our adventures together.
“She will miss it very much. We also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone at Denville Hall for the truly amazing care they have given our mother over the past year.”
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Sylvia Syms in the late 1950s (PA)
A private funeral is planned with a memorial service later in the year.
Born on January 6, 1934 in London, Syms attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada).
Her career began in 1953 when she starred in the American comedy It Happens Every Thursday opposite John Forsythe, followed by her second film, 1954’s My Teenage Daughter, in which she played the role Anna Neagle’s troubled 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.
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Sylvia Syms with Sir Cliff Richard in 2006 (Michael Stephens/PA)
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In 1958, she played Sister Diana in the war film Ice Cold In Alex, with Sir John Mills, Sir Anthony Quayle and Harry Andrews, documenting the Western Desert campaign during the Second World War.
She plays a nurse who meets British soldiers trying to cross enemy territory.
The same year, she starred in the British civil war story The Moonraker with George Baker in the male lead role.
Syms is also known for the 1961 film Victim, in which she played the wife of a lawyer played by Sir Dirk Bogarde, who is in a same-sex relationship.
The film was released before the Sex Offenses Act 1967 legalized homosexual acts in England and Wales.
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Sylvia Syms in the short film Timeless with Cara Delevingne (Sky Living HD/PA)
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 series The Tamarind Seed, for which she received nominated Bafta.
After Margaret Thatcher’s resignation in 1990, Syms played the former prime minister in a television play that she re-edited for the stage.
Her TV appearances in the 1990s and 2000s included Peak Practice, EastEnders, Doctor Zhivago, At Home With The Braithwaites and Heartbeat.
Film works from the same period include What A Girl Wants, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, and The Queen.
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Sylvia Syms with the Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2007 (Martin Keene/PA)
Syms became an OBE in honor of the Queen’s Birthday in June 2007.
Her daughter Beatie Edney is also an actress, known for the 1986 supernatural film Highlander, the 1993 Jim Sheridan-directed film In The Name Of The Father and the historical drama Poldark.
https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/ice-cold-in-alex-and-victim-actress-sylvia-syms-dies-aged-89-42316123.html Ice Cold In Alex and Victim Sylvia Syms Actresses Die At 89