Editing Sylvia Syms

{{Short description|British actress (1934–2023)}}
{{About|the English actress|the American singer|Sylvia Syms (singer)}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Sylvia Syms
| honorific_suffix   = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}}
| image              = Sylvia Syms.png
| caption            = Syms as Sister Diana Murdoch in ''[[Ice Cold in Alex]]'', c. 1958
| birth_name         = Sylvia May Laura Syms<ref>[http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/909797884 Syms profile at company-director-check.co.uk] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130420081827/http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/909797884 |date=20 April 2013 }}. Retrieved 15 September 2012.</ref>
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1934|1|6|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Woolwich]], [[London]], England
| death_date         = {{death date and age|df=yes|2023|1|27|1934|1|6}}
| death_place        = [[Northwood, London|Northwood]], London, England
| education          = [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]]
| occupation         = Actress
| years_active       = 1955–2019
| spouse             = {{marriage|Alan Edney|1956|1989|end=div}}
| children           = 2, including [[Beatie Edney|Beatie]]
| relatives          = [[Nick Webb (musician)|Nick Webb]] (nephew) <br />[[Alex Webb (musician)|Alex Webb]] (nephew)
| website            = http://www.sylviasyms.co.uk
}}
'''Sylvia May Laura Syms'''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=xpZecHy5KHBnHTdFcq53Xg&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=17 April 2011|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}</ref> (6 January 1934 – 27 January 2023) was an English stage and screen actress. Her best-known film roles include ''[[My Teenage Daughter]]'' (1956), ''[[Woman in a Dressing Gown]]'' (1957), for which she was nominated for a [[BAFTA Award]], ''[[Ice Cold in Alex]]'' (1958), ''[[No Trees in the Street]]'' (1959), ''[[Victim (1961 film)|Victim]]'' (1961) and ''[[The Tamarind Seed]]'' (1974).

Known as the "Grand Dame of British Cinema", Syms was a major player in films from the mid-1950s until mid-1960s, usually in stiff-upper-lip English pictures, as opposed to [[kitchen sink realism]] dramas, before becoming more of a supporting actress in both film and television roles. On television, she was known for her recurring role as dressmaker [[Olive Woodhouse]] on the [[BBC One|BBC]] [[soap opera]] ''[[EastEnders]]''. She was also a notable theatre player.<ref name="Bergan" />

Syms portrayed [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother]] in the 2006 biopic ''[[The Queen (2006 film)|The Queen]]''.

==Early life and education==
Syms was born in [[Woolwich]], London, England, in 1934, the daughter of Daisy (''née'' Hale) and Edwin Syms, a trade unionist and civil servant.<ref name = Bergan>{{cite news|url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/27/sylvia-syms-obituary|title = Sylvia Syms obituary|last = Bergan|first = Ronald|authorlink = Ronald Bergan|newspaper = [[The Guardian]]|date = 27 January 2023|accessdate = 27 January 2023}}</ref> With the outbreak of [[World War II]], Syms was [[Evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II|evacuated]] to [[Kent]] and subsequently [[Monmouthshire]].<ref name="bbcobit">{{cite news |title=Sylvia Syms: Veteran British actress dies at 89 |publisher=BBC News |date=27 January 2023 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-64426891 |access-date=29 January 2023}}</ref> She grew up in [[Well Hall]], [[Eltham]].<ref name="LonGaz">"Well Hall" entry of ''London Gazetteer'' by Russ Willey, ([[Chambers Harrap|Chambers]] 2006) {{ISBN|0-550-10326-0}} (online extract [http://hidden-london.com/gazetteer/well-hall/])</ref>

When Syms was 12, her mother died from a brain tumour. At 16, she suffered a nervous breakdown and contemplated taking her own life until an intervention from her stepmother.<ref name="bbcobit" /> Syms was educated at [[convent school]]s before deciding to become an actress and attending the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]], graduating in 1954. She later served on RADA's council.

Syms's career began in repertory theatre in Eastbourne and Bath.<ref name = Times>{{cite news|url = https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/sylvia-syms-british-actress-dies-aged-89-mh57xqfj0|title = Sylvia Syms, British actress, dies aged 89|date = 27 January 2023|access-date = 27 January 2023|newspaper = [[The Times]]|url-access = subscription}}</ref> She made her West End debut in ''[[The Apple Cart]]'' with [[Noël Coward]].

==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.

==Later career==
Other comedies followed, such as ''[[The Big Job (film)|The Big Job]]'' (1965), but it was for drama that she won acclaim, including ''The Tamarind Seed'' (1974) with [[Julie Andrews]] and [[Omar Sharif]], for which she was nominated for a [[BAFTA|British Film Academy award]].

In 1970, Syms changed direction playing [[Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing)|Beatrice]] opposite [[Julian Glover]]'s Benedick in a production of [[William Shakespeare]]'s [[Much Ado About Nothing]].<ref>{{cite web|url = https://bbashakespeare.warwick.ac.uk/productions/much-ado-about-nothing-1970-prospect-theatre-company/|title = Much Ado About Nothing (1970)|website = [[University of Warwick]]|accessdate = 29 August 2023}}</ref> The [[Prospect Theatre Company]] production, directed by [[Tony Richardson]], was first presented at the [[Edinburgh International Festival]] and subsequently toured the [[United Kingdom]].

Syms featured in the husband-and-wife TV comedy ''My Good Woman'' from 1972 to 1974<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/my_good_woman/|title = My Good Woman|website = [[British Comedy Guide]]|accessdate = 30 January 2023}}</ref> and on the weekly BBC programme ''Movie Quiz'' as one of two team captains.

In 1975, Syms headed the jury at the [[25th Berlin International Film Festival]].<ref name="berlinale">{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1975/04_jury_1975/04_Jury_1975.html|title=Berlinale 1975: Juries|access-date=5 July 2010|work=berlinale.de}}</ref>

In 1989, Syms guest-starred in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story ''[[Ghost Light (Doctor Who)|Ghost Light]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-guide/ghost-light/ | title= Ghost Light ★★★ | work=Radio Times | first=Patrick | last=Mulkern | access-date=30 April 2023}}</ref> Shortly after [[Premiership of Margaret Thatcher#Fall from power|the end of]] [[British Prime Minister]] [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s term in office in 1990, Syms portrayed her in ''[[Thatcher: The Final Days]]'' (1991),<ref name="Grdn"/> a [[ITV Granada|Granada]] television film for [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]], which dramatises the events surrounding Thatcher's removal from power, a role she recreated for the stage.<ref name = Bergan/> From 2000 to 2003, she played Marion Riley in the ITV comedy-drama ''[[At Home with the Braithwaites]]''. She also featured in the serial ''[[The Jury (TV serial)|The Jury]]'' (2002) and in the same year contributed ''[[Sonnet 142]]'' to the compilation album ''[[When Love Speaks]]''.<ref name="Bergan" />

For [[Stephen Frears]]'s biopic ''The Queen'' (2006), Syms was cast as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.<ref name = Bergan/> She also appeared in ''[[The Poseidon Adventure (2005 film)|The Poseidon Adventure]]'' (2005), an American TV film that was a loose remake of [[The Poseidon Adventure (1972 film)|the 1972 feature film]]. Syms also took up producing and directing.

In 2009, Syms appeared in the film ''[[Is Anybody There?]]'' alongside [[Michael Caine]] and [[Anne-Marie Duff]].

In 2009, she featured in the ITV drama series ''[[Collision (TV series)|Collision]]''. In 2010, she guest-starred as a patient in BBC One's drama series ''[[Casualty (TV series)|Casualty]]'', having played a different character in an episode in 2007. Syms also appeared as another character in ''Casualty''{{'}}s sister series ''[[Holby City]]'' in 2003. From 2007 to 2010, she had a recurring role in [[BBC One]]'s ''EastEnders'', playing dressmaker Olive Woodhouse.<ref name = Bergan/> In 2010, Syms took part in the [[BBC]]'s ''The Young Ones'', a series in which six celebrities in their seventies and eighties attempt to overcome some of the problems of ageing by harking back to the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tq4d3|title=BBC One – The Young Ones|publisher=BBC|date=22 December 2010|access-date=13 June 2012}}</ref> From 2013 to 2019, Syms was the narrator of ''[[Talking Pictures (TV series)|Talking Pictures]]'', which aired on [[BBC Two]].<ref name = Bergan/>

Syms had numerous theatre roles, including in productions of ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' and ''Antony and Cleopatra''.<ref name="Bergan" />

==Personal life==
From 9 June 1956 to 1989, Syms was married to Alan Edney, whom she had dated since she was a teenager.<ref name="Bergan" /> In 1961 they lost a baby daughter, Jessica.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/789140479/?terms=%22alan%20edney%22&match=1|newspaper=Daily Herald|date=28 April 1961|page= 1|title=Sylvia Syms Baby Ill}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/789291260/?terms=%22alan%20edney%22&match=1|title=Sylvia Syms Told Baby Is Dead|newspaper=Daily Herald|date=29 April 1961|page=5}}</ref> Later that year Syms and her husband adopted a son, Benjamin Mark.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/789294540/?terms=%22alan%20edney%22&match=1|title=At last... you're mine|newspaper=Daily Herald|date=26 September 1961|page=1}}</ref> In October 1962 she gave birth to a daughter, [[Beatie Edney]] who is also an actress.<ref name = Times/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/789127195/?terms=%22alan%20edney%22&match=1|title=Sylvia and her dream baby|newspaper=Daily Herald|date=27 October 1962|page= 3}}</ref> Syms and her husband divorced in 1989 when she discovered he had a mistress for several years and that they shared a two-year-old daughter.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/751389305/?terms=%22alan%20edney%22&match=1|title=Style of a 'good fat 14'|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=21 October 1989|page= 38}}</ref>

She was the aunt of musicians [[Nick Webb (musician)|Nick]] and [[Alex Webb (musician)|Alex Webb]].

Her sister Joan married Norman Webb, the Cambridge-educated statistician who invented the Television Audience Measurement system, and was later a chief executive of [[Gallup, Inc.|Gallup]].<ref>''The Stage'' Thursday 17 April 2003, page 13</ref>

Syms was a longtime supporter of the Stars Foundation for Cerebral Palsy, serving on its board as an officer for 16 years until 2020, with singer [[Vera Lynn]].{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

In the last year of her life, Syms lived at [[Denville Hall]], a retirement home for actors in London. She died there on 27 January 2023, three weeks after her 89th birthday.<ref name="Grdn">{{cite news |last1=Pulver |first1=Andrew |title=Sylvia Syms, prolific British actor, dies aged 89 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jan/27/sylvia-syms-prolific-british-actor-dies-aged-89 |access-date=28 January 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=27 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = https://news.sky.com/story/sylvia-syms-ice-cold-in-alex-star-dies-at-the-age-of-89-12796814|title = Sylvia Syms: Ice Cold in Alex star dies at the age of 89|work = [[Sky News]]|date = 27 January 2023|accessdate = 27 January 2023}}</ref>

==Legacy==
In the words of ''Filmink'' magazine:
<blockquote>I don’t think any actress in English speaking cinema of this era had such a variety of love interests as Sylvia Syms. It helped that she was beautiful, of course ... that she could act: it's hard to think of a bad Sylvia Syms performance – sometimes she was miscast, but never bad. She always brought a level of intelligence to her roles along with a sense of fun. And she was highly adept playing "smouldering hot lava of emotion and sensuality under an outwardly straight-laced and sensible facade" that made her – and this is meant with nothing but the greatest respect to the recently departed – sexy as hell.<ref name="filmink">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/the-surprisingly-saucy-cinema-of-sylvia-syms/|title=The Surprisingly Saucy Cinema of Sylvia Syms|date=22 February 2023|access-date=23 February 2023}}</ref></blockquote>

==Filmography==
Source:<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f232a85|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170727162505/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f232a85|url-status = dead|archive-date = 27 July 2017|title = Sylvia Syms|website = [[British Film Institute]]|accessdate = 27 January 2023}}</ref>

===Film===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* 1955 ''The Driving Seat'' as Sylvia Bayton
* 1956 ''[[My Teenage Daughter]]'' as Janet Carr 
* 1957 ''[[The Birthday Present]]'' as Jean Scott <br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[Woman in a Dressing Gown]]'' as Georgie <br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[No Time for Tears (film)|No Time for Tears]]'' as Nurse Margaret Collier
* 1958 ''[[The Moonraker]]'' as Anne Wyndham <br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[Ice Cold in Alex]]'' as Sister Diana Murdoch <br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[Bachelor of Hearts]]'' as Ann Wainwright
* 1959 ''[[No Trees in the Street]]'' as Hetty <br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[Ferry to Hong Kong]]'' as Liz Ferrers <br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[Expresso Bongo]]'' as Maisie King
* 1960 ''[[Conspiracy of Hearts]]'' as Sister Mitya <br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[The World of Suzie Wong (film)|The World of Suzie Wong]]'' as Kay O'Neill
* 1961 ''[[Amazons of Rome]]'' as Clelia <br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[Flame in the Streets]]'' as Kathie Palmer <br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[Victim (1961 film)|Victim]]'' as Laura Farr
* 1962 ''[[The Quare Fellow]]'' as Kathleen
* 1963 ''[[The Punch and Judy Man]]'' as Delia Pinner <br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[The World Ten Times Over]]'' as Billa
* 1964 ''[[East of Sudan]]'' as Miss Woodville
* 1965 ''[[Operation Crossbow (film)|Operation Crossbow]]'' as Flight Officer Constance Babington-Smith<br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[The Big Job (film)|The Big Job]]'' as Myrtle Robbins
* 1966 ''[[Bat Out of Hell (TV series)|Bat Out of Hell]]'' as Diana Stewart
* 1967 ''[[Danger Route]]'' as Barbara Canning
* 1968 ''[[Hostile Witness]]'' as Sheila Larkin <br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[The Fiction Makers]]'' as Amos Klein
* 1969 ''[[Run Wild, Run Free]]'' as Mrs. Ransome <br/>{{spaces|9}}''[[The Desperados]]'' as Laura
* 1971 ''[[Some of My Best Friends Are...]]'' as Sadie 
* 1972 ''[[Asylum (1972 horror film)|Asylum]]'' as Ruth
* 1974 ''[[The Tamarind Seed]]'' as Margaret Stephenson
* 1978 ''[[Give Us Tomorrow]]'' as Wendy Hammond
* 1980 ''[[There Goes the Bride (1980 film)|There Goes the Bride]]'' as Ursula Westerby
* 1986 ''[[Absolute Beginners (film)|Absolute Beginners]]'' as Cynthia Eve 
* 1988 ''[[A Chorus of Disapproval (film)|A Chorus of Disapproval]]'' as Rebecca Huntley-Pike
* 1989 ''[[Shirley Valentine (film)|Shirley Valentine]]'' as Headmistress
* 1992 ''[[Shining Through]]'' as Linda's Mother
* 1993 ''[[Dirty Weekend (1993 film)|Dirty Weekend]]'' as Mrs. Crosby
* 1994 ''[[Staggered (film)|Staggered]]'' as Margaret 
* 1997 ''[[The House of Angelo]]'' as Mrs. Harvey-Brown
* 1998 ''[[Food of Love (1997 film)|Food of Love]]'' as Alice Angelo
* 2002 ''[[Deep Down (film)|Deep Down]]'' as Vera
* 2003 ''[[What a Girl Wants (film)|What a Girl Wants]]'' as Princess Charlotte<br>{{spaces|9}}''[[I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (2003 film)|I'll Sleep When I'm Dead]]'' as Mrs. Bartz
* 2004 ''Mavis and the Mermaid'' as Gioga
* 2006 ''[[The Queen (2006 film)|The Queen]]'' as [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother]]
* 2008 ''[[Is Anybody There?]]'' as Lilian
* 2009 ''[[Bunny and the Bull]]'' as Hotelier
* 2012 ''[[Booked Out]]'' as Mrs. Nicholls <br>{{spaces|9}}''[[Run for Your Wife (2012 film)|Run for Your Wife]]'' as Hospital Patient
* 2018 ''[[Together (2018 film)|Together]]'' as Rosemary
{{div col end}}

===Television===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* 1955 ''[[Life with the Lyons]]'' (13 July 1955)
*1955 ''[[The Romantic Young Lady (TV play)|The Romantic Young Lady]]''
* 1962 ''[[It's a Square World]]'' (11 August 1962)
* 1964 ''[[The Saint (TV series)|The Saint]]'' ("[[List of The Saint episodes#ep2–17|The Noble Sportsman]]") as Lady Anne Yearley
* 1964 ''[[The Saint (TV series)|The Saint]]'' ("[[List of The Saint episodes#ep3–3|Jeannine]]") as Jeannine Roger
* 1965 ''[[Danger Man]]'' ("[[List of Danger Man episodes#ep2–19|It's Up to the Lady]]") as Paula Glover
* 1965 ''[[The Human Jungle (TV series)|The Human Jungle]]'' ("[[The Human Jungle (TV series)#Series two|Success Machine]]") as Margo
* 1965 ''[[The Baron (TV series)|The Baron]]'' ("[[The Baron (TV series)#ep30|Farewell to Yesterday]]") as Cathy Dorne
* 1966 ''Bat out of Hell'' as Diana
* 1968 ''[[The Saint (TV series)|The Saint]]'' ("[[List of The Saint episodes#ep2–17|The Fiction Makers]]") as Amos Klein
* 1968 ''[[The Saint (TV series)|The Saint]]'' (S6, E1, "The Best Laid Schemes") as Arlene
* 1969 ''[[Strange Report]]''
* 1971 ''[[Paul Temple (TV series)|Paul Temple]]''
* 1972 ''[[The Adventurer (TV series)|The Adventurer]]''
* 1972–1974 ''My Good Woman''
* 1982 ''[[Nancy Astor (TV series)|Nancy Astor]]'' as Nanaire Langhorne
* 1982 ''[[It's Your Move (1982 film)|It's Your Move]]'' (TV Short) as The Wife
* 1985 ''[[Miss Marple (TV series)|Miss Marple: A Murder is Announced]]'' as Mrs Easterbrook
* 1989 ''[[Doctor Who]]'' (''[[Ghost Light (Doctor Who)|Ghost Light]]'') as Mrs. Pritchard
* 1991 ''[[Thatcher: The Final Days]]'' as [[Margaret Thatcher]]
* 1991 '' [[Countdown (game show)|Countdown]]'' – guest in Dictionary Corner
* 1993 ''[[Mulberry (TV series)|Mulberry]]'' as Springtime
* 1993–1995 ''[[Peak Practice (TV series)|Peak Practice]]'' as Isabel de Gines
* 1995 ''[[The Glass Virgin]]'' as Lady Constance 
* 1998 ''[[Heartbeat (British TV series)|Heartbeat]]'' ("Where There's a Will") as Peggy Tatton
* 1998 ''Neville's Island'' as Mrs. Champness
* 2000–2003 ''[[At Home with the Braithwaites]]'' as Marion Riley
* 2002 ''[[Doctor Zhivago (miniseries)|Doctor Zhivago]]'' as Madame Fleury
* 2005 ''[[The Poseidon Adventure (2005 film)|The Poseidon Adventure]]'' as Belle Rosen 
* 2006 ''[[Dalziel and Pascoe (TV series)|Dalziel and Pascoe]]'' episode: "[[List of Dalziel and Pascoe episodes#ep42|The Cave Woman]]" as Maisie Barron 
* 2007, 2009, 2010 ''[[EastEnders]]'' as Olive Woodhouse 
* 2008 ''[[New Tricks]]'' ("[[List of New Tricks episodes#ep38|Communal Living]]") as Beatrice
* 2009 ''[[Blue Murder (British TV series)|Blue Murder]]''
* 2009 ''[[Agatha Christie's Marple]]'' ("[[Agatha Christie's Marple#Series 4|Murder Is Easy]]") as Lavinia Enid Pinkerton
* 2010 ''[[Doctors (2000 TV series)|Doctors]]''
* 2011 ''[[Case Histories (TV series)|Case Histories]]''
* 2011 ''[[Rev. (TV series)|Rev.]]'' as Joan
* 2014 ''[[Playhouse Presents]]'' as Alice
* 2019 ''[[Gentleman Jack (TV series)|Gentleman Jack]]'' as Mrs. Rawson<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/gentleman-jack-bbc-casts-sofie-grabol-the-killing-suranne-jones/|title = The Killing star Sofie Grabol joins Suranne Jones in BBC's Gentleman Jack|magazine = [[Radio Times]]|last = Harrison|first = Ellie|date = 20 November 2018|accessdate = 27 January 2023}}</ref>
{{div col end}}

===Theatre===
*1953 ''The Apple Cart'' – with [[Noël Coward]]
*1966 ''Peter Pan''
*1970 ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'' – [[Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing)|Beatrice]]
*1984 ''The Vortex''
*1985 ''Entertaining Mr Sloane'' – with [[Adam Ant]]
*1988 ''Better in My Dreams'' – director
*1991 ''Anthony and Cleopatra''
*1991 ''The Price'' – director
*1992 ''The House of the Stairs''
*1993 ''For Services Rendered''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{official website|http://www.sylviasyms.co.uk/}}
*{{IMDb name|843401|Sylvia Syms}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170727162505/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f232a85 Sylvia Syms] at the [[British Film Institute]]
*{{Screenonline name|id=517020}}
*{{discogs artist|Sylvia Syms (2)}}
*[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/relationships/collections1/parliament-and-the-1960s/royal-film-performance-rehearsal/ Parliament & the Sixties- Sylvia Syms- 1962 – UK Parliament Living Heritage]
* {{NPG name|id=18417}}

{{Berlin International Film Festival jury presidents}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Syms, Sylvia}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:2023 deaths]]
[[Category:Actors from the Royal Borough of Greenwich]]
[[Category:Actresses from London]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]]
[[Category:English film actresses]]
[[Category:English soap opera actresses]]
[[Category:English stage actresses]]
[[Category:English television actresses]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Woolwich]]
[[Category:20th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:21st-century English actresses]]