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Barbara Windsor, the British actress whose acting career spanned seven decades and ranged from cheeky comedies to the soap opera "EastEnders," has died. She was 83.
Windsor's husband, Scott Mitchell, confirmed she died at a care home in London on Thursday from Alzheimer's disease. She had been diagnosed with the form of dementia in 2014.
“Myself, her family and friends will remember Barbara with love, a smile and affection for the many years of her love, fun, friendship and brightness she brought to all our lives and the entertainment she gave to so many thousands of others during her career,” Mitchell said in a statement.
Windsor was born Barbara Ann Deeks in London’s East End in 1937 and changed her name to Windsor for her first film, “The Belles of St. Trinian’s,” in 1954. The name was inspired by the House of Windsor, family of the then-newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II.
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British actress Barbara Windsor waves as she arrives with her husband Scott Mitchell in Downing Street, London, to promote Dementia Care in 2019. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
She began her career on the stage — gaining a Tony Award nomination in 1965 when the anti-war musical “Oh, What a Lovely War!” went to Broadway — before becoming a member of the ensemble cast of the “Carry On” films, a series of cheap and cheerful comedies specializing in slapstick and bawdy jokes. Windsor’s bubbly manner and wicked laugh were an essential part of the “Carry On” formula, and she appeared in nine of the comedies, from “Carry on Spying” in 1964 to “Carry on Dick” in 1974.
The films, crude and dated in many ways, are still screened on television and fondly remembered by millions.
Windsor’s second defining role came as cockney matriarch Peggy Mitchell in “EastEnders” between 1994 and 2016. The character ran the Queen Vic pub, the heart of the fictional London district of Walford. Mitchell was kind-hearted but fearsome, worrying over her wayward sons and bringing rowdy customers into line by bellowing “Get out of my pub!”
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In this Jan. 19, 1971, file photo, British actors Sid James and Barbara Windsor in a scene from the British comedy "Carry On Henry" being filmed at Pinewood Studios, in Iver, England. (AP Photo/Staff/Dear)
Windsor was made a dame, the female equivalent of a knight, by the queen in 2016 for services to entertainment and for her work raising awareness about dementia.
The Alzheimer’s Society said Windsor “was an amazingly true, much-loved national treasure, and in speaking out about her experiences shone like a beacon for others affected by dementia.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Windsor had been “part of all of our lives, part of my life.”
British actress Barbra Windsor, center, meets British Prime Minister Boris Johnson with her husband, Scott Mitchell. Johnson paid tribute to the "EastEnders" star following her death. (Simon Dawson/Pool via AP)
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“And she was one of those people that just cheered you up, and cheered everybody up because she had a kind of irrepressible naughtiness that was totally innocent," he said. “And whenever she went into a room — and she did a lot of good work for charity and looking after lonely and vulnerable people — she lit up people’s faces.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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