Editing Sylvia Syms (section)

==Film career==
Syms appeared in a TV play ''The Romantic Young Lady''. This led to two offers, one to make a film for [[Herbert Wilcox]], ''My Teenage Daughter'', another to sign a long-term contract with Associated British. She accepted both. In ''[[My Teenage Daughter]]'' (1956), Syms played [[Anna Neagle]]'s troubled daughter. The film was successful at the British box office.<ref name = Bergan/>

For Associated British she made ''No Time for Tears'' then appeared in ''The Birthday Present''. Syms had the third lead in ''[[Woman in a Dressing Gown]]'' for director J. Lee Thompson which was very popular. She then made the [[English Civil War]] film, ''[[The Moonraker]]'' and the war film ''[[Ice Cold in Alex]]'', also directed by Thompson. In early 1958 she made a third film for Thompson, ''No Trees in the Street''.<ref name = Bergan/> She announced she would make her first screen comedy ''The Light Blue''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/794475627/?terms=%22alan%20edney%22&match=1|title=I'd rather be an actress than a film star|newspaper=The Citizen|date=26 April 1958|page= 5}}</ref> This became ''[[Bachelor of Hearts]]''. In March 1959 she was voted Variety Club's Film Actress of 1958.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/795204797/?terms=%22alan%20edney%22&match=1|title=New role for Sylvia|newspaper=Illustrated Chronicle|date=30 January 1960|page= 5}}</ref>

In 1959, Syms appeared in the film ''[[Expresso Bongo (film)|Expresso Bongo]]'' as Maisie King, opposite [[Cliff Richard]].<ref name = Bergan/> She played opposite [[Dirk Bogarde]] in the 1961 film ''[[Victim (1961 film)|Victim]]'', as the wife of a barrister who is a closet homosexual. The film is thought to have broadened the debate that led to the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in private in the United Kingdom.<ref name=Greenfield2001>{{citation | last1=Greenfield | first1=Steve | year=2001 | title=Film and the Law | last2=Osborn | first2=Guy | last3=Robson | first3=Peter | publisher=Routledge | isbn=978-1-85941-639-6  | page=118 }}</ref>

Syms made ''Ferry to Hong Kong'', ''The World of Suzie Wong'' and ''Conspiracy of Hearts''. A May 1962 article in ''Variety'' called her the top female star in British films "with little competition, as yet".<ref name="law">{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety-1962-05/page/n88/mode/1up?|access-date=9 August 2024|title=See new Crop of British Femmes Augmenting Ranks of Top Stars|date=2 May 1962|page=89}}</ref>

Syms travelled to Ireland to play opposite [[Patrick McGoohan]] as the wife of a condemned man in ''[[The Quare Fellow]]''.

She played [[Tony Hancock]]'s wife in ''[[The Punch and Judy Man]]''. The film also featured her nephew, [[Nick Webb (musician)|Nick Webb]]. In 1963 she ended her contract with Associated British which by then guaranteed her £10,000 a year but which she felt was too restrictive.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/812220595/?terms=%22alan%20edney%22&match=1|title='Little Miss Prim' Upsets Sylvia Syms|newspaper=Citizen|date=23 March 1964|page=6}}</ref> She appeared in ''[[East of Sudan]]'' (1964). In 1965 she appeared on stage in ''Dual Marriageway'', a comedy by Enid Rudd.