Anna Karen

Born in Durban, South Africa, Karen's Irish father was an accountant while her mother was English. Having developed an interest in acting at a young age, Karen joined the South African National Theatre at the age of fifteen. She starred in several touring productions over the next two years until she fell foul of the apartheid laws as she visited the ill daughter of the black stage manager.[1]

Advised to move away, aged 17, Karen moved to London, England. Karen shared a room with two other girls in a girls' hostel in Paddington and enrolled at the London School of Dramatic Art.[2] She began working as a washer-upper at a local restaurant in the evenings to help pay for her rent and drama school fees, however she learnt that she could earn twice as much money if she worked as a striptease dancer at London's Panama Club which is what she did.[3]

Making her debut in the naturist film Nudist Memories (1961), Karen began her career as an extra in the comedy film The Sandwich Man (1966) and had a small role as Carol White's neighbour in Ken Loach's kitchen sink drama film Poor Cow (1967). She then had a role as a schoolgirl in Carry On Camping (1969) in which she has a fight with Barbara Windsor at the start of the film, although she can be clearly seen in later scenes including the iconic "bikini-flying" sequence; Karen and Windsor became good friends. Windsor's next acting job was in the BBC sitcom Wild, Wild Women; Windsor encouraged Karen to audition for a role as the show's producers, Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney, were looking for actresses to cast in the series. Karen successfully auditioned and played the part of Maude in all six episodes of the series.

During the production of Wild, Wild Women, Karen was approached by Wolfe and Chesney; impressed with her performance, they offered Karen the role of Olive, the dowdy, overweight, bespectacled, sexually frustrated younger sister of Stan (Reg Varney), and wife of Arthur Rudge (Michael Robbins) in their forthcoming sitcom On the Buses. Karen played the part of Olive, the role with which she is best remembered in all seventy-four episodes of the series. Karen, who was a model in her spare time, donned an unstylish wig, an unflattering pair of thick glasses and large amounts of padding to become Olive, whom Karen described as the "ugliest woman on television".[4]

Karen maintained a successful acting career alongside On the Buses. Shortly after the series began, she had a role in another Carry On film, Carry On Loving (1970) in the final "food fight" scene, and appeared in an episode of Dixon of Dock Green. By this time, On the Buses, produced by LWT, had become a huge success leading Karen to reprise her role in a spin-off film, On the Buses (1971). This also was hugely popular and was the highest grossing film of 1971, beating the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever which was released the same year. Two further spin-off films were made, Mutiny on the Buses (1972), and Holiday on the Buses (1973), the latter of which garnered a cult following in itself, and details Stan working as a bus driver at a holiday camp in Prestatyn, Wales. By the time the third film was made, On the Buses had come to an end, having just broadcast its seventh series. Karen and co-stars Bob Grant and Stephen Lewis were the only members of the cast to appear in all seventy-four episodes of the series, as well as the three films.

After On the Buses ended, Karen returned to theatre in 1974 and toured as Minnie in Who Goes Bare? and in Not Now, Darling as Miss Tipdale with Ian Lavender.[5] In 1975 however, Karen starred alongside her On the Buses co-star Bob Grant in a comedy pilot called "Milk-O" released under the Comedy Premiere series. Revolving around a milkman (played by Grant) trying to fend off amorous housewives, Karen played Rita Wilkins, the wife of Grant's character Jim. The pilot was also written by Grant in an aim to reinvigorate his declining career due to the typecasting he received from On the Buses, however it was not commissioned for a series. After this, Karen had roles in the sitcom ...And Mother Makes Five and in comedy sketch shows such as The Kenneth Williams Show and The Dick Emery Show.

From 1977 to 1978, Karen reprised the role of Olive in the LWT revival of the sitcom The Rag Trade created by the same writers as On the Buses. The series depicted a group of female workers in a clothes factory; Karen appeared in all twenty two episodes. She also made a cameo appearance in the sex-comedy film What's Up Nurse! (1977). In 1981, Karen had a main role in the sci-fi children's film Stainless Steel and the Star Spies about a group of robots intending to invade Earth to claim a crystal ball with extra-terrestrial qualities.

In 1996, she played a supporting role in the film Beautiful Thing, as a neighbour of the main characters, Ste and Jamie. A year later, she reunited with Barbara Windsor, this time in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Karen played Aunt Sal, the sister of Windsor's Peggy Mitchell. Although she was never a permanent cast member in the soap, she appeared as Aunt Sal occasionally, usually for only one or two episodes at a time.

In 2006, Anna Karen used her experience as a striptease dancer to act as a judge in the final edition of Channel 4's reality television documentary Faking It. In 2008, she was a guest on the Channel 4's Sunday Night Project, again with Barbara Windsor.

Karen has also been a regular in pantomimes over the years, and played the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella at the Millfield Theatre, in Edmonton, London at Christmas 2008.[6]

Karen lives in Ilford, London and was married to actor/comedian Terry Duggan from 1967 until his death in 2008. Although Karen has no children of her own, she brought up Duggan's daughter, Gloria, from his first marriage. Duggan was Karen's second husband.

Karen was best friends with Barbara Windsor, having met each other during the filming of Carry On Camping.[7]

She taught Drama on a Saturday morning at Brewers Academy, based in Hornchurch, Greater London.

In January 2016, she had a fall at her home in Ilford and broke her back leaving her sofa-bound for eight weeks to recover.[8] She still filmed scenes for Peggy's death in EastEnders in March 2016 and again in May 2016, when the scenes were broadcast, she was seen with a walking frame. She was later pictured in a wheelchair during her latter scenes in EastEnders and also at Windsor's funeral in 2021.

• Anna Karen at IMDb