Joan Sims, the Essex-born actress famed for her roles in the Carry On franchise, never married, although she did receive a marriage proposal from her co-star and friend Kenneth Williams. According to the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth, who was gay, suggested a marriage of convenience, but Joan never accepted.
“You and I, we'd make the most wonderful couple. We'd give fabulous parties; we'd be the talk of the town,” he famously told her. Joan died in 2001 at the age of 71.
Two High-Profile Relationships
Before her death, Joan had been in two widely publicised relationships. The first was with actor Tony Baird, known for appearing in A Chance of Thunder, Carry on Spying, Compact, and Crossroads. Tony was already divorced when he began living with Joan, which caused friction with her parents.
“Fingers of shame will be pointing at you… Remove this seducer from your home. God knows how you have persecuted us,” they declared in a scathing letter, via the Los Angeles Times. Despite her parents' protestations, Joan continued the relationship, and they were together for three years.
In her autobiography, Too Happy a Face, the Carry On legend admitted that her continued success and Tony's failings as an actor contributed to the breakdown of their relationship, which she eventually ended herself.
Later Romance and Health Decline
Joan's other high-profile romance was with stage manager John Walters. While the two briefly discussed marriage and children, it wasn't to be, and they split after a couple of years together.
In her final years, Joan, who had struggled with alcoholism and depression, saw a decline in her health. After suffering a fractured rib, spine and hip in separate falls, she experienced an attack of Bell's palsy and underwent a hip replacement.
Joan was also forced to contend with the loss of some of her dearest friends, family members, and colleagues, including her agent, Peter Eade, her best friend and Carry On co-star, Hattie Jacques, and her mother.
Final Years and Legacy
Joan, who died at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, had been renting a small flat off Kensington Square before her death. According to The Independent, she had sold her larger Fulham home after encountering financial problems.
“To me, she was the last of the great Carry Ons,” Barbara Windsor told the BBC. “She was there at the beginning. Her talent was wonderful; she could do any accent or dialect, and she could dance, sing, play dowdy and glam. We laughed all the time and giggled a lot. I will sorely miss her.”
