On The Buses star Anna Karen is leaving the majority of her £400,000 to EastEnders co-star Sophie Lawrence after she died in a home fire aged 85
On The Buses star Anna Karen, who died in a fire at her home aged 85, left most of her estate to former EastEnders actress Sophie Lawrence, it has been revealed.
Miss Karen, who played downtrodden woman Olive Rudge on the bawdy ITV sitcom between 1969 and 1973, left behind £427,197, estate records show.
Her will left 65 per cent of her net worth to her close friend Miss Lawrence, 50, after paying funeral and legal costs, inheritance tax and a £1,500 bequest to another friend.
Miss Lawrence played Diane Butcher on EastEnders between 1988 and 1991, followed by a series of guest appearances on the BBC soap in the years that followed.
Miss Karen – real name Ann Duggan – also appeared in EastEnders between 1996 and 2017, playing Aunt Sal, the sister of Peggy Mitchell, played by Barbara Windsor.
Her character, Grant and Phil Mitchell’s aunt, usually showed up at family weddings and parties.
Miss Karen, who played downtrodden woman Olive Rudge on the bawdy ITV sitcom between 1969 and 1973, left behind £427,197, estate records show. Pictured: Anna Karen and Sophie Lawrence at Mike Reid’s funeral
Miss Karen died in February in a fire at her terraced house in Ilford, east London, which neighbors believe was started by a cigarette, after she fell asleep while smoking.
Miss Lawrence also has ties to Ilford, having been born in the area. The Norwich-based actress hit #21 in the UK Singles Chart in 1991 with a cover of Donna Summer’s 1977 hit Love’s Unkind.
Miss Karen also once toured with Miss Lawrence in the comedy show Bazaar & Rummage, based on a book by Sue Townsend.
Miss Karen’s will left another fifth of her estate to her stepdaughter Gloria Gill, daughter of her actor husband Terry Duggan who died in 2008.
Anna Karen, pictured in On The Buses, starred in 74 episodes of the show as well as three spin-off films
Another eighth was donated to four other friends or relatives, and the final 2.5 percent went to the Actors’ Benevolent Fund.
Born in South Africa, Miss Karen performed as a striptease artist to fund her way through drama school. She appeared in 74 episodes of On The Buses as well as three spin-off films, in which she portrayed bus driver Stan Butler’s fake sister, played by Reg Varney.
Her sloppy character’s humor was based on her inability to cook and was the target of misogynistic taunts from her lazy husband Arthur, played by Michael Robbins.
Miss Karen also appeared in the comedy films Carry On Camping and Carry On Loving and had her role as Olive transferred to another workplace TV sitcom, The Rag Trade, in 1977 and 1978 respectively.
Anna, pictured in 2015, has also appeared in the comedy films Carry on Camping and Carry on Loving