Editing Alastair Sim (section)

==Early stage and screen career==

Sim followed ''Othello'' with productions ranging from a musical [[revue]] to a medieval costume drama by [[Clifford Bax]], in whose ''The Venetian'' he made his [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] debut in October 1931.<ref name=gaye>Gaye, pp. 1184–1185</ref><ref>[http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=11436 ''The Venetian''], Internet Broadway database, accessed 15 July 2014</ref> In 1932–33 he was engaged for sixteen months as a member of the [[Old Vic]] company, headed by [[Peggy Ashcroft]]. He performed in ten plays by [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], two each by [[George Bernard Shaw|Shaw]] and [[John Drinkwater (playwright)|Drinkwater]], and one by [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan|Sheridan]]. He began to attract the attention of reviewers. ''[[The Times]]'' said that in ''[[As You Like It]]'' Sim as Duke Senior and [[George Devine]] as Duke Frederick "endowed the dukes with the properly fabulous touch of fairyland".<ref>"The Old Vic", ''The Times'', 1 November 1932, p. 12</ref> In ''[[The Observer]]'', [[Ivor Brown]] wrote that Sim's Claudius in ''[[Hamlet]]'' had "a sly roguishness that was immensely alive."<ref>Brown, Ivor. "Hamlet", ''The Observer'', 24 April 1932, p. 15</ref> During the Old Vic season, Sim married his former pupil, [[Naomi Sim|Naomi Plaskitt]], on 2 August 1932. They had one daughter, Merlith Naomi.<ref name=dnb/>

For several months in 1934, Sim was incapacitated by a [[slipped disc]], which was successfully treated by [[osteopathy]]. When he recovered, he made a strong impression on [[West End theatre|West End]] audiences as Ponsonby, a sycophantic bank director in the comedy ''[[Youth at the Helm]]''.<ref name=times/> [[Ivor Brown]] called his performance "a joy … a marvellous mixture of soap and vinegar".<ref>Brown, Ivor. "The Week's Theatres – Youth at the Helm", ''The Observer'', 24 February 1935, p. 5</ref> On the strength of this success Sim was cast in his first film, ''[[The Riverside Murder]]'' (1935), in the role of the earnest but dim Sergeant McKay.<ref name=bfi/> There followed a sequence of films, a mixture of comedies and detective stories, including ''[[Wedding Group]]'' (1936), in which Sim and his wife both appeared, he as a Scottish minister, she as the maid; [[Edgar Wallace]]'s ''[[The Squeaker (1937 film)|The Squeaker]]'' (1937), after a stage production of the same piece; ''[[Alf's Button Afloat]]'' (1938) with the [[Crazy Gang (comedy group)|Crazy Gang]]; also in 1938 he played a revengeful ex-con Soapy Marks in the Associated British Picture film ''[[The Terror (1938 film)|The Terror]]'', and the "[[Inspector Hornleigh]]" series (1939–41), as the bumbling assistant of [[Gordon Harker]].<ref name=dnb/>