Donald Sinden
12 September 2014 (aged 90)
Actor
1941–2012
Sinden featured in the film Mogambo (1953), and achieved early fame as a Rank Organisation film star in the 1950s in films including The Cruel Sea (1953), Doctor in the House (1954), Simba (1955), Eyewitness (1956) and Doctor at Large (1957). He then became highly regarded as an award-winning Shakespearean and West End theatre actor and television sitcom star, winning the 1977 Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for King Lear, and starring in the sitcoms Two's Company (1975–79) and Never the Twain (1981–91).
Early life[edit]
Sinden was born in St Budeaux, Plymouth, Devon[2] on 9 October 1923, the middle child of chemist Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes (née Fuller). His elder sister Joy became an English teacher at Claverham Community College in Battle, East Sussex, and younger brother Leon (1927–2015) became an actor.[3] They grew up in Ditchling, East Sussex, where their home 'The Limes' doubled as the local chemist's shop.[4] After attending a number of private schools, Donald was sent to Hassocks Primary, and thence to Burgess Hill Secondary School after failing his 11-plus qualifying test.[5]
Career[edit]
Sinden made his first stage appearance at the amateur Brighton Little Theatre (of which he later became president) in 1941, stepping into a part in place of his cousin Frank, who had been called up to war and so was unable to appear. Offered a professional acting part by the Brighton impresario Charles F. Smith, he made his first professional appearance in January 1942, playing Dudley in a production of George and Margaret for the Mobile Entertainments Southern Area company (known as MESA) and in other modern comedies, playing to the armed forces all along the South Coast of England during the Second World War[6] and later trained as an actor for two terms[7] at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.[6]
Rejected for World War II naval service because of asthma, Sinden joined a theatrical company that entertained soldiers, sailors and airmen during the war.[8]
In 1942, in Hove, Sinden befriended Lord Alfred Douglas (known as "Bosie"), who had been Oscar Wilde's lover. He is believed to have been the last surviving person to have known Douglas.[9]
Hollywood[edit]
He starred in the Walt Disney Productions family film The Island at the Top of the World (1974), playing Sir Anthony Ross, which was filmed at Disney's studios in Burbank, California.[41]
Radio[edit]
Sinden's distinctive voice was heard frequently on radio, including as Sir Charles Baskerville in a BBC Radio 4 adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles.[6] He starred in multiple adaptations of John Dickson Carr's Dr. Gideon Fell mysteries, including The House on Gallows Lane, The Hollow Man and Black Spectacles, To Wake the Dead, The Blind Barber and The Mad Hatter Mystery.[41] He also voiced the reader in the BBC radio production of Agatha Christie's The Adventure of the Christmas pudding.
Books[edit]
Sinden wrote two autobiographical volumes: A Touch of the Memoirs (1982) and Laughter in the Second Act (1985), edited the Everyman Book of Theatrical Anecdotes (1987), wrote a book to coincide with his BBC TV series The English Country Church (1988) and a collection of "epitaphs and final utterances" titled The Last Word (1994).[42]
Recognition and honours[edit]
Sinden was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1979 and knighted in 1997.[43] He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 1966 and received the Freedom of the City of London in 1997.[43]
On 12 July 2005, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Leicester[44] and, on 20 July 2011, an honorary Doctor of Arts degree from the University of Kent.[45]
In reply to a question from an audience member during a performance at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre of An Evening with... Sir Donald Sinden, he said he had worked out that, apart from "gaps before the next job started", he had only had a total of five weeks' unemployment between 1942 and 2008.[15]
In 2004, the purpose-built theatre located in the grounds of Homewood School at Tenterden in Kent was named the Sinden Theatre.[46]
Sinden was honorary president of the Garden Suburb Theatre, an amateur theatre group based in Hampstead Garden Suburb where he was resident from 1954 until 1997.[47]
On 9 October 2012, he celebrated his 89th birthday and his retirement after 30 years as the longest-standing president of the Royal Theatrical Fund (founded by Charles Dickens in 1839) with a celebration lunch for 350 guests at the Park Lane Hotel, London; this was compered by Russ Abbott, and the subsequent charity auction was conducted by Jeffrey Archer. Leading the tributes was Jean Kent, who had co-starred with Sinden in Bernard Delfont's 1951 stage production of Froufrou; letters from Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Albert of Monaco were read out, and speeches given by Julian Fellowes, Ray Cooney and Gyles Brandreth.
Sinden received, posthumously, the Gielgud Award for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts at the Guildhall, London, during the 2014 Theatre Awards UK ceremony held on 19 October. The award was collected on his behalf by his son, Marc Sinden.[48][49]
Personal life[edit]
Sinden was married to the actress Diana Mahony from 3 May 1948 until her death from stomach cancer aged 77 on 22 September 2004.[50][51] The couple had two sons: actor Jeremy Sinden (1950-1996) who died of lung cancer, and actor and filmmaker Marc Sinden (born 1954).[1][43] Sinden had four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.[52]
Sinden was colour blind[53] and suffered from asthma, which prevented him from joining the armed forces during the Second World War[54] and suffered from negative buoyancy, meaning that he was unable to float or swim in water, which was discovered while filming The Cruel Sea when the ship was sinking. Co-star Jack Hawkins saved him from drowning in the open-air water-tank at Denham Studios.[54]
According to his second autobiography, while investigating his family genealogy he discovered that the only previous relatives who were also members of the theatrical profession were the Victorian brother and sister act of Bert and Topsy Sinden, who were distant cousins. Topsy achieved "some fame as a 'skirt dancer' and première danseuse at the Empire Theatre of Varieties in Leicester Square."[53]
Death and memorials[edit]
Sinden died at his home in Wittersham on the Isle of Oxney, Kent, on 12 September 2014, aged 90, from prostate cancer diagnosed several years earlier.[55][56] Speaking at his funeral, held on 19 September at St John the Baptist Church, Wittersham, were his grandson Hal Sinden, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Patrick Stewart. The eulogy was read by Lord Archer. An honorary life member and trustee of the Garrick Club in London, which he joined in 1960,[57] Sinden was cremated in a coffin painted in the club's 'salmon and cucumber' colours.[58]
The lights on the marquees of the West End's theatres were dimmed in his honour, in the traditional mark of respect to theatre's most notable contributors, on 12 September 2014.[59]
It was announced that his estate on his death was valued at £2.3 million.[60]
A blue plaque in his memory was attached to his former family home in Hampstead Garden Suburb in 2015[61] and another to his country home in Wittersham, Isle of Oxney, Kent, in 2021.