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Windsor, Barbara (1937-)
 

Actor

Main image of Windsor, Barbara (1937-)

A comedy actress with a cheeky smile and blonde beehive hairdo, in the Diana Dors tradition, but more comic caricature than sex symbol, whose film roles had names like Goldie Locks, and Miss Hope Springs.

Whilst at the Aida Foster Stage School, Barbara Windsor (real name Deeks) appeared on stage in the West End chorus of Love From Judy, and later worked as film extra, singer in West End nightclubs, and scantily-clad film magazine pin-up of the late 1950s.

Her break came in the East End musical Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be (1959) and Joan Littlewood's play and 1963 film Sparrows Can't Sing (British Academy Award nomination as Best British Actress).

She appeared in nine Carry On films, mainly as the comic foil for Sid James, famously managing to lose her bikini top in Carry on Camping (d. Gerald Thomas, 1969).

With a history of colourful relationships, she latterly brought credibility to the role of pub landlady in the soap EastEnders (1994-), a role which extended her career.

Autobiography: All Of Me: My Extraordinary Life (2000).

Roger Phillip Mellor, Encyclopedia of British Cinema

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FILM & TV CREDITS

From the BFI's filmographic database

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Selected credits

Thumbnail image of Carry On Camping (1969)Carry On Camping (1969)

Comedy in which various deluded people go on a camping holiday

Thumbnail image of Carry On Doctor (1968)Carry On Doctor (1968)

Frankie Howerd joins the team on its second tour of the wards

Thumbnail image of Carry On Spying (1964)Carry On Spying (1964)

The Carry On team take on James Bond in this frenetic spy spoof

Thumbnail image of Comrades (1986)Comrades (1986)

Bill Douglas' epic portrayal of the lives of the Tolpuddle Martyrs

Thumbnail image of Crooks in Cloisters (1964)Crooks in Cloisters (1964)

Light-hearted comedy in which a gang of thieves pose as monks

Thumbnail image of Sparrows Can't Sing (1962)Sparrows Can't Sing (1962)

Lively slice of East End life starring a pre-Carry On Barbara Windsor

Thumbnail image of EastEnders (1985- )EastEnders (1985- )

The BBC's most successful soap - a serious rival to Coronation Street

Related collections

Thumbnail image of The Carry On LegacyThe Carry On Legacy

An analysis of what kept Carry On carrying on

Related people and organisations

Thumbnail image of James, Sidney (1913-1976)James, Sidney (1913-1976)

Actor