Sylvia Syms, star of British film and stage, dies at 89

Sylvia Syms, an English actress who found a place in British film history playing the wife of a closeted barrister in “Victim,” a 1961 movie that depicted homosexuality with a degree of compassion at a time when same-sex relationships were criminalized, died Jan. 27 in London. She was 89.

The death, at a retirement home for performers, was announced by her children. No cause was given.