Barbara Windsor

At 83 years old, Barbara Windsor has this physical status:

Barbara Windsor (born Barbara Ann Deeks; 6 August 1937) is an English actress best known for her appearances in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders.

She appeared on EastEnders in 1994 and received the 1999 British Soap Award for Best Actress, before leaving the production in 2016. Windsor began acting in 1950 at the age of 13 and made her film debut as a schoolgirl in The Belles of St Trinian (1954).

She was nominated for the film Sparrows Can't Sing (1963), as well as a Tony Award nomination for Oh, What A Lovely War! (1964).

In 1972, she appeared opposite Vanessa Redgrave in The Threepenny Opera's West End production.

Carry On Wheel (1964), Carry On Doctor (1964), Carry On Patrol (1970), and Carry On Abroad (1972).

She also co-presented the 1977 Carry On compilation That's Carry On! A study in Terror (1965), Chitty Bang Bang (1968), and as the voice of Mallymkun - The Dormouse in Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016). In the 2016 New Year Honours, she was named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to charity and entertainment.

Early life

Windsor was born in Shoreditch, London, in 1937 (her birth was recorded in Stepney), John Deeks, a costermonger, and his mother, Rose (née Ellis), a dressmaker, was born in 1953. The family lived on Angela Street. Mary, one of her maternal great-grandmothers, immigrated Ireland from Ireland to Great Britain between 1846 and 1851 to escape Ireland's Great Famine. Windsor's father was called up for war during World War II in 1939, so Windsor and her mother died in Stoke Newington, where Windsor attended St Mary's Infants' School in nearby Lordship Road. Windsor's mother refused to allow her to evacuate, but later relinquished after one of Windsor's school friends was killed by a bomb during an air raid. Windsor, a six-year-old girl, was evacuated to Blackpool to live with a married couple, but they sexually assaulted her. A neighbor screamed at Windsor's screams and alerted the authorities that the couple had been arrested and found not to be married, but to be brother and sister. Windsor took in a schoolfriend and her parents, but the girls were unable to cope with her boisterous behaviour. Windsor welcomed her daughter's father into dancing school, sparking her interest in performing, but a few nights later, Windsor discovered her friend's father kissing another woman in a bus shelter. Windsor was recalled from London in 1944 with a note from her dance instructor that read: "Barbara is a born show-off who loves to perform."

Impressed by this, Windsor's mother took her to Madame Behenna's Juvenile Jollities, a drama school at which she appeared in many charity performances and pantomimes. She completed her 11-plus exams, gaining the top mark in North London, and was given a scholarship for a place at Our Lady's Convent in Stamford Hill, but she was banned because she refused to allow her to have time off to appear in a pantomime. Rather, Windsor took elocution lessons at Golders Green' Aida Foster School. She was mocked by some as her father had started serving as a trolley bus conductor and had come in his uniform when Windsor's father attended a performance. Windsor enraged, the girls were coated in dramatic face powder, shaming the chaperone who tried to discourage her. Despite this, Windsor was selected to perform in the chorus of Love From Judy, a West End show that lasted for two years. The Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953 inspired "Windsor" on her stage name. Windsor's parents divorced by the time Windsor was 16 years old, and Windsor was unable to defend her father in court. Following her divorce, Windsor's mother was rewarded by her mother, but her father dropped all contact with her and told her not to bother her again if she saw Windsor on the street for many years after.

Personal life

Windsor was married three times and had no children.

Windsor had a one-night stand with East End criminal Reggie Kray before his marriage to Knight, as well as a long friendship with his older brother Charlie Kray. She had a well-known affair with her fellow actress and co-star Sid James, which lasted three years until 1976. Windsor was initially uninterested in James, 24 years old, but later said she felt she would have sex with him and then he'd leave, but James became obsessed with Windsor, becoming so devoted to her that during the Carry On London competition. On a tour, he yelled at Bernard Bress law because he had helped Windsor off the stage, the only reason being that Bress laws had touched Windsor. As he could not bear to be without her, James, who was also married, would give her a dozen red roses with a note containing the words "Love Romeo" and even arranged to see her in Australia at her Carry On Barbara one-woman exhibition, as he could not bear to be without her. In public and to Windsor's families, he would also testify about his love for her, but she had to put it down. James became depressed and began to drink brisk whisky shortly after she was devastated by her heart attack. Kenneth Williams, another of Windsor's Carry On co-stars, accompanied Knight and her on their honeymoon and took his mother and sister with him.

Victor Mature, Anthony Newley, Ronnie Scott, George Best, George Best, and Maurice Gibb, the latter two when she was still married to Ronnie Knight, were among those who dated Gary Crosby in the 1960s. Windsor got engaged to actress Cliff Lawrence in the late 1950s, but he physically beat her. All of Me, Windsor's autobiography revealed that she went to Winston's, the club where she performed, with a black eye and a long memory of Lawrence dragging her down the street by her hair. Windsor ended the marriage and began dating Ronnie Knight later on. Lawrence espionaged her and Knight from telephone boxes, but only after Knight threatened him, he was left alone.

Windsor wrote about her five abortions, three in her twenties and three in her autobiography, the last at the age of 42. Since her parents' divorce, she said she never wanted children as a result of her father's abandonment of her.

Windsor was best friends with fellow actress Anna Karen, who appeared on Carry On Camping and later went on to play Peggy Mitchell's sister Sal Martin in EastEnders for 20 years.

Windsor began a friendship with Amy Winehouse in 2012, and in 2014, the Amy Winehouse Foundation became a supporter of the Amy Winehouse Foundation in Camden Market, and the Winehouse Statue was unveiled in Camden Market.

Windsor was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in April 2014. She chose not to reveal her illness openly, but it was known to her friends and colleagues. Shanda Mitchell, Windsor's wife, announced her illness on May 10, 2018. Mitchell and several of Windsor's former co-stars have confirmed that they would be running the London Marathon in January 2019 to raise money for a dementia charity. Windsor's physical and mental health had been deteriorating, according to Mitchell, and she had moments when she no longer recognized him.

In August 2019, Mitchell and she became ambassadors for the Alzheimer's Society on Windsor's 82nd birthday. Mitchell and Windsor were in a video for the charity on the same day, in which Windsor said, "Unite with me, against dementia." Mitchell outlined the dangers many people face with the disease and advised viewers to sign a letter from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, saying he "urgently must solve these problems." Windsor had been transferred to a care home in London in August 2020, according to BBC News.

Windsor died on December 10, 2020, at the age of 83. The new episode of EastEnders, which was broadcast on December 11, was dedicated to Windsor's memory. The 2017 biopic Babs, which chronicled Windsor's life, was also broadcast, as well as this one. Prince William, Duchess of Cornwall, and her EastEnders co-stars, entertainers, and politicians including Boris Johnson, former Prime Minister David Cameron, Chief of the Opposition Keir Starmer, and others in the entertainment industry, were among those who paid their respects to her.

Windsor's funeral took place on January 8, 2021. At the Golders Green Crematorium, her body was cremated. Anna Karen, Christopher Biggins, Ross Kemp, David Walliams, and Matt Lucas were among others at the service, but numbers were limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The word "The Dame" appeared on Windsor's coffin, as well as "Saucy" (Windsor's catchphrase) and "The Queen Peggy" were replaced by floral decorations on Windsor's coffin. The famous photograph of her in Carry On Camping, which she said "will follow me right to the end," was included in Windsor's funeral program.

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Career

Windsor made her film debut in 1954 as a schoolgirl in The Belles of St. Trinians, just short of being a young extra in the production of a young girl. She appeared in Too Hot to Handle with Jayne Mansfield after doing so in other uncredited roles. Mansfield begged Windsor to appear at the back of the scene, afraid that Windsor's blonde hair and large chest would overshadow her own. Windsor made her television debut after this when Johnny Brandon, with whom Windsor had appeared in Love from Judy, asked her to be in his television series Dreamer's Highway. Windsor also appeared in musical revues, The Jack Jackson Exhibition, and a Six-Five Special, when the singers were live in bands. She then became a regular cabaret act at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho and went on to do the same with Danny La Rue and Amanda Barrie at Winston's Club.

She appeared in T'Be and Littlewood's film Sparrows Can't Sing (1963), receiving a BAFTA nomination for Best British Film Actress after joining Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in Stratford East, where she rose to fame in their stage production Fings Ain't Wot They Didn't Sing (1963). She appeared in Crooks (1964) and San Ferry Ann (1965), the horror film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Ken Russell's musical film The Boy Friend (1971), and the television sitcoms The Rag Trade and Wild, Wild Women.

In nine Carry On films, Windsor came to fame with her portrayals of a "good time girl." Carry On Spying appeared in 1964, her first was Carry On Spying, and Carry On Dick in 1974 was her final one. She appeared in several Carry On... television and compilation specials between 1964 and 1977.

Carry On Camping (1969), where her bikini top flew off during outdoor aerobic exercises, was one of her most well-known scenes. Exposure is implied in Carry On style, but little is, in fact, seen.

She appeared on several of the Carry On crew in the West End revue Carry On London from 1973 to 1975.

She was strongly identified with Carry On films for many years, but the roles she was chosen to play later in her career were limited.

Oh, What a Lovely War! Windsor appeared on Broadway in the Theatre Workshop's Oh, What a Lovely War! and was named Best Featured Actress in a Musical by the Tony Award in 1965. She appeared in several stage productions, including Lionel Bart's musical flop Twang!! (1965) (directed by Joan Littlewood), The Beggar's Opera (1967), Come Spy With Me (1966–67), Danny La Rue and the 30 pantomimes between 1950 and 2011.

Marie Lloyd, a 1970s singer, was hired as a king of music hall legend in the musical-biographical Sing A Rude Song. Vanessa Redgrave and Tony Richardson's The Threepenny Opera appeared in the West End in 1972. Carry On Barbara!, a 1975 tour guide, toured the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and South Africa, as well as South Africa, where she performed Maria in Twelfth Night at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

In Joe Orton's black comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane, directed by her friend Kenneth Williams, she played sex-mad landlady Kath in 1981. In 1993, she co-starred John Challis of Only Fools and Horses fame, and she regained her role for a national tour with the National Theatre.

When EastEnders first appeared in 1985, the producers said they did not cast well-known actors (though Wendy Richard was a rare exception). Windsor has stated that she would have liked to have been a member of the original cast. This policy was reformed by 1994, and Windsor accepted an invitation to join EastEnders. Peggy Mitchell (who was previously a minor character played by Jo Warne in 1991) was her role as Peggy Mitchell (who was then a minor character played by Jo Warne). Peggy was the widowed mother of established main characters Phil and Grant Mitchell, as well as younger sister Samantha. She received the Best Actress award at the 1999 British Soap Awards as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 British Soap Awards for her work in this role.

A debilitating case of the Epstein-Barr virus resulted in a two-year absence from the position between 2003 and 2005, but Windsor was able to attend a two-episode guest appearance in 2004. In the summer of 2005, she rejoined the cast full-time. Windsor revealed in October 2009 that she would rename her Peggy Mitchell because she wanted to spend more time with her husband. After a fire shattered the Queen Victoria bar, of which she was the patron, on September 10, she left Albert Square.

Windsor was confirmed for one episode in July 2013, which aired on September 20, 2013. She made a single appearance on September 25, 2014, and later on February 17, 2015, she made a second appearance for the EastEnders 30th anniversary. Windsor and Pam St Clement (Pat Evans), along with Pamela Smith, participated in EastEnders: Back to Ours in February 2015 to celebrate 30 years of EastEnders. Windsor and St. Clement revisited some of their characters' most memorable moments.

Windsor filmed a return to EastEnders in November 2015, which was not seen in January 2016. The character was confirmed to be killed off later this year. Windsor's decision was informed when she said she said that if bosses decided to kill the character off, she would always be open to a return to the show. On May 17, 2016, she made her last appearance on BBC One. Peggy's son Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) has been dying since January 2022, by which time Windsor had died, an episode aired in which Peggy's son Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) hears his mother's voice telling him advice on Monday. The scene was made from archived audio from previous episodes.

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