Alastair Sim - Private Life

Private Life

He was married to Naomi Plaskitt (1913–1999) from 1932 until his death in 1976. They had one child, a daughter named Merlith.

Sim was keen to promote and encourage young acting talent, and, having seen a young talent in the making, the Sims invited George Cole to live with them in 1940, when he was 15 years old. Cole lived with the couple for 14 years. They are credited with mentoring the young actor. Sim appeared with Cole in the films Cottage to Let (1941), The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950), Scrooge (1951), Laughter in Paradise (1951), The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954), An Inspector Calls (1954), The Green Man (1956) and Blue Murder at St. Trinian's (1957).

He always remained ambivalent about fame, and never signed autographs. In a rare interview to the magazine Focus on Film he said, "I stand or fall in my profession by the public's judgment of my performances. No amount of publicity can dampen a good one or gloss over a bad one." He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1953, but (emulating his father) he later refused a knighthood.

In 1959, he successfully sued the makers of a televised baked beans commercial (which had a voiceover sounding uncannily like him), claiming he would not "prostitute his art" by advertising anything. In 1955 Hancock's Half Hour used a similar plot for "The Breakfast Cereal" - Tony Hancock sues another actor for using his voice in adverts.

He died in 1976, aged 75, in London, England, from lung cancer. An English Heritage blue plaque was unveiled at his former home at 8 Frognal Gardens, Hampstead, London on 23 July 2008. There is also a plaque commemorating his birth outside the Filmhouse Cinema on Lothian Road in Edinburgh, which states "Born near here - Alastair Sim". The exact location had previously been unknown until a Filmhouse patron scoured the city's records to find not only his birthplace but also the site of his father's tailor shop.