Barbara Windsor

Barbara Windsor, born Barbara Ann Deeks on 6 August 1937 in Shoreditch, London, was an English actress whose career spanned stage, film, and television across seven decades. She died on 10 December 2020. The only child of John Deeks, a bus driver, and Rose Deeks, a dressmaker, she grew up in London and was evacuated to Blackpool during World War II at the age of six. Her interest in performing was sparked during that period when her host family enrolled her in dancing school. Upon returning to London in 1944, her mother sent her to Madame Behenna's Juvenile Jollities, a drama school where she performed in charity concerts and pantomimes. She later studied at the Aida Foster School in Golders Green and took elocution lessons. Windsor passed her 11-plus exams with the top mark in North London and earned a scholarship to Our Lady's Catholic High School, Stamford Hill, though she was expelled after a dispute with the reverend mother over time off for a pantomime. Her stage name was inspired by the Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953.

Windsor began her stage career in 1950 at the age of thirteen and appeared in the West End musical Love From Judy in 1952, which ran for two years. She made her film debut in 1954 as an uncredited extra playing a schoolgirl in The Belles of St. Trinian's, while studying shipping management at Bow Technical College. She subsequently appeared in a number of uncredited film roles before joining Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, where she came to prominence in the 1959 stage production Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be. Her work with Littlewood led to a role in the 1963 film Sparrows Can't Sing, for which she received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best British Film Actress.

Her Broadway career brought her significant recognition. Originally from London, Windsor appeared on Broadway in 1964 in the Theatre Workshop production of Oh, What a Lovely War!, and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1965. Her stage work extended well beyond Broadway. In 1965 she appeared in Lionel Bart's musical Twang!!, directed by Joan Littlewood. She performed in Come Spy with Me alongside Danny La Rue from 1966 to 1967, and in 1970 took on the role of music hall performer Marie Lloyd in the musical-biopic Sing A Rude Song. In 1972 she appeared in Tony Richardson's West End production of The Threepenny Opera opposite Vanessa Redgrave. From 1973 to 1975 she performed in the West End revue Carry On London!, and in 1975 she toured the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and South Africa in her own show, Carry On Barbara!, followed by the role of Maria in Twelfth Night at the Chichester Festival Theatre. In 1981 she played Kath in Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr Sloane at the Lyric Hammersmith, directed by Kenneth Williams, and reprised the role in a 1993 national tour with the National Theatre co-starring John Challis. Across her career she also appeared in approximately thirty pantomimes between 1950 and 2011.

Windsor became widely recognized for her appearances in the Carry On film series. Between 1964 and 1974 she appeared in nine films in the franchise, beginning with Carry On Spying in 1964 and concluding with Carry On Dick in 1974. Her other Carry On credits included Carry On Doctor in 1967, Carry On Camping in 1969, Carry On Henry in 1971, and Carry On Abroad in 1972. She also starred in all four Carry On Christmas Thames TV specials, appeared in both series of the 1975 ATV sitcom Carry On Laughing, and co-presented the 1977 compilation That's Carry On!. Outside the franchise, her film roles included A Study in Terror in 1965, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 1968, and Ken Russell's The Boy Friend in 1971. She later provided the voice of Mallymkun, the Dormouse, in Alice in Wonderland in 2010 and Alice Through the Looking Glass in 2016.

Windsor joined the cast of the BBC One soap opera EastEnders in 1994, playing Peggy Mitchell, and remained with the show until 2016. She won the British Soap Award for Best Actress in 1999 and received the British Soap Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2010. That same year she was awarded the Freedom of the City of London. In the 2016 New Year Honours she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to charity and entertainment.