Barbara Windsor | Image: BBC/PA Media
Actress Barbara Windsor, best known as the buxom, blonde-haired star of Britain’s hit “Carry On” film franchise, has died at the age of 83, her husband said Friday.
Windsor made nine appearances in the innuendo-laden comedy films and later became a mainstay as pub landlady Peggy Mitchell in the popular television soap opera “EastEnders”.
She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014 and campaigned for better care for those suffering from dementia and associated diseases.
Her husband, Scott Mitchell, who was at her side in the London care home when she died, said Windsor’s
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National treasure Dame Barbara Windsor died on Thursday night, aged 83. This was long-expected, but it is still a shock she was indestructible showbiz royalty. As Joan Collins rightly says: Showbusiness has lost a legend.
Her final years were clouded by Alzheimer s disease, which first became apparent in 2014 when she could no longer learn her lines and she d always been what is called in the profession a quick study .
Through sheer persistence, Babs managed to keep playing Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders for a further two years. Once she could no longer perform, she channelled her energy into the Alzheimer s Society. In an open letter to the Government, she wrote: My heart goes out to the many, many people who are really struggling to get the care they so desperately need.
Here are the best quotes from her nearly seven decades in film and TV.
– Peggy Mitchell’s famous catchphrase on EastEnders
“Get outta my pub!”
– On growing old in the film and TV industry
“The beautiful thing is that ageism just doesn’t exist on EastEnders. The show saved me.”
Dame Barbara Windsor on the set of EastEnders (Jack Barnes/BBC/PA)
– On the 1963 premiere of the film Sparrows Can’t Sing which earned her a Bafta nomination
“There were thousands of people lining the Mile End Road, cheering and waving flags. Evidently Ronnie and Reggie (Kray) had turned them all out of their houses, saying: ‘Let’s welcome our little lady. Let’s show royalty how we are. ”
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