Dame Barbara Windsor has died

Sarah

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Sad news that the EastEnders actress has passed away.



Dame Barbara Windsor - best known for her roles as Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders and in the Carry On films - has died aged 83.

She passed away peacefully at 8.35pm on Thursday at a London care home with her husband Scott Mitchell by her side.

Mr Mitchell said her final weeks were "typical of how she lived her life", being "full of humour, drama and a fighting spirit until the end".
 
Mel O'Drama

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Babs Windsor: the daring, giggling pearly queen of the screen​



[A]lthough this was less remembered than she would have liked, Barbara, before her screen celebrity, had been in the early 1950s a core member of one of the UK’s most significant and influential theatre groups: the Theatre Workshop, established in London’s Stratford East by director Joan Littlewood to create inventive, politically engaged popular theatre...

It is a measure of Windsor’s talent that she was recruited by Littlewood, a tough judge of actors, who valued authenticity and versatility. Windsor featured in three key Theatre Workshop pieces: Lionel Bart’s cockney musical Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’be (1960); the play Sparrers Can’t Sing which became the movie Sparrows Can’t Sing (1960/’63), and the Broadway version of Littlewood’s biggest hit, Oh, What a Lovely War! (1965). Her Tony award nomination for that performance – and Bafta nomination for Sparrows – are a testimony to the seriousness of her craft.
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Angela Channing

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Barbara Belle Of The Ball said:
RIP Barbara Windsor, Was a great ambassador in final years of her life for promtiing Awareness of Dementia/Alzheimers
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It's sad when a public figure who is loved by so many dies. I'm of an age that I grew up in an era when Carry On films were constantly on the TV so I always had some affection for her and was sorry to hear about her passing.

To some extent I agree with your assessment of her acting. She was able to display some competent acting skills in the early career such as in the film Sparrows Can't Sing , which earned her a BAFTA nomination, so even the industry recognised her abilities as an actress. However in the latter part of her career I considered her to be more of a great personality that acted than a great actress but then roles in the Carry On films, EastEnders and the Jackpot Joy Bingo adverts didn't require her to be anything more than adequate.
 
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Rove

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Angela Christmas said:
I'm of an age that I grew up in an era when Carry On films were constantly on the TV
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Here in Australia the Carry On films make an annual appearance. If I manage to catch one I sit down and laugh and laugh. This was my first introduction to Barbara Windsor. I then caught up with her on Eastenders when I subscribed for a number of years to Foxtel, an Australian satellite service. Dame Barbara was brilliant in this as well.

Thoughts are with her family and friends.
 
Mel O'Drama

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Tonight I watched Babs on BBC1.

I missed it the first time round (possibly deliberately. I'm never quite sure how to feel about biopics of people whose work I know and like). I thoroughly enjoyed it. Really nicely done. I loved the stagey interactions between various eras, with the whole production capturing that feeling of a confusing and nostalgic dream where chronology is fluid and eras interact against all the rules of time. I thought it was tasteful too, skirting round some of the more salacious stuff (which I suppose was already partially covered in Cor, Blimey! and the play on which that was based).

Both actresses playing adult Babs were great but as in Cor, Blimey! I was blown away by Samantha Spiro. I don't believe I've ever seen anyone portray a real person so truthfully and completely. As far as I know, playing Barbara is the only role in which I've seen Samantha which feels a bit criminal since it's clear she's a damned good actress.

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James from London

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Mel O'Kalikimaka said:
she's a damned good actress.
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Yeah, Sam's brilliant, and one of the warmest, loveliest people.

I was lucky enough to meet Barbara Windsor once and she was exactly how you'd hope she'd be.

"one of my treasured memories is of the sound of Windsor’s hearty gurgle at seeing herself impersonated by Samantha Spiro on a National Theatre stage."
www.theguardian.com

Barbara Windsor: a priceless and mischievous stage sensation

The late actor took on Brecht, Falstaff and panto and will be remembered for her collaborations with Joan Littlewood
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

I love this song:


I like to think there's a direct link between 'Sparrows' and Peggy Mitchell describing herself "a little old bird that's fallen out of its nest" in her final Enders ep. She gave a beautiful performance.


I think the word underrated is overused, but she really was.
 
Mel O'Drama

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Treeviewer said:
Looks like death isn't slowing her down any, though.
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Oh yuck. The Carry On team were exploited: first by being treated like muck and paid peanuts by Peter Rogers; then being left with no kind of royalty for the numerous TV screenings, home media releases, clip shows, books and spin offs. But the one bit of power they had in the situation was a choice as to whether or not they appeared in those vehicles and spoke the lines on the page.

I find this holographic fad with dead actors a bit icky. Barbara may have liked it, who knows. But many of the team were very private people. I doubt Joan Sims would have cared for it. And Kenneth Williams would have hated the idea of his likeness being manipulated in this way*.

It's interesting that Brian Baker has made this statement now. A lot of what's in the article is old news and was floating around last year. The fact that the only name he's quoted as mentioning is Barbara's suggests that someone, somewhere sees her death as a timely piece of publicity for the new, improved, politically correct Carry Ons that are in the works.



*Mind you, he'd also have hated his extremely personal diaries and letters being published, and that hasn't stopped me buying and reading them, so perhaps I haven't much room to speak since I've done my bit to enable the exploitation.
 
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