Sid James - Personal Life

Personal Life

Sid James married three times. James and his first wife divorced in 1940 mainly as a result of James's many relationships with other women; it was a pattern that continued throughout his life. In 1943, he married a dancer, Meg Sergei, née Williams (born 1913). Five years later they had a daughter, Reina, before getting divorced on 17 August 1952.

On 21 August 1952 James wed Valerie Elizabeth Patsy Assan (born 1928), an actress who used Ashton as her stage name. During the latter part of their marriage they lived in a house partly designed by James himself called Delaford Park situated in Iver, Buckinghamshire, a location close enough to Pinewood Studios to allow him to return home for lunch whilst filming. During his marriage to Valerie he had an alleged affair with his Carry On co-star, Barbara Windsor, which was dramatised in the 1998 stage-play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick and its 2000 television adaptation Cor, Blimey!. James's alleged obsession with Barbara Windsor was such that it was said he returned to his home one day to find that all of the furniture had been rearranged, and on another occasion that her husband of the time, Ronnie Knight, had put an axe in his floor. Close friends of the time, including Vince Powell and William G. Stewart, have dismissed the suggestions.

James was an inveterate gambler, and a largely unsuccessful one, losing tens of thousands of pounds over his lifetime. His gambling addiction was such that he had an agreement with his agent, Michael Sullivan, whereby his wife did not know how much he was being paid, with a portion set aside for gambling.