Barbara Windsor
Dame Barbara Windsor was an English actress. She was known for her roles in the Carry On films and for playing Peggy Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. She joined the cast of EastEnders in 1994 and won the 1999 British Soap Award for Best Actress, before leaving the show in 2016.
Windsor began her career on stage in 1950 at the age of 13, and made her film debut as a schoolgirl in The Belles of St. Trinian's while studying shipping management at Bow Technical College. She received a BAFTA Award nomination for the film Sparrows Can't Sing, and a Tony Award nomination for the 1964 Broadway production of Oh, What a Lovely War!. In 1972, she starred opposite Vanessa Redgrave in the West End production of The Threepenny Opera.
Between 1964 and 1974, she appeared in nine Carry On films, including Carry On Spying, Carry On Doctor, Carry On Camping, Carry On Henry, and Carry On Abroad. She also co-presented the 1977 Carry On compilation That's Carry On!. Windsor also starred in all four "Carry On Christmas" Thames TV specials, and appeared in both series of the 1975 ATV sitcom "Carry On Laughing". Outside of Carry On, her other film roles included A Study in Terror, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and as the voice of Mallymkun, the Dormouse in Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass.
Windsor was made a Dame in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to charity and entertainment. She was awarded the British Soap Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2010, as well as the Freedom of the City of London in 2010.
Early life
Windsor was born on 6 August 1937 in Shoreditch, London, the only child of John Deeks, a bus driver, and his wife, Rose, a dressmaker. The family lived on Angela Street. Her maternal great-grandmother was the daughter of Irish immigrants who fled to Great Britain from Ireland between 1846 and 1851 in order to escape the Great Famine.In 1939, at the start of World War II, Windsor's father was called up for the war, so Windsor and her mother went to live with her mother's family in Yoakley Road, Stoke Newington, where Windsor attended St Mary's Infants' School in nearby Lordship Road.
Windsor's mother initially refused to let her be evacuated, but conceded after one of Windsor's school friends was killed by a bomb during an air raid. Aged 6, Windsor was evacuated to Blackpool to live with a couple, but they attempted to sexually abuse her. A neighbour heard Windsor's screams and alerted the authorities. The couple were arrested and were found to not be married, but to be brother and sister.
Windsor moved in with a schoolfriend and her parents, although they struggled to cope with her loud behaviour. They sent Windsor to dancing school, which sparked her interest in performing, although one night after a class, Windsor found her friend's father kissing another woman in a bus shelter. Humiliated by this, Windsor was sent back to London in 1944 along with a note from her dance teacher which read: "Barbara is a born show-off who loves to perform."
Impressed by this, Windsor's mother sent her to Madame Behenna's Juvenile Jollities, a drama school at which she appeared in several charity concerts and pantomimes. After the war, she passed her 11-plus exams, gaining the top mark in North London, and earned a scholarship for a place at Our Lady's Catholic High School, Stamford Hill, although she was expelled because she argued with the reverend mother after the latter refused to let Windsor have time off to appear in a pantomime.
Windsor moved to the Aida Foster School, Golders Green, and took elocution lessons. When Windsor's father came to watch a performance, she was ridiculed by the others as her father had begun working as a trolley bus conductor and had come in his uniform. Enraged, Windsor covered the girls in theatrical face powder, throwing more over the chaperone who tried to stop her. Despite this, Windsor was chosen to appear in the chorus of the successful musical Love From Judy in the West End in 1952, which ran for two years. Her stage name of "Windsor" was inspired by the Coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953. By the time she was 16, Windsor's parents divorced, and she was unwillingly made to testify against her father in court. Because custody of her had been awarded to her mother following the divorce, Windsor's father ceased all contact with Windsor, and would ignore her if he saw her in the street for many years afterwards.
Career
Windsor made her film debut as an uncredited extra in 1954 playing a schoolgirl in The Belles of St. Trinians; she followed this with several other uncredited roles until she appeared in Too Hot to Handle with Jayne Mansfield. According to Windsor, Mansfield demanded that she appear at the back of the scene they shared, as she was worried Windsor's blonde hair and large chest would overshadow her own. After this, Windsor made her television debut when Johnny Brandon, with whom Windsor had starred in Love from Judy, asked her to appear in his television series Dreamer's Highway. Windsor later appeared in musical shows Variety Parade, The Jack Jackson Show, and Six-Five Special, regularly singing with bands. She then became a regular cabaret act at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho, and went on to do the same at the Winston's club alongside Danny La Rue and Amanda Barrie.After joining Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, she came to prominence in their 1959 stage production Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be and Littlewood's film Sparrows Can't Sing, achieving a BAFTA nomination for Best British Film Actress. She also appeared in the comedy films Crooks in Cloisters and San Ferry Ann, the thriller film A Study in Terror, the fantasy film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Ken Russell's musical film The Boy Friend, and the TV sitcoms The Rag Trade and Wild, Wild Women.
''Carry On''
Windsor came to prominence with her portrayals of a "good-time girl" in nine Carry On films. Her first was Carry On Spying in 1964 and her final one was Carry On Dick in 1974. She also appeared in several Carry On... television and compilation specials between 1964 and 1977.One of her best known scenes was in Carry On Camping, where her bikini top flew off during outdoor aerobic exercises. In typical Carry On style, exposure is implied, but little is, in fact, seen.
From 1973 to 1975, she appeared with several of the Carry On team in the West End revue Carry On London!.
She was strongly identified with the Carry On films for many years, which restricted the roles she was offered later in her career.
Theatre
Windsor starred on Broadway in the Theatre Workshop's Oh, What a Lovely War! and received a 1965 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She also appeared in several stage productions including Lionel Bart's musical flop Twang!! , The Beggar's Opera, Come Spy with Me with Danny La Rue and in 30 pantomimes between 1950 and 2011.In 1970, she landed the role of music hall legend Marie Lloyd in the musical-biopic Sing A Rude Song. In 1972, she appeared in the West End in Tony Richardson's The Threepenny Opera with Vanessa Redgrave. In 1975, she toured the UK, New Zealand, and South Africa in her own show, Carry On Barbara!, and followed this with the role of Maria in Twelfth Night at the Chichester Festival Theatre.
In 1981, she played sex-mad landlady Kath in Joe Orton's black comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane at the Lyric Hammersmith, directed by her friend Kenneth Williams. She reprised the role for a national tour with the National Theatre in 1993 co-starring John Challis of Only Fools and Horses fame.
''EastEnders''
When EastEnders was launched in 1985, the producers said they would not cast well-known actors. Windsor has said that she would have liked to have been part of the original cast. By 1994, this policy was relaxed, and Windsor accepted an offer to join EastEnders. She took over the role of Peggy Mitchell. Peggy was the widowed mother of established key characters Phil and Grant Mitchell, and younger sister Samantha. For this role, she received the Best Actress award at the 1999 British Soap Awards, and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 British Soap Awards.A debilitating case of the Epstein–Barr virus forced a two-year absence from the role between 2003 and 2005, although Windsor was able to make a two-episode guest appearance in 2004. She rejoined the cast full-time in the summer of 2005. In October 2009, Windsor announced she was to leave her role as Peggy Mitchell, saying she wanted to spend more time with her husband. On 10 September 2010, her character left Albert Square after a fire destroyed the Queen Victoria pub, of which she was the owner.
In July 2013, it was announced that Windsor was to return for one episode, which aired on 20 September 2013. She again returned for a single episode on 25 September 2014, and made a further appearance for EastEnders 30th anniversary on 17 February 2015. In February 2015, Windsor, along with Pam St Clement, took part in EastEnders: Back to Ours to celebrate 30 years of EastEnders. Windsor and St. Clement looked back on some of their characters' most dramatic moments.
In November 2015, Windsor secretly filmed a return to EastEnders, which was shown in January 2016. After this, the character was confirmed to be killed off later in the year. This was Windsor's decision, as she said that she would always be open to a return to the show unless bosses decided to kill the character off. Her last appearance aired on BBC One on 17 May 2016. On 25 January 2022, by which time Windsor had died, an episode aired in which Peggy's son Phil Mitchell hears his mother's voice giving him advice. The scene was made using archived audio from previous episodes.