Sid James - The Carry On Years

The Carry On Years

James became a leading member of the Carry On films team, originally to replace Ted Ray who had appeared in Carry On Teacher in 1959. It was intended that Ray would become a recurring Carry On star, but he had been dropped after just one film because of contract problems (he was contracted to ABC films who had never used him). James ultimately made 19 Carry On films, receiving top-billing in 17, making him one of the most featured performers of the regular cast.

The characters he portrayed in the films were usually very similar to the wise-cracking, sly, lecherous Cockney he was famed for playing on television, and in six cases bore the name Sid or Sidney: Sidney Fiddler, Sid Carter, Sid Plummer, Sidney Bliss, Sidney Boggle and Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond.

James also played characters named Sid in appearances outside of the Carry On films, Sid Abbot in Bless This House on television and its spin-off film, as well as Sid Jones, Sid Turner, Sid Marks, Sid Stone, and Sid Gibson in addition to four characters called just 'Sid'. His Sidney Balmoral James from Hancock's Half Hour also appeared in his own Citizen James series. His trademark "dirty laugh" was often used and became, along with a world-weary "Cor, blimey!", his catchphrase. His laugh can be heard here.

There were Carry On films in which James played characters who were not called Sid or Sidney, namely, Carry On Henry (a parody of Henry VIII) and Carry On Dick (a spoof of legendary highwayman Dick Turpin), in both of which he played the title roles, and Carry On Cleo, in which he played Mark Antony. Most notably, in Carry On Cowboy, he adopted an American accent for his part as The Rumpo Kid:

The cast make valiant attempts to maintain American accents, with the most convincing belonging to—surprisingly—Sid James, who made no attempt to disguise his accent in any other film, either before or after this one. —Adrian Rigelsford, Carry On Laughing — a celebration