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Barbara Ann Deeks MBE (born 6 August, 1937 in Shoreditch, London) is an English actress known as Barbara Windsor. She is sometimes known as Babs Windsor, and is best known for her part in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in BBC soap opera EastEnders, and is now known as something of a 'national institution'.

Early career

The only child of a costermonger and dressmaker, John and Rose Deeks, Barbara Windsor passed the 11 plus exam with a high mark, and her mother paid for her to have elocution lessons. Her first film appearance was in The Belles of St Trinian's in 1954, and she then later came to prominence in Sparrows Can't Sing in 1963, achieving a BAFTA nomination for Best British Film Actress. She also appeared in the sitcoms The Rag Trade and Wild, Wild Women.

Carry On films

However, Windsor came to real prominence with her portrayals of a good time girl in nine Carry On films and several TV specials between 1964 and 1978. Her first Carry On film was Carry On Spying and the last one Carry On Dick. She refused to take part in any more "because she thought they had gone beyond the innocent sauciness which initially drew her to the series". Her most famous piece was in Carry On Camping in a scene during which she was doing outdoor aerobic exercises and her bikini top flew off.

She also starred on Broadway in the play Oh! What a Lovely War and received a 1968 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Barbara Windsor was the recipient of the inaugural Rear of the Year title in 1976.

EastEnders

After a gradual fall from the top, which also saw her first husband, Ronnie Knight, flee to Spain on bank robbery charges, she considered quitting acting. Windsor once claimed that her biggest professional regret was that they only wanted unknown faces in TV's EastEnders Hibbin, Sally and Nina Hibbin. What a Carry On: The Official Story of the Carry On Film series, Hamlyn, 1988. ISBN 0-600-55819-3 p 43. However in 1994, Windsor was offered the role of Peggy Mitchell in the that series. This role saw her return to the limelight where she has remained since.

Recent years

In 1999, she released a duet with Mike Reid called The More I See You. This reached #44 in the UK Singles Charts. In 2000, she was awarded an MBE in the 2000 Queen's New Year's Honours List

After a debilitating case of the Epstein-Barr virus saw her take a two year long absence from EastEnders from 2003 to 2005, with just a brief return for two episodes in 2004, she rejoined the cast on a full-time basis in the summer of 2005 and signed a one year contract. She appeared briefly in the Doctor Who episode Army of Ghosts as Peggy Mitchell in a fictional episode of EastEnders.

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 eleven generations to John Golding, the great-great-grandfather of the famous painter John Constable, making him Windsor's fourth cousin six times removed.

Personal life

Barbara Windsor has married three times.

1. Ronnie Knight (married 2 March 1964, divorced January 1985)
2. Stephen Hollings (married 12 April 1986, divorced 1995)
3. Scott Mitchell (married 8 April 2000)

During her first marriage, she had an affair with her Carry On co-star, Sid James. She was also romantically linked to the gangster Reggie Kray in the 1960s. In her autobiography, All of Me, Windsor openly talks about her five abortions. The first three of which took place before the age of 21, and the last occurring when she was 42.

Notes

External links

• BBC Profile of Barbara Windsor
• Official Carry On website Profile of Barbara Windsor
• Barbara Windsor on Who Do You Think You Are?

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