FSM Board: Barbara Windsor R.I.P. [Belated] (2024)

Windsor’s passing came during, and was duly noted in, the “Carry On” thread that was active on the board in late 2020, but I thought I’d chronicle her career in more depth here.

Barbara Windsor and Thomas Baptiste in FLAME IN THE STREETS

Roy Ward Baker directed the 1961 film. Philip Green’s score has not had a release. FLAME IN THE STREETS opened in New York City in September 1962. Although filmed and released in the UK in Eastman Color, U.S. theatrical release prints were in black-and-white. Worse, its controversial subject matter kept it from playing in all but the largest cities, and it flamed out after grossing less than $150,000 in the U.S.

Barbara Windsor had a small role as “Mavis” in the film. Cyril Frankel directed the 1961 release, which has an unreleased score by Malcolm Arnold.

In 1965, at the height of the James Bond craze, American International Pictures acquired the film for release in the U.S. Retitled OPERATION SNAFU, the title, as well as the advertising campaign, downplayed the comedic aspects of the movie, and by highlighting Sean Connery's appearance (he was originally second-billed), suggested it was an espionage thriller in the tradition of the James Bond movies that were then breaking box-office records worldwide.

Barbara Windsor was brought in as a replacement for Liz Fraser after director Gerald Thomas and producer Peter Rogers spotted her walking through the studio dining room. They were also aware of her success on the 1961-63 British television series “The Rag Trade.”

On her first day of shooting, Barbara Windsor asked friend and co-star Bernard Cribbins if there was anyone she should beware of in the cast. He said “Oh yeah. Mr. Kenny Williams. He doesn't like anybody new on the show.” As it happened, Windsor’s first scene was with Williams, of whom she admitted to being a huge fan. Williams, playing a spy, was wearing an absurd false beard, and when Windsor fluffed her first line, he flared his nostrils and said, “Oh duckie, do get it right.” She knew he hated Fenella Fielding (who had appeared in 1961’s CARRY ON REGARDLESS), so she said to him, 'Ere you, don't you have a go at me with Fenella Fielding's minge hair round yer chops. I won't stand for it.” And Williams said, “Oww! Ain't she lovely?” They became the best of friends thereafter, Williams even accompanying Windsor on her honeymoon (“Well, you've been having it off with this chap forever, you can hardly call it a 'oneymoon.”) after she married Ronnie Knight in 1964.

Barbara Windsor in CARRY ON SPYING

Barbara Windsor recalled that while filming a scene on a conveyor belt, Charles Hawtrey passed out. She thought it was due to fright, but it turned out that he was drunk. A unit nurse innocently asked if anyone had tried giving him a tip of brandy, to which Kenneth Williams scoffed, "That's the last thing he needs, dear".

Gerald Thomas directed the 1964 film, the final film in the "Carry On" series to be shot in black and white. Eric Rogers scored the film. The film opened in the U.S. in 1965.

Barbara Windsor in A STUDY IN TERROR

James Hill directed this 1965 mystery. The film was rather lurid and received an “X” certificate in the UK. John Scott's score was released on LP by both Roulette Records and CAM Records (with somewhat different programs), and was later re-recorded and expanded by Scott for a 2002 CD release.

Columbia Pictures, which released the film in the U.S. in April 1966, came up with a ridiculous advertising campaign that tried to piggyback on the popularity of the "Batman" television show, which had premiered in January of that year. A STUDY IN TERROR cost about $450,000 to produce, and grossed about $700,000 in the U.S.

Jim Dale and Barbara Windsor in CARRY ON DOCTOR

Despite their respective 9th and10th billings, Hattie Jacques and Anita Harris are the two most prominently featured female players in the cast. Barbara Windsor, making only her second appearance in the series, was the highest billed female star but has a somewhat underwritten role, her character serving mainly to further the plot, and she is entirely absent for the final third of the film. Perhaps this was because at the time of filming, Windsor was appearing on stage in "The Beggars' Opera" at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing. She spent ten days travelling to and from Worthing by train, and filming all day at Pinewood.

Gerald Thomas directed, and Eric Rogers scored the film. The film did not get a U.S. release until 1972.

Arthur Mullard and Barbara Windsor in CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG

Kem Hughes directed the 1968 film. The song score by the Sherman brothers was released on a United Artists LP. It was re-issued on CD (with some dialogue) by Rykodisc in 1997. Varese Sarabande dropped the dialogue for their 2004 re-issue. Kritzerland released a two-CD “Very Very Special Special Edition” in 2011with a number of extras. This was re-issued in 2013 by Perseverance.

The $11 million production of CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG was the #16 film at the U.S. box office, with a gross of $20.2 million. The Sherman brothers received an Academy Award nomination for Music (Song – Original for the Picture) for the song “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” They lost to Michel Legrand and Alan & Marilyn Bergman for “The Windmills of Your Mind” from THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR.

Barbara Windsor, Sandra Caron and Anna Karen were cast as schoolgirls, despite all being in their early thirties at the time of filming. As usual, Gerald Thomas directed, and Eric Rogers scored the film.

Barbara Windsor and Kenneth Williams in CARRY ON CAMPING

Barbara Windsor wanted to play the school girl with a public-school accent, but on the first day of filming, in a shower scene when she looks through a knot hole and sees Sid James’ beady eye, she blurts her line out in typical Cockney style. Gerald Thomas immediately said ‘cut and print’ as he considered it good enough to go into the film, but Windsor immediately said "I'll f***ing cut it, I didn't want to play it that way!" The whole set fell about laughing. Thomas didn't want to do another take, so she was stuck with the Cockney accent for the rest of the film.

CARRY ON CAMPING is most famous for the outrageous moment when Barbara Windsor's bikini top flies off in the middle of an outside exercise class. The scene was done with a low tech effect wherein a crew member hooked a fishing line to the top and yanked it off. Windsor revealed in an interview that she was shocked when she first read the script and realized she would be going topless in that scene. Windsor said: "I was so terrified. You weren't allowed to show your boobs. They got the fishing rod and put it there and he (the prop man) had to pull it. Of course, it didn't come off and I went right down into the mud." She said the director Gerald Thomas just yelled "Pick her up. Rub her down. Get the mud off. We have to go again." The next time she accidentally revealed far more of her breasts than intended and there was a furious cry from the director who yelled "You've gone and shown your right tit! The censor won't pass that. We'll have to do it again." Windsor added: "So I did it three times and the third one was perfect. When they took it to the censor, he said, 'Well, I don't think Miss Windsor's right boob is going to corrupt the nation, I'll pass it.' So that's how I got famous for it."

Hattie Jacques, Elizabeth Knight, and Barbara Windsor in CARRY ON CAMPING

CARRY ON CAMPING was the highest grossing film in the United Kingdom in 1969. When American International Pictures released the film in the U.S. in 1971, it received an [R] rating, which hindered its box office performance.

Hattie Jacques, Jim Dale, and Barbara Windsor in CARRY ON AGAIN DOCTOR

Gerald Thomas directed, and Eric Rogers scored the film. The film likely did not receive a U.S. theatrical release.

Sid James and Barbara Windsor in CARRY ON HENRY

Although Barbara Windsor does not appear until 54 minutes into the film, she is said to have considered this to be her favorite Carry On film. Gerald Thomas directed the 1971 film. Eric Rogers provided the score.

When American International Pictures brought the film to the U.S. in 1972, they added “VIII” to the advertised title, so that American audiences would know what “Henry” was being referred to in the title.

In the film, when the leading lady (an unbilled Glenda Jackson) of a low-budget musical revue breaks her ankle, assistant stage manager Polly (Twiggy) is forced to understudy and perform in her place, becoming a star and finding love in the process. The most distinctive addition to the film version of THE BOY FRIEND was Russell’s inclusion of several extravagant numbers, imagined by various cast members and movie director “De Thrill” (Vladek Sheybal) in the style of famed film musical director Busby Berkeley. Barbara Windsor appeared in the film as “Hortense.”

Barbara Windsor in THE BOY FRIEND

Peter Maxwell Davies and Peter Greenwell received an Academy Award nomination for “Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score,” losing to John Williams for FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Russell’s initial cut of the picture ran 134 minutes, but MGM trimmed more than 26 minutes before its release, which included one of Barbara Windsor’s major numbers, “It's Nicer in Nice.” In 1987, MGM/United Artists Classics restored the film to its original length.

This may be my favourite one of your In Memoriam threads Bob, if only for this anecdote.

Barbara Windsor has a line, "I don't fancy being a gangster's moll." By the time the film was made, Windsor had had a one-night stand with notorious East End gangster Reggie Kray, and a longer affair with his brother Charlie. She was married to Ronnie Knight at the time of filming, who had served a prison sentence for dealing in stolen goods and was later jailed for co-arranging the Security Express Robbery in 1983.

Gerald Thomas directed, and Eric Rogers provided the score for the 1972 film, which did not receive a U.S. theatrical release.

Kenneth Williams is the tour leader, Peter Butterworth is the multi-purpose hotel manager who speaks in broken English (with Hattie Jacques as his massive and grumpy backwoods wife). Among the guests are Sidney James, who's married to Joan Sims, but his eyes are constantly on Barbara Windsor. Then there is lecherous Scotsman Jimmy Logan.

Barbara Windsor and Jimmy Logan in CARRY ON ABROAD

Gerald Thomas directed, and Eric Rogers provided the score for the 1972 film, which did not receive a U.S. theatrical release.

Sid James and Barbara Windsor in CARRY ON GIRLS

The film marked a slightly more risqué turn for the Carry On films with more nudity and openly sexual jokes than previous films. Discreet cuts by the British Board of Film Classification (mainly to saucy dialogue and the hotel fight sequence between bikini-clad contestants played by Barbara Windsor and Margaret Nolan) enabled the film to gain the more commercially acceptable A certificate (open to families) than the more restrictive AA certificate, barring entry to those under fourteen.

Gerald Thomas and Eric Rogers did their usual directing and scoring chores, respectively. The 1973 film did not get a U.S. theatrical release.

Barbara Windsor and Sid James in CARRY ON DICK

Sidney James, Barbara Windsor, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth, Bernard Bresslaw and Jack Douglas were filming during the day and appearing in the stage show "Carry On London!" at the Victoria Palace Theatre in the evenings. This was the final "Carry On" film of series regulars Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Barbara Windsor. For Windsor, it was her ninth “Carry On” film, however, she would later host the compilation film THAT’S CARRY ON! (1977)

Gerald Thomas and Eric Rogers did their usual directing and scoring chores, respectively. It’s unclear as to whether the 1974 film got a U.S. theatrical release.

Robert Knights directed the 1992 film, which went direct to video in the U.S. Graham Sacher provided the unreleased score.

“EastEnders” is a British soap opera created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the program follows the stories of local residents and their families as they go about their daily lives. The series has an emphasis on strong family matriarchs—brassy, long-suffering women who exhibit diva-like behavior and stoically battle through an array of tragedy and misfortune.

In 1994, Barbara Windsor began portraying one such woman on the show, “Peggy Mitchell.” Windsor was fourth choice for the part. The first choice was booked but never filmed any material. The second choice taped eight episodes that were never broadcast. Over her years on the show, Windsor’s character was a mother, grandmother and great grandmother whereas Windsor had no children in real life. Said Windsor, “The beautiful thing is that ageism just doesn't exist on ‘EastEnders.’ The show saved me.”

Pam St. Clement, Barbara Windsor, and Mike Reid in “EastEnders”

One notable plotline saw Windsor’s character battling breast cancer. Another saw Peggy mount a hate campaign against “Mark Fowler,” played by Todd Carty, for being HIV positive. Barbara Windsor was opposed to the storyline. She later claimed, "I got the most appalling hate mail because of it. I had a very dear friend of mine who was dying of AIDS, so it was very personal to me. The last scene I did, I went straight out and got terribly drunk."

Winsor also spoke of the time she became upset at a fellow cast member: “Jessie Wallace (‘Kat Moon’) was the first time I erupted. She was late, she was young. She's not like that anymore. I lost my temper. It was silly and I burst into tears and ran up to the producer. I said I had been terrible and amateur.”

Peggy Mitchell had the most expensive wardrobe on the series, and Barbara Windsor had a big say in what her character wore each day. Peggy's huge hat collection was also one of the most treasured items on set.

Barbara Windsor in “EastEnders”

In 1999, Barbara Windsor won the Best Actress Award in the British Soap Awards. In 2006, it was reported that Windsor’s salary on the show was £360,000 per year. Her highest salary for any of the Carry On films had been £3,000.

In a 2009 radio interview with Dale Winton, Barbara Windsor said that three people influenced her portrayal of Peggy Mitchell: Violet Kray (mother of the infamous East End gangsters, the Kray twins), her own mother, and the wife of Mike Reid who played her onscreen husband “Frank” in “EastEnders.”

In April and May 2010, new showrunner Bryan Kirkwood axed eight characters from the show, among which was Windsor’s Peggy Mitchell. Over the next 6 years, Windsor was brought back to reprise her character for about 10 shows. In all, Windsor appeared in 1,656 episodes of the show through 2016.