Ann Sidney (born 27 March 1944) is a British actress, TV Host and beauty queen who won the 1964 Miss World contest representing the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Early life

Sidney moved to Poole when very young. She went to Martin Road School in

Parkstone Parkstone is an area of Poole, Dorset. It is divided into 'Lower' and 'Upper' Parkstone. Upper Parkstone - "Up-on-'ill" as it used to be known in local parlance - is so-called because it is largely on higher ground slightly to the north of t ...

and then Martin Kemp-Welch secondary school, which later became

St Aldhelm's Academy St Aldhelm's Academy is a co-educational secondary school serving the Rossmore, Parkstone, Newtown, Wallisdown and Alderney areas of Poole, Dorset, England. School history The school opened in October 1938 as Kemp-Welch Senior Council School ...

, leaving school at the age of 15. At first she took an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

in hairdressing, working in salons in Bournemouth, but then decided that she would rather be a model.

Miss World

Sidney became the second woman from her country to win the title, after

Rosemarie Frankland Rosemarie Franklin (1 February 1943 – 2 December 2000) born in Rhosllanerchrugog a village near Wrexham. She was a Welsh actress, model and beauty queen who won Miss World 1961, having previously finished as first runner-up at Miss Universe ...

had won the title in 1961. The pageant was held in London, United Kingdom on 12 November 1964. It was watched on TV by a reported 27.2 million people in the UK alone. During her reign as Miss World, she travelled around the world five times and joined

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...

on his

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

tour of Asia.

Career

After relinquishing the Miss World title, Sidney had many acting roles on TV, including '' The Avengers'' and ''

Are You Being Served? ''Are You Being Served?'' is a British sitcom created and written by executive producer David Croft (Croft also directed some episodes) and Jeremy Lloyd, with contributions from Michael Knowles and John Chapman, for the BBC. Set in London ...

'', and in films, including the spy thriller '' Sebastian'' (1968) with Dirk Bogarde and Susannah York, and the

Donald Cammell Donald Seton Cammell (17 January 1934 – 24 April 1996) was a Scottish painter, screenwriter, and film director. He has a cult reputation largely due to his debut film '' Performance'', which he wrote the screenplay for and co-directed ...

Nicolas Roeg Nicolas Jack Roeg (; 15 August 1928 – 23 November 2018) was an English film director and cinematographer, best known for directing ''Performance'' (1970), '' Walkabout'' (1971), ''Don't Look Now'' (1973), '' The Man Who Fell to Earth'' (1976 ...

film '' Performance'' (1970) with

James Fox William Fox (born 19 May 1939), known professionally as James Fox, is an English actor. He appeared in several notable films of the 1960s and early 1970s, including '' King Rat'', '' The Servant'', ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' and ''Performan ...

and

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

, as well as forming a touring cabaret act. In 1967 she appeared in the long-running West End farce ''

Not Now, Darling ''Not Now, Darling'' is a 1967 farce written by English playwrights John Chapman and Ray Cooney, first staged at the Richmond Theatre, in Richmond, England prior to a long West End run. The production starred Donald Sinden and Bernard Cribb ...

'' opposite

Donald Sinden Sir Donald Alfred Sinden (9 October 1923 – 12 September 2014) was a British actor. 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 (195 ...

and

Bernard Cribbins Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over seven decades. During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Groun ...

. Sidney has appeared in numerous stage musicals such as '' Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'' and as

Maria von Trapp Baroness Maria Augusta von Trapp DHS (; 26 January 1905 – 28 March 1987) was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. She wrote ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers'', which was published in 1949 and was the inspiratio ...

in the ''

Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers'' ...

''. She has also appeared in several Christmas

pantomimes Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

in the UK, such as

Prince Charming Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, includi ...

in ''

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

'' with

Brian Conley Brian Paul Conley (born 7 August 1961) is an English actor, comedian, singer and television presenter. Conley has been the host of ''The Brian Conley Show'', as well as presenting the Royal Variety Performance on eight occasions. In his 40-ye ...

and as Dick in '' Dick Whittington'' with

Les Dawson Leslie Dawson Jr. (2 February 1931 – 10 June 1993) was an English comedian, actor, writer, and presenter, who is best remembered for his deadpan style, curmudgeonly persona and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife. Early life Les Dawson w ...

. She also spent six years as a lead singer at the

MGM Grand Las Vegas The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The MGM Grand is the largest single hotel in the world with 6,852 rooms. It is also the third-largest hotel complex in the world by number of roo ...

. In December 1970, Sidney married actor Rod McLennan and moved to Australia. She featured in several Australian television programs, including the comedy series ''Birds In The Bush'' (1972), the war drama ''

Spyforce ''Spyforce'' is an Australian television series that aired from 1971 to 1973 on Nine Network. The series was based upon the adventures of Australian Military Intelligence operatives in the South West Pacific during World War II. It was produced ...

'' and later co-hosted an Australian version of the game show, ''

The Better Sex ''The Better Sex'' is a television game show in the United States where men competed against women in a "battle of the sexes" format. The Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production ran on ABC from July 18, 1977 to January 13, 1978. The show had two hosts ...

'' (1978).

Personal life

Both before and during her reign as Miss World, Sidney was dating

Bruce Forsyth Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was a British entertainer and presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the ITV series '' Sunday Nig ...

, who at the time was married to Penny Calvert. In December 1970 Sidney married actor Rod McLennan and moved to Australia; The couple divorced in 1972. In 2005 Sidney married her fifth husband, the West End producer Duncan Weldon."When Parkstone was at the centre of the world: Ann Sidney on being crowned Miss World 50 years ago"
He died in 2019.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sidney, Ann Living people 1944 births English female models Miss World 1964 delegates Miss World winners People from Poole English beauty pageant winners 20th-century English women 20th-century English people