Sidney James (born Solomon Joel Cohen; 8 May 1913 – 26 April 1976) was a South African–British actor and comedian whose career encompassed radio, television, stage and screen.

[1] Born to a middle-class Jewish family in South Africa, James started his career in his native country before finding his greatest success in the UK.

He claimed various previous occupations, including diamond cutter, dance tutor and boxer,[3][4] but in reality had trained and worked as a hairdresser.

During World War II he served as a lieutenant in the Union Defence Force Entertainment Unit[6] in South Africa's army, and subsequently took up acting as a career.

James made his first credited film appearances in Night Beat and Black Memory in 1947, both crime dramas.

He also appeared in Lady Godiva Rides Again and The Galloping Major, both films were released in 1951, and as Harry Hawkins in The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953), and also had a lead role in The Wedding of Lilli Marlene.

He remained the lovable rogue but was keen to steer clear of criminal characters; in 1960 he turned down the part of Fagin in the original West End staging of Oliver!

The first few moments of the opening credits of one of them can be heard and seen in the television show Undermind, Episode 6, "Intent to Destroy", broadcast on 12 June 1965.

[10] James ultimately made 19 Carry On films,[5] receiving top billing in 17, making him one of the most featured performers of the regular cast.

In 1967, James was intending to play Sergeant Nocker in Follow That Camel, but was already committed to recording the TV series George and the Dragon (1966–1968) for ATV, then one of the ITV contractors.

On 13 May 1967, two weeks after the filming began of what eventually became an entry in the Carry On series, James suffered a severe heart attack.

In the same year in Carry On Doctor, James was shown mainly lying in a hospital bed, owing to his real-life health problems.

After his heart attack, James gave up his heavy cigarette habit and instead smoked a pipe or an occasional cigar; he lost weight, ate only one main meal a day, and limited himself to two or three alcoholic drinks per evening.

He and his first wife, Berthe Sadie Delmont, were married in 1936 and a daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1937;[12] they were divorced in 1940, mainly as a result of his many relationships with other women.

[15][16] The affair was dramatised in the 1998 stage play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick and its 2000 television adaptation Cor, Blimey!.

[17] On 26 April 1976, four days after the end of the sixth series of Bless This House, James was on tour in a revival of a comedy, The Mating Season, when he suffered a heart attack on stage at the Sunderland Empire Theatre.

Actresses Olga Lowe and Audrey Jeans thought that he was playing a practical joke at first when he failed to reply to their dialogue.

[20] The technical manager, Melvyn James (no relation), called for the curtain to close and requested a doctor, while the audience – who were unaware of what was happening – laughed, believing the events to be part of the show.

Bruce Forsyth ultimately replaced him in the leading role of the 1976 TV version of The Mating Season that went out on ITV in December of the same year.

The producer of the forthcoming BBC Carry On documentary, Richard Latto, contacted James's surviving daughters after confirming the recording's authenticity.