‘National treasure’ Barbara Windsor dies at 83

The British actress, best known for her role in 'EastEnders', had been battling dementia and Alzheimer’s

Fans photograph actress Barbara Windsor as she arrives for the British Academy Television Awards at the Palladium Theatre in London May 20, 2007. REUTERS

1960: British actress Barbara Windsor bending a saw. Getty Images

1964: English actress and star of the 'Carry On' films, Barbara Windsor, during the filming of 'Crooks in Cloisters'. Getty Images

English comic actress Barbara Windsor in a festive pantomime outfit, circa 1970. Getty Images

Actors Sid James and Barbara Windsor laughing as they wear Santa Claus costumes, at the Christmas luncheon of the Variety Club of Great Britain, Savoy Hotel, London, December 10th 1963. Getty Images

Actors, Barbara Windsor (L) and Steve McFadden (R) arrive at the British Soap Awards 2006 at BBC Television Centre on May 20, 2006 in London, England. The annual awards recognise the best in British Soaps, with categories including Best Villain, Sexiest Male and Female, Best Actor and Actress and Best Soap. Getty Images

12th January 1966: The front of the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's West End during a run of Lionel Bart's 'Twang!', starring Barbara Windsor, Maxwell Shaw and James Booth. Getty Images

Lyricist and composer Lionel Bart (1930 - 1999) with actress Barbara Windsor during rehearsals for Bart's musical 'Twang!!' at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London, 15th December 1965. Windsor plays Delphina in the musical, a humorous retelling of the legend of Robin Hood. Getty Images

Portrait of actress Barbara Windsor with notorious East End gangster Ronnie Kray (left), London, circa 1960. Getty Images

British former actress Barbara Windsor (R) and her husband Scott Mitchell (L) arrive in Downing Street in London, Britain, 02 September 2019. Windsor passed away on 10 December in London at the age of 83, according to a statement released by her husband on 11 December. EPA

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has a cup of tea with television actress Dame Barbara Windsor during a meeting in London on September 2, 2019 in London, England. Barbara Windsor, who suffered from Alzheimers, met with the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street to discuss dementia care. Getty Images

Britain's Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and actress Barbara Windsor pose for a photograph at the annual ICAP charity day in the City of London December 3, 2013. REUTERS

British actress Barbara Windsor arrives at the Royal world premiere of British director Tim Burton's new film 'Alice in Wonderland' at the Odeon Leicester Square in Central London, 25 February 2010. EPA

Barbara Windsor attends the inauguration of the Hackney Empire Walk Of Fame on May 25, 2017 in London, England. The EastEnders and Carry On films actress has been included in a 'recognition plate' on Hackney Empire's pavement together with Frank Matcham and Sir Oswald Stoll. Getty Images

Barbara Windsor has died at the age of 83, after a prolonged battle with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Best known for her longstanding role as landlady Peggy Mitchell in the British soap EastEnders, Windsor had been diagnosed with the disease in 2014.

"It is with deep sadness that I can confirm that my darling wife Barbara passed away at 8.35pm on Thursday, December 10 at a London care home,” her husband Scott Mitchell said.

"It was not the ending that Barbara or anyone else living with this very cruel disease deserves," Mitchell added. "I will always be immensely proud of Barbara's courage, dignity and generosity dealing with her own illness and still trying to help others by raising awareness for as long as she could," he added.

“Barbara’s final weeks were typical of how she lived her life. Full of humour, drama and a fighting spirit until the end.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Windsor "cheered the world up with her own British brand of harmless sauciness".

Windsor made her EastEnders debut in 1994, taking a sabbatical from the show for medical reasons in 2003, before returning as a series regular in 2005. She left the show again in 2009, saying she wanted to spend more time with her husband.

Before EastEnders, Windsor was known predominantly as a comedy actress, having shot to fame after starring in the Carry On series in the 1960s and 70s. She also starred in Sparrows Can't Sing, for which she was nominated for a Bafta, and appeared in small parts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and On the Fiddle with Sir Sean Connery. She made her stage debut in the theatre at the age of 13.

After her dementia diagnosis, she became an ambassador for the Alzheimer's Society, delivering a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, signed by 100,000 people, asking for better care for dementia suffers, saying the system was "completely inadequate, unfair, unsustainable and in dire need of more money".

On Twitter, actor Danniella Westbrook, who played Windsor's on-screen daughter Sam Mitchell on EastEnders, echoed the sentiments of many, referring to Windsor as a "national treasure".

“A generous warm funny humble and beautiful lady and someone who gave us all much joy watching her act,” Westbrook wrote.

Actor Tamzin Outhwaite, who starred alongside Windsor in EastEnders, also took to Twitter to pay her respects, writing: "I'm meant to be sleeping but I can't… RIP Barbara Windsor… All I can hear is "Ello Darlin'".