Sondra James

Sondra James (born Sondra Weil; July 21, 1939 – September 12, 2021) was an American actress, voice actress, and sound coordinator who worked across stage, film, and television. She was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1955. James went on to pursue a double major in anthropology and archaeology at City College of New York.

Her acting career began with a role in the 1995 film Mighty Aphrodite. She subsequently worked as a character actor and voice actress across multiple mediums, including a national tour of Funny Girl in 1996. Her Broadway career spanned from 1996 to 2002 and included credits in Funny Girl and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife. James also appeared in the British comedy series Sick of It, created by Karl Pilkington, in which she played the recurring role of Auntie Norma. Pilkington sought an American actress for the part because elderly British actors would have been recognizable to British audiences, which he felt would be distracting. He selected James after seeing a photograph of her.

Alongside her performing career, James founded the loop recording company Speakeasy in the 1990s. The company specializes in audio recording for film and television, and by 2021 had contributed to more than 500 productions. Within Speakeasy, James held roles including loop coordinator, voice casting director, and ADR casting director. She was frequently involved in casting for films by the Coen brothers and also contributed additional voices to a number of the productions the company handled. Despite the success of Speakeasy, James expressed frustration over the difficulty she faced in securing acting work throughout this period.

In 2020, James was among a group of performers who filed a class-action lawsuit against the SAG-AFTRA Health Fund. The suit challenged penalties imposed on performers over the age of 65 as part of a health plan restructuring connected to COVID-19 coverage. James had two sons, Michael and Marc, and at the time of her death had five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She was a fan of the New York Yankees. James died at her home in New York City on September 12, 2021, at the age of 82, from lung cancer, which had been diagnosed five months before her death.