Dame Barbara Windsor, RIP

JenniferEccles

We will never see her like again will we?
She was certainly not the stereotypical dumb blonde either.
Gyles Brandreth was talking about her on the Jeremy Vine radio show earlier and he said that she scored the highest mark in the 11+ in north London.

I wonder if there will be a re-run of some old Carry On films or would they be deemed not suitable for today’s woke generation?!

If the woke generation don't like them they can turn to another channel or turn off.

I though this was rather lovely and sad as well!

I did love Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey

My husband has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. What a trouper she was , both on and much more off , screen. She always seemed so happy with life.

I know I will be the odd one out here, please don't all jump on me but I didn't think she was a great actress - she just played herself - she couldn't do any other parts. I didn't think she deserved to be made a Dame as she is nowhere near on the same level as Maggie Smith or Judi Dench.

Sparklefizz; I was waiting for someone to say it. I agree with you. And I can't stand Carry On films either. I find them puerile and unfunny. (Yes, I know I don't have to watch them and I don't)

I totally agree with you about the films Loislovesstewie.

I rather liked Carry on Cleo.
"Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me!"

She had the only Cockney accent I could ever bear to listen to. RIP{ Barbara.

Sparklefizz

I know I will be the odd one out here, please don't all jump on me but I didn't think she was a great actress - she just played herself - she couldn't do any other parts. I didn't think she deserved to be made a Dame as she is nowhere near on the same level as Maggie Smith or Judi Dench.

I'm pretty certain that she was made a Dame due to her charity work rather than her skills as a thespian.
The only person comparing her to Dench or Smith is you!

Just happened to buy a tv magazine for over Christmas etc and have noticed most of the "Carry on films" are going to be on.

This of course will have been printed a while ago, before news of Barbara's death today.

Think they are shown most Christmases.

Loislovesstewie

Sparklefizz; I was waiting for someone to say it. I agree with you. And I can't stand Carry On films either. I find them puerile and unfunny. (Yes, I know I don't have to watch them and I don't)

And noone is forcing you to comment on a thread celebrating a recently passed much loved woman either.

Ok, Fanny, I just hold a different opinion. I didn't know I had to pass it by you first.

You don't but it is disrespectful when someone has just died.

Unless you knew her personally, how do you know she was just playing herself?
We know someone who acted with her and she could act.

She played Marie Lloyd too.

I mentioned this in Chat, I saw her flying as Peter Pan ,the first panto we took our grandsons to see in Stevenage, they are now 31 and I doubt they remember.?

For heaven's sake, whatever happened to free speech? I just said I didn't think she could act, and that it was my personal opinion, in just the same way that GNers commented on Sean Connery after he died recently. Check out Barbara Windsor's Wikipedia page if you want to see the life she led.

I think free speech should be defended so why not start another thread, Sparklefizz?
I think this one is a respectful of someone who had suffered with Alzheimer's and has now died.

Very sad to see her so frail when she went to meet Johnson.

I don’t think she just played herself at all. She was typecast in the Carry on films, but so were Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Hattie Jaques, Charles Hawtrey, Bernard Bresslaw - the list is endless. She showed her range on stage, and indeed in Eastenders.

DW received a long service award from her, and she was delightful to everyone at the ceremony.

Favourite Carry on? Cleo and Up the Khyber, neither of which starred Babs, as it happens.

Marydoll

^Carry on up the Khyber^ was my favourite. It was the scene with the soldiers lifting their kilts to scare off the natives, which appealed to me.

i love the scene where the britishers are being bombarded and they continue in all their finery and dress uniforms at formal dinner, while chunks of masonry are flying around. the dogged insistence on keeping up appearances, even when under fire, is both touching and ridiculous.
some of the discussions on here re use of cutlery etc remind me of that. also ridiculous, elevating mere conventional practice to a marker of moral rectitude.

Carry on camping for me.
Not particularly for the scene with Barbara, but all the silly jokes. (And Kenneth Williams getting toothpaste in his eye in the shower cubicle.

I also love Carry On At Your Convenience, Screaming, Abroad...

My top three are Khyber, Cleo and Screaming.
Screaming doesn't have Barbara or
Sid James in it and is none the worse for it.
I think Harry H Corbett is brilliant in it, and as for Fenella Fielding...

I think it's fine for people to say they dont like the carry on films on here, I dont think that's disrespectful, people have different tastes and I am sure Barbara Windsor understood that, I hated the carry on films but really enjoyed her performance in eastenders.

Galaxy I totally understand why people don't like the films, in fact there are features of them that I dislike intensely.
I just feel a great nostalgia for that period, and love so many of the actors, Kenneth Williams in particular.
(I'm a bit obsessed with Julian & Sandy )

60 years ago I saw the original stage production of ‘Fings Ain’t What They Used T’Be’. I remember being transfixed by a little Cockney blonde belting out ‘Where do Little Birds Go in the Wintertime?’ She gave the song real pathos and I thought at the time that she could really act.
RIP a real trouper.

Sparklefizz, Agree with you 100%. Everyone is entitled to their opinion...thats what this forum is for. The carry on films were funny in their day (60s/70s) but probably have no place in this PC world. She wasnt a great actress, and I always laughed at how she was portrayed as a ‘buxom blonde’ when she had two little fried eggs!
However, she did come across as a very nice, genuine lady and had a very happy marriage with Scott.