RIP Barbara Windsor

I don’t mean to disrespect her, although she was popular in the nine Carry On films she was in as well as EE, I could never understand why she was made a dame.

She was married to a 'gangster', had relationships with the Krays, was a mediocre actress who was well known for her lewd performances in the Carry on films which led to her role in EE thus rescuing her from obscurity.
 
Danny La Rue, John Inman and Julian Clary were much better dames... :naughty: :coat:

In a panto sense.

BW - I'd agree with Cartus. Obviously for some she was a star and that's fine - perhaps a little like the Sun newspaper, she consistently provided what people wanted.
 
Last edited:
I don’t mean to disrespect her, although she was popular in the nine Carry On films she was in as well as EE, I could never understand why she was made a dame.

She was married to a 'gangster', had relationships with the Krays, was a mediocre actress who was well known for her lewd performances in the Carry on films which led to her role in EE thus rescuing her from obscurity.
She was a woman of her time, and at the time that she started out it was massively difficult for a woman who wanted to succeed in entertainment not to give in to pressure from the men in power. Sid James springs to mind, as does Frank Sinatra, but at that time just about all men who were in a position of power could and did take advantage of ambitious women - for example the Kray brothers were highly successful and were very much in control of many types of business, and it would have been very difficult for her to say no to the two who she "dated".

Just to put the situation in perspective, all of the male actors in the Carry On films were paid exactly twice as much as the women . . .

So, she had choices, as do we all, but the only real choice for her was to give herself a chance at success or to do something else.
 
Back
Top