CAUSE: John Ireland died in Santa Barbara, California of leukaemia.
J
Gordon Jackson, OBE
Born December 19, 1923
Died January 15, 1990
Dour Scot. Depending on how old you are, Gordon Cameron Jackson is probably best known to television viewers of the Sixties as Angus Hudson, the butler in Upstairs, Downstairs and to Seventies viewers as the tough-talking George Cowley in The Professionals. He was also a prolific actor on stage and in films. Born in Glasgow he appeared in One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), The Captive Heart (1946) as Lieutenant Lennox, Whisky Galore! (1949) as George Campbell, Eureka Stockade (1949) as Torn Kennedy, Happy Go Lovely (1951) as Paul Tracy, Castle In The Air (1952), Meet Mr Lucifer (1953) as Hector McPhee, The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), Women Without Men (1956) as Percy, Blonde Bait (1956) as Percy, The Navy Lark (1959) as Leading Seaman Johnson, Greyfriars Bobby (1961), Mutiny On The Bounty (1962) as Edward Birkett, The Great Escape (1963) as MacDonald, Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew From London To Paris In 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965) as McDougal, The Ipcress File (1965) as Carswell, The Night Of The Generals (1967) as Captain Engel, Hamlet (1969) as Horatio, The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) as Gordon Lowther, Scrooge (1970), Kidnapped (1971) as Charles Stewart and Gunpowder (1987) as Sir Anthony Phelps.
Gordon Jackson
CAUSE: He died of bone cancer in the Cromwell Hospital. He was 66 and left £742,068.
Hattie Jacques
(JOSEPHINA EDWINA JACQUES)
Born February 7, 1922
Died October 6, 1980
‘Oooh, matron!’ Hattie Jacques was born at 125 High Street, Sandgate, Kent, the daughter of Lieutenant Robin Jacques (d. 1922), a former test pilot in the Royal Flying Corps, and Mary Adelaide Thorn. Her father was killed in a flying accident the year she was born and Hattie and her brother, the three-times married book illustrator Robin Jacques (b. March 27, 1920, d. March 18, 1995), were raised by their grandparents. She was educated at Godolphin and Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, west London, and trained briefly as a hairdresser. Hattie became a national institution for her work on the Carry On… series. She was also one of the most popular actresses in Britain, known for her warmth and generosity. Kenneth Williams described her as being like “a kiss on a winter’s day”. Her agent recalled, “If she had one fault, it was that she could be easily put upon. She was getting constant requests to do charity work and she’d try to attend every one.” Producer Peter Rogers described her as “the Mother Superior of the Carry On… family … That is the sort of person she was – a tower of strength, kind, generous, understanding, with a wonderful sense of humour.” She spent two years during the Second World War as a Red Cross nurse (possibly handy training for playing a matron five times in the Carry On s), and then as a welder in a north London factory where she discovered she could make people laugh, possibly as a defence mechanism because of her size. She made her stage début in 1944 at the Players Theatre in London, singing Victorian songs. At Christmas she became a large, bossy, but vulnerable pantomime fairy queen, which she later confessed was her favourite part. She toured with the Young Vic company in The King Stag as Smeraldina (1947–1948). She also appeared on radio in ITMA as Sophie Tuckshop (1948–1949), Educating Archie as Agatha Dangelbody (1950–1954) and Hancock’s Half Hour. Her films included Oliver Twist (1948) as a singer at the Three Cripples pub, Trottie True (1949) as Daisy Delaware, Scrooge (1951) as Mrs Fezziwig, The Pickwick Papers (1952) as Mrs Nupkins, Mother Riley Meets The Vampire (1952) as Mrs Jenks, All Hallowe’en (1952) as Miss Quibble, Our Girl Friday (1954) as Mrs Patch, The Square Peg (1958) as Gretchen, The Night We Dropped A Clanger (1959) as Ada, The Navy Lark (1959), School For Scoundrels (1960), She’ll Have To Go (1962) as Miss Richards, The Punch And Judy Man (1963) as Dolly Zarathusa and Monte Carlo Or Bust (1969). She appeared in the following Carry On s: Sergeant (1958) as Captain Clark, a no-nonsense army doctor, Nurse (1958) as Matron, Teacher (1959) as maths mistress Grace Short at Maudlin Street School, Constable (1960) as Woman Police Sergeant Laura Moon, Regardless (1961) as a hospital sister, Cabby (1963) as Peggy Hawkins, the neglected wife of a cab firm owner who sets up her own rival organisation, Doctor (1968) as Matron, Camping (1969) as Miss Haggerd, Again, Doctor (1969) as Matron, Loving (1970) as Sophie Bliss (née Plummit), who runs a dating agency with her boyfriend, At Your Convenience (1971) as Beattie Plummer, Matron (1972) as Matron, Abroad (1972) as Floella the fiery-tempered hotelier and Dick (1974) as Martha Hoggett. From January 29, 1960 until November 16, 1965 she played Eric Sykes’ twin sister in the highly successful BBC sitcom Sykes which was set at 24 Sebastopol Terrace, Acton, west London. Seven years later on September 14, 1972 the series was revived although the action had now moved to 28 Sebastopol Terrace. The show ended at her early death. She was married to actor John Le Mesurier from November 10, 1949 until 1965 and they had two sons, Robin and Kim.
CAUSE: She died aged 58 suddenly at home at 67 Eardley Crescent, Kensington, London of a heart attack. A memorial service was held at St Paul’s, Covent Garden. She left £151,503.
Sam Jaffe
Born March 10, 1891
Died March 24, 1984
Small fry. Born in New York, Shalom Jaffe gave up a relatively successful stage career to become a maths teacher. He returned to acting in 1915 and made his film début 19 years later. He appeared in The Scarlet Empress (1934) as Grand Duke Peter, Lost Horizon (1937) as High Lama, Gunga Din (1939) as Gunga Din, 13 Rue Madeleine (1946) as Mayor Galimard, The Accused (1948) as Dr Romley, The Asphalt Jungle (1950) as Doc Riedenschneider, for which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) as Professor Jacob Barnhardt, The Barbarian And The Geisha (1958) as Henry Heusken, Ben-Hur (1959) as Simonides, Tarzan’s Jungle Rebellion (1965) as Singleton, The Great Bank Robbery (1969) as Brother Lilac, Battle Beyond The Stars (1980) as Dr Hephaestus, Nothing Lasts Forever (1984) as Father Knickerbocker and Río Abajo (1984) as El Gabacho. He married twice. His first wife was actress Lillian Taiz Jaffe (d. 1941) and his second (from 1955) was actress Bettye Ackerman (b. Cottageville, South Carolina, February 28, 1928) with whom he appeared in the television series Ben Casey.
CAUSE: He died in Beverly Hills, California, from cancer, at the age of 93.
Dean Jagger
Born November 7, 1903
Died February 5, 1991
Old before his time. Ira Dean Jagger was born in Lima, Ohio, and, like Sam Jaffe, was a teacher before he turned to acting. He appeared on radio, vaudeville, and in films and later television. His movies included: The Woman From Hell (1929) as Jim, Men Without Names (1935) as Jones, Wings In The Dark (1935) as Tops Harmon, Home On The Range (1935) as Thurman, People Will Talk (1935) as Bill Trask, Car 99 (1935) as Officer Jim Burton, Star For A Night (1936) as Fritz Lind, Revolt Of The Zombies as Armand Louque, It’s A Great Life (1936) as Arnold, Thirteen Hours By Air (1936) as Hap Waller, Pepper (1936) as Bob O’Ryan, Woman In Distress (1937) as Fred Stevens, Exiled To Shanghai (1937) as Fred Sears, Escape By Night (1937) as Capper Regan, Dangerous Number as Dillman, Brigham Young – Frontiersman (1940) as Brigham Young, Western Union (1941) as Edward Creighton, The Omaha Trail (1942) as ‘Pipestone’ Ross, Valley Of The Sun (1942) as Jim Sawyer, The North Star (1943) as Rodion, I Escaped From The Gestapo (1943) as Lane, I Live In Grosvenor Square (1945) as Sergeant John Patterson, Sister Kenny as Kevin Connors, Driftwood as Dr Steve Webster, Twelve O’Clock High (1949) as Major Harvey Stovall for which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, Dark City (1950) as Captain Garvey, Warpath (1951) as Sam Quade, Rawhide (1951) as Yancy, It Grows On Trees (1952) as Phil Baxter, The Robe as Justus, Private Hell 36 as Captain Michaels, White Christmas (1954) as General Waverly, Executive Suite (1954) as Jesse Grimm, Bad Day At Black Rock (1955) as Tim Horn, On The Threshold Of Space (1956) as Dr Hugh Thornton, Bombers B-52 (1957), King Creole (1958) as Mr Fisher, The Proud
Rebel (1958) as Harry Burleigh, The Nun’s Story (1959) as Dr Van Der Mal, Elmer Gantry (1960) as William L. Morgan, Day Of The Evil Gun (1968) as Jimmy Noble, The Kremlin Letter (1970), So Sad About Gloria (1973), The Great Lester Boggs (1975) and Alligator (1980) as Slade. He won an Emmy in 1980.
CAUSE: He died aged 87 in Santa Monica, California, from heart disease.
Sid James
(SIDNEY JOEL COHEN)
Born May 8, 1913
Died April 26, 1976
South African cockney. Many people would have placed wagers on Sid James’ birthplace, and would confidently assert that he was born well within the sound of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow making him a fully fledged cockney. Those people would have lost their money, because Sid James began life several thousand miles from east London in Hancock Street, Newcastle, Natal, South Africa. Within a week of his birth (reported on his death certificate as May 6, 1913) his forenames were replaced by the more Judaic Sollie. He became Sidney again aged eight, to avoid confusion at school with his cousin, who became a surgeon. He also changed his surname to the one that subsequently became known by millions of film fans. Despite the tales of derring-do later recounted by the adult Sid James he began his real working life in 1930 as a hairdresser at the Marie Tudor salon. It was there he met his first wife, Berthe Sadie Delmont (b. 1912, d. 1966), nicknamed ‘Toots’. In 1932, determined to escape from his mother’s apron strings, he moved to Kroonstad where he became a favourite of the ladies who have their hair cut. He also began to teach ballroom dancing and attempted to seduce as many women as possible. He hated cutting hair and yearned for a career on the stage and to make lots of money. He returned to Johannesburg, where he married Toots on August 12, 1936, in the Central Register Office. As a ‘wedding present’, Sid’s father-in-law bought him his own hairdressing establishment, Maison Renée. In reality, the gift was an attempt to prevent Sid following his acting dreams and taking Toots away. Just 80 days into the marriage, Toots discovered Sid was seeing someone else. The someone else was pregnant and Toots’ father paid the other woman hush money to leave the country and never mention who the father of her daughter was. The situation repeated itself again in February 1937 when a son arrived. More affairs followed before James’ first legitimate child, Elizabeth, was born in December 1937. Six months earlier, he had joined the Johannesburg Repertory Players. In 1939 he made his professional acting début – on the wireless. That year he also met Meg Sergei (b. August 1913) and began an affair that resulted in Toots filing for a divorce. He also began getting involved in bar room brawls, which later in the Sid James mythology evolved into professional boxing (he was never actually a boxer). James compared his face to “a bed that has been slept in with the sheets left rumpled”. His pockmarked skin was the result of acne and the wrinkles were suffered by all the male Cohens. However, his nose did get broken during a fight. A large man had made anti-Semitic remarks and Sid waded into him, little knowing he had several equally well-built friends with him. They stamped on Sid’s hands and one of his little fingers was so badly hurt that it was to remain paralysed until his death. In February 1941 a 17-year-old trainee at Maison Renée gave birth to Sid’s illegitimate son. His father-in-law then took a contract out on Sid, who joined the decidedly less dangerous ranks of the army to escape. He soon joined an entertainment unit and underwent an unsuccessful operation (performed by his cousin) to treat his haemorrhoids. In 1943 he and Meg Sergei were married. In January 1945 a new recruit joined the concert party and, after a shaky start, Sid and Larushka Skikne became lifelong friends. He, too, became an actor, under the name Laurence Harvey. James arrived in London, virtually penniless, on December 25, 1946. However, his determination saw him cast in a film within days of his arrival. After that he never looked back. He appeared in Black Memory (1947) as Eddie Clinton, The October Man (1947), It Always Rains On Sunday (1948) as a bandleader, No Orchids For Miss Blandish (1948), Night Beat (1948) as Nixon, Once A Jolly Swagman (1948) as Rowton and many others. His daughter Reine Christina arrived on April 26, 1947, at the Royal Northern Hospital, Islington. He was quickly on his way to becoming a stalwart of British films in the Fifties, taking any part rather than face unemployment and uncertainty. His films included The Small Back Room (1949) as Knucksie the barman, Paper Orchid (1949) as crime reporter Freddie Evans, The Man In Black (1949) as Henry Clavering, Give Us This Day (1949) as Murdin, The Lady Craved Excitement (1950) as Carlo, Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951) as Lew Beeson, The Lavender Hill Mob as safecracker Lackery, The Magic Box (1951), Miss Robin Hood as Sidney, Time Gentlemen Please! (1952) as Eric Hace, The Venetian Bird (1952) as Bernardo, The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953) as train driver Hawkins, Escape By Night as Gino Rossi, Father Brown as Parkinson, Aunt Clara (1954) as Honest Sid, For Better, For Worse (1954), The Belles Of St Trinian’s (1954) as Benny, A Kid For Two Farthings (1955) as Iceberg, The Glass Cage (1955) as Tony Lewis, Quatermass II (1957) as Jimmy Hall, The Story Of Esther Costello (1957) as Ryan, I Was Monty’s Double (1958), The Sheriff Of Fractured Jaw (1958) as a drunk, The 39 Steps (1959) as Perce and many, many more. Meanwhile, in 1948, with a wife and an 18-month-old daughter, Sid began an affair with a teenage actress called Valerie Ashton (b. Hartlepool December 13, 1928, as Valerie Elizabeth Patsy Assan). He separated from his wife in 1950 and moved in with Valerie. He was divorced on August 17, 1952, and, four days later, he and Valerie were married. On February 19, 1954, their son Stephen was born in the London Clinic. On November 2 of that year Sid began appearing on the radio show Hancock’s Half Hour, which transferred to television on July 6, 1956. Sid was one of the few cast members to make the transition from the wireless to the small screen. During his third marriage Sid’s gambling began to spiral out of control and he often borrowed money from friends to pay his debts, with little likelihood of repayment. On October 7, 1957, Susan Valerie James was born at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, Hammersmith. In January 1958 Sid signed to make the (unsuccessful) Associated-Rediffusion sitcom East End, West End, playing a wide-boy. In 1959 Sid was approached to appear in the fourth of what had the makings of a successful series of films. It was called Carry On Constable (1960) and he took over the role assigned to Ted Ray who was dropped from the series for legal reasons. Sid played Sergeant Frank Wilkins, who has to lick three newcomers – played by Kenneth Connor, Leslie Phillips and Kenneth Williams – into shape. Also in the Sixties Sid renounced his South African citizenship and became a British subject, although at heart he still felt himself to be a Springbok and cheered for that national team rather than that of his adopted home. Apart from the Carry On s Sid also appeared in Raising The Wind (1961) as Sid, The Pure Hell Of St Trinian’s (1961) as Alphonse O’Reilly, The Green Helmet (1961) as Richie Launder and The Big Job (1965) as George Brain. Carry On Constable (1960) was the first of 19 Carry On s that Sid was to appear in, often playing a character called Sid. The others were: Carry On Regardless (1961) as Bert Handy, Carry On Cruising (1962) as Captain Wellington Crowther, Carry On Cabby (1963) as taxi boss Charlie Hawkins, Carry On Cleo (1964) as Mark Antony, Carry On Cowboy (1965) as Johnny Finger/The Rumpo Kid, which was his favourite of the series, Carry On … Don’t Lose Your Head (1967) as the saviour of ‘French aristos’ Sir Rodney Ffing a.k.a. The Black Fingernail, Carry On Up The Khyber (1968) as Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond (an in-joke, since he really was a rough diamond), Carry On Doctor (1968) as Charlie Roper, Carry On Camping (1969) as Sid Boggle, Carry On Again, Doctor (1969) as Gladstone Screwer, Carry On Up The Jungle (1970) as Bill Boosey, Carry On Loving (1970) as Sidney Bliss, Carry On Henry (1971) as King Henry VIII, Carry On At Your Convenience (1971) as factory owner Sid Plummer, Carry On Matron (1972) as Sid Carter, Carry On Abroad (1972) as Vic Flange, Carry On Girls (1973) as Sidney Fiddler and Carry On Dick (1974) as Dick Turpin/Reverend Flasher. He also appeared in the television series Citizen James (BBC, November 24, 1960–November 23, 1962) as Sidney Balmoral James, Taxi! (BBC, July 1963–August 1963), George And The Dragon (ATV, November 19, 1966–October 31, 1968) as chauffe
ur/ handyman George Russell, Two In Clover (Thames TV, February 18, 1969–March 19, 1970) as Sid Turner and Bless This House (Thames TV, February 2, 1971–April 22, 1976) as Sid Abbott, the put-upon father of two teenagers. (When a film version was made Sid insisted that Robin Stewart, who played his son in the TV series, was dropped from the cast.) In 1974 Sid was voted Funniest Man On Television by readers of TV Times.
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Page 98