caption death_date death_place years_active birth_place name birth_date spouse image article_title birth_name occupation death_cause
sim 1955 as the laird in '' geordie '' , 19 august 1976 london , england , united kingdom 1930 -- 1976 edinburgh , scotland , united kingdom alastair sim 09 october 1900 naomi death -rrb- plaskitt -lrb- m. 1932 -- 1976 ; his alastair-sim-laird-in-geordie . jpg alastair sim
 alastair george bell sim actor lung cancer
alastair sim

alastair george bell sim , cbe -lrb- 9 october 1900 -- 19 august 1976 -rrb- , was a scottish character actor who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty , but quickly became established as a popular west end performer , remaining so until his death in 1976 .
he also appeared in more than fifty british films , starting in 1935 .
after a series of false starts , including a spell as a jobbing labourer and another as a clerk in a local government office , sim 's love of and talent for poetry reading won him several prizes and led to his appointment as a lecturer in elocution at the university of edinburgh in 1925 .
he also ran his own private elocution and drama school , from which , with the help of the playwright john drinkwater , he made the transition to the professional stage in 1930 .
despite his late start , sim soon became well known on the london stage .
a period of more than a year as a member of the old vic company brought him wide experience of playing shakespeare and other classics , to which he returned throughout his career .
in the modern repertoire , he formed a close professional association with the author james bridie , which lasted from 1939 until the dramatist 's death in 1951 .
sim not only acted in bridie 's works , but directed them .
in the later 1940s and for most of the 1950s , sim was a leading star of british cinema , appearing in more than fifty films .
they included '' green for danger '' -lrb- 1946 -rrb- , `` hue and cry '' -lrb- 1947 -rrb- , `` the happiest days of your life '' -lrb- 1950 -rrb- , `` scrooge '' -lrb- 1951 -rrb- , `` the belles of st trinian 's '' -lrb- 1954 -rrb- and `` an inspector calls '' -lrb- 1954 -rrb- .
later , he made fewer films and generally concentrated on stage work , including successful productions at the chichester festival and regular appearances in new and old works in the west end .
