
Sidney James
Actor · 1913 – 1976 · Hillbrow, Johannesburg, Union of South Africa
Sidney James (born Solomon Joel Cohen; May 8, 1913 – April 26, 1976) was a South African-born English-based actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona. Bruce Forsyth summed up his talent thus: "He was a natural at being natural."
Movies24
Movie6.7ComedyDramaA recently-deposed "Estrovian" monarch seeks shelter in New York City, where he becomes an accidental television celebrity. Later, he's wrongly accused of being a Communist and gets caught up in subsequent HUAC hearings.
A King in New York
1957 · 242 votes
Movie7.2ComedyCrimeA meek bank clerk who oversees the shipments of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbor to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country.
The Lavender Hill Mob
1951 · 295 votes
Movie6.4Science FictionHorrorIn England, a group of space scientists led by Bernard Quatermass, who have developed plans for the first Moon colony, learn that a secret, ostensibly government-run, complex of identical design has been built in a remote part of England and is the focus of periodic falls of small, hollow "meteorites" originating in outer space. Quatermass determines to investigate and uncovers a terrifying extraterrestrial life form which has already begun action to take over the Earth.
Quatermass 2
1957 · 152 votes
Movie6.7ThrillerDramaAn ex-con trying to go clean ends up working for a crooked trucking company swindling money.
Hell Drivers
1957 · 69 votes
Movie6.5WesternComedyEnglish gunsmith Jonathon Tibbs travels to the American West in the 1880s to sell firearms to the locals. He inadvertently acquires a reputation of quickness on the draw due to his wrist mounted Derringer style weapon. Soon gaining the post of sheriff, he endeavours to clean up the town using what skills he has—and by multilateral diplomacy.
The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw
1958 · 35 votes
Movie6.7DramaWarAs the Germans drop explosive booby-traps on 1943 Britain, the embittered expert who'll have to disarm them fights a private battle with alcohol.
The Small Back Room
1949 · 81 votes
Movie6.7ComedyAmidst the French revolution, Citizen Robespierre is beheading the aristocracy! When word gets to England, noblemen Sir Rodney Ffing and Lord Darcy Pue take it upon themselves to aid their French counterparts. Sir Rodney is a master of disguise, and becomes 'The Black Fingernail' scourge of Camembert and Bidet, leaders of the French secret police.
Don't Lose Your Head
1967 · 63 votes
Movie6.7ComedyTwo Britons—inventor Hengist Pod, and Horse, a brave and cunning fighter—are captured and enslaved by invading Romans and taken to Rome. One of their first encounters in Rome leaves Hengist being mistaken for a fighter, and gets drafted into the Royal Guard to protect Julius Caesar.
Carry On Cleo
1964 · 107 votes
Movie6.6ComedySid and Bernie keep having their amorous intentions snubbed by their girlfriends Joan and Anthea, so when they decide to take them on a holiday to Paradise Camp, they think they're off to a nudist colony—but they couldn't be more wrong, and meet up with the weirdest bunch of campers you can imagine.
Carry On Camping
1969 · 107 votes
Movie6.1ComedyA gang of thieves plan to make their fortune by stealing a shipment of contraceptive pills from Finisham maternity hospital. They assume disguises and infiltrate the hospital, but everything doesn't go according to plan. The hypochondriac consultant Sir Bernard Cutting, Matron and the doctors and nurses at Finisham have a habit of getting in the way.
Carry On Matron
1972 · 81 votes
Movie6.3ComedyWesternStodge City is in the grip of the Rumpo Kid and his gang. Mistaken identity again takes a hand as a 'sanitary engineer' named Marshal P. Knutt is mistaken for a law marshal. Being the conscientious sort, Marshal tries to help the town get rid of Rumpo, and a showdown is inevitable. Marshal has two aids—revenge-seeking Annie Oakley and his sanitary expertise.
Carry On Cowboy
1965 · 92 votes
Movie5.7RomanceComedyThe Wedded Bliss computer dating agency aims to bring together the lonely hearts of Much-Snoggin-in-the-Green. Its owner, Sidney Bliss, has enough complications in his own love life, but still produces a pamphlet called 'The Wit to Woo'. The strange collection of hopefuls lead to some outlandish matches—and jealousies are bound to lead to trouble.
Carry On Loving
1970 · 50 votes
Movie6.3DramaRomanceA pair of men try to perform the dangerous "triple" in their trapeze act. Problems arise when the duo is made into a trio following the addition of a sexy female performer.
Trapeze
1956 · 103 votes
Movie5.8ComedyCelebrating twenty years of classic Carry On films, two of the films’ best-loved stars, Kenneth Williams and Barbara Windsor return to Pinewood film studios to unwrap some rib-tickling moments from the series. From the original, military mayhem of Carry On Sergeant, through to the really ancient archaeological gags of Carry On Behind, our saucy hosts get their titters out for this laugh-a-second gallop through the most successful series of British comedy films ever made.
That's Carry On!
1977 · 25 votes
Movie6.9WarDramaThe incredible but true story of how an impersonator was recruited to impersonate General Montgomery to mislead the Germans about his intentions before the North Africa campaign.
I Was Monty's Double
1958 · 28 votes
Movie6.1ComedyDr. Nookey is disgraced and sent to a remote island hospital. He is given a secret slimming potion by a member of staff, Gladstone Screwer, and he flies back to England to fame and fortune. But others want to cash in on his good fortunes, and some just want him brought down a peg or two.
Carry On Again Doctor
1969 · 64 votes
Movie5.8DramaRomanceIn England during WWII, an American news correspondent’s affair with a married British correspondent ends tragically when he is killed in action. Fearing a nervous breakdown as a result of his death, she travels to Cornwall to mourn with his family without any intention of revealing her relationship with him.
Another Time, Another Place
1958 · 20 votes
Movie7.0ComedyWhen British Railways announce the closure of the Titfield to Mallingford branch line a group of local residents make a bid to run it themselves, backed by a monied member of the community who is attracted by the complete lack of licensing hours on trains. Unfortunately the local bus company starts to use methods that can hardly be seen as fair competition.
The Titfield Thunderbolt
1953 · 61 votes
Movie6.2ThrillerMysteryTravelling to Venice to locate an ex-partisan on behalf of a French insurance company, a British private detective gets mixed-up in a political assassination conspiracy.
Venetian Bird
1952 · 18 votes
Movie6.5DramaNow old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once young and handsome William Green. He changed his name to include his first wife's for the photographic portrait work he excelled at. But he was also an inventor and his search for a way to project moving pictures became an obsession that ultimately changed the life of all those he loved.
The Magic Box
1952 · 25 votes
Movie5.7ComedyLocal councillor Sidney Fiddler persuades the Mayor to help improve the image of their rundown seaside town by holding a beauty contest. But formidable Councillor Prodworthy, head of the local women's liberation movement, has other ideas. It's open warfare as the women's lib attempt to sabotage the contest.
Carry On Girls
1973 · 65 votes
Movie5.7DramaExiled from Hollywood due to the blacklist, director Edward Dmytryk briefly operated in England in the late 1940s. Though filmed in its entirety in London, Dmytryk's Give Us This Day is set in New York during the depression. Fellow blacklistee Sam Wanamaker is starred as the head of an Italian immigrant family struggling to survive the economic crisis.
Give Us This Day
1949 · 15 votes
Movie6.3ComedyWith a flu epidemic running rife, three new bumbling recruits are assigned to Inspector Mills police station. With help from Special Constable Gorse, they manage to totally wreck operations of the police force and let plenty of criminals get away, even before they arrive at the station. They all have to prove themselves or else they'll be out of a job and Sgt. Wilkins will be transferred.
Carry On Constable
1960 · 62 votes
Movie6.3ThrillerMysteryIn London, a diplomat accidentally becomes involved in the death of a British agent who's after a spy ring that covets British military secrets.
The 39 Steps
1959 · 37 votes
Series14
TV6.8ComedyTalk ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948 · 23 votes
TV8.0DocumentaryLook at Life was a regular British series of short documentary films of which 507 were produced between 1959 and 1969 by the Special Features Division of the Rank Organisation for screening in their Odeon and Gaumont cinemas. The films always preceded the main feature film that was being shown in the cinema that week. It replaced the circuit's newsreel, Universal News, which had become increasingly irrelevant in the face of more immediate news media, particularly on television with the launch of ITN on the Independent Television service, which began broadcasting in parts of the United Kingdom in 1955.
Look at Life
1959 · 1 votes
TV6.8Action & AdventureThe Adventures of William Tell is a British swashbuckler adventure series, first broadcast on the ITV network in 1958, and produced by ITC Entertainment.
The Adventures of William Tell
1958 · 4 votes
TV6.8DocumentaryThe World of Hammer is a thirteen-part British documentary series created and written by Robert and Ashley Sidaway for Channel 4. Initially broadcast from 12 August to 4 November 1994, the series is narrated by English actor and frequent Hammer collaborator Oliver Reed.
The World of Hammer
1994 · 4 votes
TV7.4ComedyHancock's Half Hour is a BBC television comedy series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock with Sid James. The final series, renamed simply Hancock, starred Hancock alone. Comedian Tony Hancock starred in the show, playing an exaggerated and much poorer version of his own character and lifestyle, Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, a down-at-heel comedian living at the dilapidated 23 Railway Cuttings in East Cheam. The series was influential in the development of the situation comedy, with its move away from radio variety towards a focus on character development.
Hancock's Half Hour
1956 · 9 votes
TV6.4DramaAction & AdventureThe adventures of privateer Captain Dan Tempest and his crew of former pirates as they make their way across the seven seas in The Sultana.
The Buccaneers
1956 · 5 votes
TV5.7ComedyAn anthology of half-hour stories, mostly historical romps and satires of pop culture, some feature recurring characters; based on the blockbuster Carry On films, the series was an attempt to address the films' declining cinema attendance by transferring the franchise to television. Many original cast members were featured in the series.
Carry On Laughing
1975 · 10 votes
TV7.5ComedyOn Howard Road, travelling stationery salesman Sid Abbott and his wife Jean constantly battle to comprehend the permissive ways of their teenage children Mike and Sally.
Bless This House
1971 · 17 votes
TV7.2ComedyTwo in Clover is a British sitcom produced by Thames Television for two series from 1969 to 1970 on ITV. It starred Sid James and Victor Spinetti and was written by Vince Powell and Harry Driver, and produced and directed by Alan Tarrant. The first series was made in black and white and the second series was made in colour. Frustrated office workers Sid Turner and Vic Evans decide to leave behind their nine-to-five lifestyle for the simpler life of living in the countryside and running a farm.
Two in Clover
1969 · 5 votes
TV6.8ComedyGeorge and the Dragon is a British situation comedy made by ATV for the ITV network which was transmitted in four series comprising 26 episodes between 19 November 1966 and 31 October 1968. The regular cast is Sid James, Peggy Mount, John Le Mesurier and Keith Marsh and was written by Harry Driver and Vince Powell. Shaun O'Riordan was the director, while Alan Tarrant was the main producer.
George and the Dragon
1966 · 4 votes
TV6.0DramaArmchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.
Armchair Theatre
1956 · 6 votes
TV7.7ComedyAt and around Soho cafe Charlie's Nosh Bar, Sidney Balmoral James ('Sid') is on the lookout for any get-rich-quick scheme. He is helped by William Montmorency Beaumont Kerr ('Billy the Kerr') and quite often frustrated by local bookmaker Albert Welshman. Meanwhile, Sid's long-suffering girlfriend Liz has been waiting for seven years for Sid to set the date.
Citizen James
1960 · 5 votes
TV5.8ComedyThese four made-for-TV Christmas Carry On spectaculars feature favourite stories and timely traditions, including Treasure Island, A Christmas Carol, pantomime and much more, in the only way the Carry On team know how... pure slapstick comedy and scripts full of trademark innuendo!
Carry On Christmas Specials
1969 · 3 votes
- TVComedyDrama
Taxi! is a BBC television comedy-drama series transmitted in 1963 and 1964. Created by Ted Willis, who had developed Dixon of Dock Green, he was well aware of taxicab drivers inclination to provide stories, and intended twelve individual plays for what became the first series. The series stars Sid James as Cab firm owner and driver Sid Stone. Similar to his role in the near contemporary film Carry On Cabby, this was more a drama with humour, Jack Rosenthal scripted a few episodes and Bill Owen appeared as the Cab firm's co-owner Fred Cudell with Ray Brooks as driver Terry Mills.
Taxi!
1963