Barbara Windsor MBE
Windsor in 2010
Born	Barbara Ann Windsor (1937-08-06) 6 August 1937 (age 74) Shoreditch, London, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1950–present
Spouse	Ronnie Knight (1964–85) (divorced) Stephen Hollings (1986–95) (divorced) Scott Mitchell (2000–present)

Barbara Ann Deeks, (born 6 August 1937^[1]) better known by her stage name Barbara Windsor, is an English actress. Her best known roles are in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.^[2]

Born in Shoreditch, London in 1937,^[3] Windsor was the only child of John Deeks, a costermonger, and his wife, formerly Rose Ellis, a dressmaker. Windsor is of English and Irish ancestry.^[4] She passed her 11-plus exams with the highest marks in North London, and won a place at Our Lady’s Convent in Stamford Hill. Her mother paid for her to have elocution lessons, and she trained at the Aida Foster School in Golders Green, making her stage debut at 13 and her West End debut in 1952 in the chorus of the musical Love From Judy.

Her first film role was in The Belles of St Trinian's in 1954. She joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, coming to prominence in their stage production Fings Ain't Wot They Used to Be and Littlewood's film Sparrers Can't Sing in 1963, achieving a BAFTA nomination for Best British Film Actress. She also appeared in the 1964 film comedy Crooks in Cloisters, the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and in the sitcoms The Rag Trade and Wild, Wild Women. In 1980, Windsor appeared as "Saucy Nancy" in the second series of Worzel Gummidge.^[5]

[edit] Carry On films

Windsor came to real 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 Carry On... film acting role was in Carry On Dick in 1974. She also appeared in several Carry On... television and compilation specials between 1964 and 1977.

One of her most iconic scenes was in Carry On Camping in 1969, where her bikini top flew off during outdoor aerobic exercises. In classic Carry On style, exposure is implied but nothing is in fact seen.^[6]

From 1973 to 1975 she appeared with several of the Carry On team in the West End revue Carry On London! During this time she had a well-publicised affair with her co-star, Sid James.^[7]

She was strongly identified with the Carry On films for many years which restricted the variety of roles she was chosen to play later.

Theatre career[link]

She also 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 Lionel Bart's musical flop Twang! (directed by Joan Littlewood) and in the musical Come Spy with Me with Danny La Rue.

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 his then wife, 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 in 1993.^{[citation needed]}

She starred as Fairy Bowbells in the pantomime Dick Whittington at the Bristol Hippodrome during Christmas 2010.^[8]

[edit] EastEnders

Windsor once claimed that her biggest professional regret was that they only wanted unknown faces in TV's EastEnders.^[9]

In 1994 Windsor was cast in the series. She took over the role Peggy Mitchell (previously played by Jo Warne in 1991), for which she received the Best Actress award at the British Soap Awards in 1999 and a Lifetime Achievement award from the same source in 2009.^{[citation needed]}

A debilitating case of the Epstein-Barr virus forced a two year absence from EastEnders from 2003 to 2005.^{[citation needed]} During this period she made a two episode appearance in 2004. She rejoined the cast in mid 2005 on a one year contract. The Doctor Who episode "Army of Ghosts" broadcast on 1 July 2006 included a specially recorded clip from a fictional episode of EastEnders featuring her appearing in character.

In October 2009 Windsor announced she was to quit her role as Peggy Mitchell, saying she wanted to spend more time with her husband.^[10] On 10 September 2010 her character left Albert Square after a fire at the Queen Victoria pub, of which she was the owner. ^[11]

Recent years[link]

Although Windsor recorded the single "Don't Dig Twiggy"/"Swinging London" (arranged by Mark Wirtz in 1967, it wasn't until 1999 that she made her UK Chart debut with fellow EastEnders cast member Mike Reid with "The More I See You", which reached number 44. In 2000, she was made an MBE in the Millennium Honours List, was inducted into the first BBC Hall of Fame and had a waxwork of her unveiled at Madame Tussauds. She also published her autobiography, All of Me.^{[citation needed]}

Windsor examined her family tree in the first episode of the third series of the documentary series Who Do You Think You Are?, which aired on 6 September 2006, in which she traced her family tree back 11 generations to John Golding, the great-great-grandfather of the painter John Constable, making him Windsor's fourth cousin six times removed.^[12]

Windsor provided the voice of the Dormouse in Walt Disney's 2010 live action adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton. The cast of the film also included Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway.^[13][14]

Windsor will be appearing in the pantomime Dick Whittington at the Bristol Hippodrome over the Christmas/New Year period of 2010/2011.^[15]

On 8 September 2010 it was announced that Windsor will be fronting a TV campaign for online bingo site Jackpotjoy.^[16]

On 9 October 2010 Windsor appeared on Piers Morgan's Life Stories^[17] and revealed she has become teetotal to help Mitchell with his "terrible alcohol problem".^[18]

In November 2010 she was awarded a top variety gong for her contribution to showbusiness.^[19]

In January 2011 she appeared as herself in series 1, episode 4 of BBC comedy series Come Fly With Me, where she was insulted by the character Moses played by David Walliams.

Since 2011 she has occasionally stood in for Elaine Paige on her BBC Radio 2 show on Sunday afternoons between 1.00pm and 3.00pm.

Relationships and personal life[link]

Windsor has married three times:

1. Ronnie Knight (married 2 March 1964,^[20] divorced January 1985)
2. Stephen Hollings (married 12 April 1986 in Jamaica,^[21] divorced 1995)
3. Scott Mitchell (married 8 April 2000^[22])

During the 1960s, she also had a brief relationship with footballer George Best.^[23]

She had a well publicised affair with Sid James.^[23]

In her autobiography, All of Me, Windsor talks about her five abortions, the first three of which took place before the age of 21, the last when she was 42. She has said that she never wanted children as a result of her father rejecting her.^[24]

She was a real-life landlady when she ran a pub called the Plough at Winchmore Hill, Buckinghamshire with her second husband, Stephen Hollings.^[2]

Over the years Windsor has made her home in a variety of locations. Amongst them, Sunday Times photographer Michael Ward's autobiography records her as living in Grand Parade, Harringay, in the early 1960s.^[25]

In August 2010, Windsor was given the Freedom of the City of London,^[26] and in November 2010, she was honoured by the City of Westminster at a tree planting and plaque ceremony.^[27][28]

Filmography[link]

[edit] Carry On films

Other films[link]

Theatre[link]

Barbara Windsor has been active in the following theatre productions:^[29]

• Cinderella - Golders Green Hippodrome (1950)
• Love From Judy - Saville Theatre and tour (1951-54)
• Many Happy Returns - Watergate Theatre (1955)
• Cabaret performances - Cote d'Azur, Soho (1955)
• Red Riding Hood - Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool (1955/56)
• Singer with Ronnie Scott's band (1956)
• Variety at Winston's nightclub, Mayfair (1957-58)
• Keep Your Hair On - Apollo Theatre (1958)
• The Gimmick - UK Tour (1958)
• Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be - Theatre Royal, Stratford East (1959) and Garrick Theatre (1960-62)
• Oh! What a Lovely War - Broadhurst Theatre, New York (1964)
• Twang! - Palace Theatre, Manchester and Shaftesbury Theatre (1965)
• Come Spy with Me - UK Tour and Whitehall Theatre (1966-67)
• The Beggar's Opera - Worthing (1967)
• The Wind in the Sassafras Trees - Belgrade Theatre, Coventry and tour (1968)
• Sing A Rude Song - Greenwich Theatre and Garrick Theatre (1970)
• Cinderella - Theatre Royal, Norwich (1970/71)
• Cinderella - Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool (1971/72)
• The Threepenny Opera - Prince of Wales Theatre and Piccadilly Theatre (1972)
• The Owl and the Pussycat - UK Tour (1972)
• Cinderella - Odeon Theatre, Golders Green (1972/73)
• Carry On London! - Birmingham Hippodrome (1973) and Victoria Palace Theatre (1973-75)
• Carry On Barbara! and A Merry Whiff of Windsor - Australia, New Zealand, UK and South Africa (1975)
• Aladdin - Richmond Theatre (1975/76)
• Twelfth Night - Chichester Festival Theatre (1976)
• Aladdin - Alhambra Theatre, Bradford (1976/77)
• Aladdin - Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham (1977/78)
• Dick Whittington - Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon (1978/79)
• Calamity Jane - UK Tour (1979)
• Dick Whittington - Richmond Theatre (1979/80)
• Jack and the Beanstalk - Theatre Royal, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1980/81)
• Entertaining Mr Sloane - Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith (1981)
• The Mating Game - Grand Theatre, Blackpool (1981)
• Aladdin - Theatre Royal, Nottingham (1981/82)
• The Mating Game - UK Tour (1982)
• Aladdin - New Theatre, Oxford (1982/83)
• The Mating Game - Floral Hall, Scarborough (1983)
• Aladdin - Chichester Festival Theatre (1983/84)
• The Mating Game - Jersey Opera House (1984)
• Dick Whittington - Orchard Theatre, Dartford (1984/85)
• What a Carry On in Butlins! - Butlins' holiday camps in the UK (1985)
• The Mating Game - Alhambra Theatre, Bradford (1985)
• Aladdin - Theatre Royal, Nottingham (1985/86)
• Dick Whittington - Beck Theatre, Hayes (1986/87)
• Babes in the Wood - London Palladium (1987/88)
• Guys and Dolls - Worthing and tour (1988)
• Babes in the Wood - Churchill Theatre, Bromley (1988/89)
• The Mating Game - Pier Theatre, Bournemouth (1989)
• Cinderella - Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage (1989/90)
• Cinderella - Wimbledon Theatre (1990/91)
• Guys and Dolls - Theatre Royal, Plymouth and tour (1991)
• Aladdin - Derngate Theatre, Northampton (1991/92)
• Wot a Carry On in Blackpool! - North Pier, Blackpool (1992)
• Cinderella - Theatre Royal, Brighton (1992/93)
• Entertaining Mr Sloane - Churchill Theatre, Bromley and tour (1993-94)
• Aladdin - Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage (1993/94)
• Aladdin - The Anvil, Basingstoke (1994/95)
• Cinderella - Orchard Theatre, Dartford (1995/96)
• Dick Whittington - Bristol Hippodrome (2010/11)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Barbara Windsor at the Internet Movie Database
• Barbara Windsor at bbc.co.uk
• Barbara Windsor local research for Who Do You Think You Are at Bures, Suffolk