Anna Karen is a South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n-born British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 and theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 actress.

Career

Early in her career, Karen worked as a striptease

Striptease

A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...

 dancer at London's Panama Club. During her acting career she has starred in many films and television programmes, including the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 sitcom Wild, Wild Women

Wild, Wild Women

Wild, Wild Women was a British sitcom that aired on BBC from 1968 to 1969. Made in black-and-white, it starred Barbara Windsor and was written by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney.-Pilot:*Barbara Windsor - Millie*Derek Francis - Mr Harcourt...

, between 1968 and 1969. That same year she played a schoolgirl in the classic bikini-flying scene in the film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 Carry On Camping

Carry On Camping

Carry On Camping is a 1969 comedy film and the seventeenth Carry On film. It features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Terry Scott, Hattie Jacques, Barbara Windsor, Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Butterworth.-Plot:...

(even though she was 32 years old). In both these roles she acted with Barbara Windsor

Barbara Windsor

Barbara Ann Windsor, MBE , better known by her stage name Barbara Windsor, is an English actress. Her best known roles are in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders....

 (herself a 31-year-old "schoolgirl" in the film).

Karen's best remembered role was in the LWT

London Weekend Television

London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...

 sitcom On the Buses

On The Buses

On the Buses was a British situation comedy created by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney which was broadcast in the UK from 1969 to 1973. The writers' previous successes with The Rag Trade and Meet the Wife were for the BBC, but the Corporation rejected On the Buses, not seeing much comedy potential...

(1969–73). In this series, Karen played Olive, the dowdy sister of Stan (Reg Varney

Reg Varney

Reginald Alfred "Reg" Varney was an English actor, most notable for his role as Stan Butler in 1970s TV sitcom On the Buses.-Early life:...

), and wife of Arthur (Michael Robbins

Michael Robbins

Michael Anthony Robbins was a British actor known for his television work...

). She also appeared in the film spin-offs, On the Buses

On the Buses (film)

On the Buses is a 1971 British comedy film directed by Harry Booth and starring Reg Varney and Doris Hare. The film is the first spin-off film from the TV sitcom On the Buses and was followed by two further films Mutiny on the Buses and Holiday on the Buses...

, Mutiny on the Buses

Mutiny on the Buses

Mutiny on the Buses is a 1972 British comedy film directed by Harry Booth and starring Reg Varney and Doris Hare. The film is the second spin-off film from the TV sitcom On the Buses and succeeded On the Buses . It was followed by a third film Holiday on the Buses...

, and Holiday on the Buses

Holiday on the Buses

Holiday on the Buses is a 1973 British comedy film directed by Bryan Izzard and starring Reg Varney and Doris Hare. The film is the third spin-off film from the ITV sitcom On the Buses and succeeded the films On the Buses and Mutiny on the Buses...

. From 1977 to 1978, Karen reprised the role of Olive in the LWT revival of the sitcom The Rag Trade

The Rag Trade

The Rag Trade was a British television sitcom broadcast by the BBC between 1961 and 1963 and by LWT between 1977 and 1978.The scripts were by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney, who later wrote Wild, Wild Women, a period variation of The Rag Trade....

created by the same writers.

In 1995, Anna Karen played a supporting role in the film Beautiful Thing

Beautiful Thing

Originally Beautiful Thing is a play written by Jonathan Harvey and first performed in 1993. A screen adaptation of the play was released in 1996 by Channel 4 Films, with a revised screenplay also by Harvey. Initially, the film was only intended for television broadcast but it was so well-received...

, as a neighbour of the main characters, Ste and Jamie. A year later, Karen reunited with Barbara Windsor, this time in the popular BBC soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 EastEnders

EastEnders

EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...

. Karen plays Sal Martin

Sal Martin

Sally "Sal" Martin, often referred to as Aunt Sal, is a recurring fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anna Karen. She has appeared sporadically over the years, usually for only one or two episodes at a time...

, the sister of Windsor's Peggy Mitchell

Peggy Mitchell

Margaret Ann "Peggy" Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Peggy was initially played by Jo Warne when she first appeared on 30 April 1991, featuring in the series on a recurring basis over several weeks. Peggy was reintroduced in 1994, recast and was then played by...

. Although Karen has never been a permanent cast member in the soap, she has continued to appear as 'Aunt' Sal Martin occasionally over the years, 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

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

's reality television

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 Faking It

Faking It

Faking It was a television programme originating on Channel 4 which has spawned various international remakes, including a US version which began in 2003 on the TLC network...

. In 2008, Karen was a guest on the Channel 4's Sunday Night Project, again with Barbara Windsor.

Karen has also been a regular in pantomime

Pantomime

Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...

s over the years, and played the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella

Cinderella

"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...

at the Millfield Theatre

Millfield Theatre

Millfield Theatre opened in 1988 in the grounds of Millfield House on Silver Street in Edmonton, North London. It seats up to 362 in a variety of stage layouts....

, at Christmas 2008.

Karen lives in Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, and was married to actor/comedian Terry Duggan

Terry Duggan

Terry Duggan was a comedian and actor who had a successful career in cabaret and variety and played numerous character roles on television. He was married to the actress Anna Karen, best-known for playing the part of Olive in the ITV sitcom On the Buses, in which Duggan frequently appeared.Duggan...

 until his death in 2008. As well as continuing to make recurring appearances in EastEnders

EastEnders

EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...

as Sal Martin

Sal Martin

Sally "Sal" Martin, often referred to as Aunt Sal, is a recurring fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anna Karen. She has appeared sporadically over the years, usually for only one or two episodes at a time...

, Karen teaches drama at Paul's Theatre School, based in Hornchurch, Essex.

Television roles

Year	Title	Role
1969–1973	On the Buses On The Buses On the Buses was a British situation comedy created by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney which was broadcast in the UK from 1969 to 1973. The writers' previous successes with The Rag Trade and Meet the Wife were for the BBC, but the Corporation rejected On the Buses, not seeing much comedy potential...	Olive Rudge (née Butler)
1977–1978	The Rag Trade The Rag Trade The Rag Trade was a British television sitcom broadcast by the BBC between 1961 and 1963 and by LWT between 1977 and 1978.The scripts were by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney, who later wrote Wild, Wild Women, a period variation of The Rag Trade....	Olive
1996–	EastEnders EastEnders EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...	Sal Martin

External links

• Anna Karen at On The Buses Appreciation Society