Edinburgh-born Alastair Sim had a varied career as an actor but is best remembered for his comic parts in British films of the 1950s. Sim made use of his appearance to create a repertoire of mannerisms for the characters he played, as this description of him in Picturegoer magazine of 2 December 1950 implied: “He is prematurely bald. Excellent; most clowns have to buy balding wigs. He has a loose, untidy lipline. Fine; all the better for registering doubt, apprehension. He walks with a gangling, an undulating glide. Splendid; just the thing to raise a laugh immediately he appears.” This photograph shows him as the headmistress, Miss Fritton, in the film ‘The Belles of St Trinian’s’ (1954).