Editing Anna Wing

{{Short description|English actress}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE}}
| image         = Anna Wing.jpg
| image_upright = 0.75
| caption       = Wing in 2007
| birth_name    =
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|df=yes|1914|10|30}}
| birth_place   = London, England
| death_date    = {{death date and age|df=yes|2013|7|7|1914|10|30}}
| death_place   = London, England
| occupation    = Actress
| years_active  = {{hlist|1938–2012}}
| television    = ''[[EastEnders]]''
| spouse        = {{marriage|Peter Davey|1947|end=div.|1950}}
| partner       = [[Philip O'Connor]] (1953–1960)
| children      = 2, including [[Mark Wing-Davey]]
| relatives = [[Anita Carey]] (daughter-in-law)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hayward |first1=Anthony |title=Anita Carey obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/aug/06/anita-carey-obituary |access-date=6 August 2023 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=16 August 2023}}</ref>
}}
'''Anna Wing''' (30 October 1914 – 7 July 2013) was a British actress who had a long career in television and theatre, known for portraying the role of [[Beale family]] matriarch [[Lou Beale]] in the [[BBC One|BBC]] soap opera ''[[EastEnders]]''.

==Early life==

Wing was born in [[Metropolitan Borough of Hackney|Hackney]], London, and started out as an artist's model and later, during the [[Second World War]], worked in [[East End of London|East End]] hospitals.<ref name=bbc/> In 1947,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=Wbuz0ww18tZnxbWdf7a8Cw&scan=1|title=Index entry|accessdate=11 October 2024|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}</ref> she married the actor Peter Davey, by whom she had a son, actor-director [[Mark Wing-Davey]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Profile: Mark Wing-Davey - Zaphod Beeblebrox |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/mark.shtml |website=[[BBC]] |access-date=16 August 2023}}</ref> but the marriage ended in divorce in 1950. Her seven years as the lover of [[Philip O'Connor]], a surrealist writer and contemporary of [[Stephen Spender]] and [[Laurie Lee]], saw her spend some time as a nursery teacher in West London. With her new lover she had a second son, Jon O'Connor.<ref name=guardian>{{cite news|first=Stuart |last=Jeffries |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/jul/11/anna-wing-lou-beale-eastenders |title=Anna Wing obituary|newspaper=The Guardian |date= 11 July 2013|access-date=2019-09-26}}</ref>

==Career==
Wing is best known for portraying the [[The Fowler/Beale Family|Beale and Fowler family]] matriarch [[Lou Beale]] on ''[[EastEnders]]'' from the show's inception in February 1985, until the character was killed off in July 1988. She quit her role in the hit show as she was unhappy with the direction in which it was going, but later reflected that it may not have been the right decision.<ref name=guardian/>

Wing studied at the Croydon School of Acting in London, and appeared in London repertory theatre for over 65 years. She also performed in Canada at the [[Stratford Festival]] in 1967.<ref name=guardian /><ref>{{cite web | url = https://archives.stratfordfestival.ca/AIS/Details/people/10362 | title = Anna Wing acting credits | website = Stratford Festival Archives | access-date = 2019-05-20}}</ref>

She made an earlier soap appearance in ''[[Market in Honey Lane]]'' for [[Associated Television Network|ATV]] in the late 1960s. She also had a role in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial [[Kinda (Doctor Who)|"Kinda"]] in 1982.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/kinda/detail.shtml |title=Doctor Who Classic Episodes |access-date=12 December 2018 |publisher=[[BBC]]}}</ref> Other TV credits include ''[[The Witches and the Grinnygog]]'', ''[[Dixon of Dock Green]]'', ''[[Z-Cars]]'', ''[[Play for Today]]'' and in 1976 in ''[[The Sweeney]]'' episode ''On the Run'' in which she played Mrs. Haldane.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/obituaries/414548/Anna-Wing-Veteran-character-actress-October-30-1914-July-7-2013-Aged-98|title=Anna Wing. Veteran character actress. October 30, 1914 - July 7, 2013. Aged 98.|work=[[Daily Express]]|date=13 July 2013|accessdate=22 January 2024}}</ref> Her film career included roles in ''[[Billy Liar (film)|Billy Liar]]'' (1963), ''[[Two Gentlemen Sharing]]'' (1969), ''[[The 14]]'' (1973) which also featured her future ''EastEnders'' co-star [[June Brown]], ''[[A Doll's House (1973 Losey film)|A Doll's House]]'' starring [[Jane Fonda]] (1973), ''[[Providence (1977 film)|Providence]]'' (1977), ''[[The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978 film)|The Hound of the Baskervilles]]'' (1978), ''[[The Ploughman's Lunch]]'' (1983), and 3 British horror films – ''[[Full Circle (1977 film)|Full Circle]]'' (1977), ''[[The Godsend (film)|The Godsend]]'' (1980) and ''[[Xtro]]'' (1983), in which her character was killed by a life-size [[Action Man]] doll.

After leaving ''EastEnders'', Wing continued to work on stage, playing the [[Mediumship|medium]], Madame Arcati, in [[Noël Coward]]'s comedy ''[[Blithe Spirit (play)|Blithe Spirit]]''. She also had numerous television roles, including parts in ''[[Casualty (TV series)|Casualty]]'', ''[[Doctors (2000 TV series)|Doctors]]'', ''[[French and Saunders]]'', ''[[The Bill]]'', as well as adding her vocal talents to the animated series ''[[Fungus the Bogeyman]]''. Her later film credits included ''[[The Calcium Kid]]'' with [[Orlando Bloom]], ''[[Tooth]]'' (2004), in which she played an ancient fairy), and Grandma in the 2007 film ''[[Son of Rambow]]''.

In May 2005, she attended the [[British Soap Awards]], where she presented [[June Brown]] with a lifetime achievement award for Brown's portrayal of [[Dot Branning]] in ''EastEnders''. In 2005, by now aged 91, Wing formed part of the cast of the short film ''Ex Memoria'', directed by Josh Appignanesi and produced by Oscar-winning producer Mia Bays. The short film tells of an elderly woman's struggle with [[Alzheimer's disease]]. ''Ex Memoria'' was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Best Short in 2006.

In 2009, aged 94, she worked on a short film, ''Numbers Up'', from Guildhall Pictures. The same year Wing was appointed [[Member of the Order of the British Empire]] (MBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours for her services to drama and charity.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=59090 |date=13 June 2009|page=24 |supp=y}}</ref>

In April 2012, she appeared in the music video for Quarrel's 'Is It Cool?'.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.getreading.co.uk/entertainment/music/local_bands/s/2111775_eastenders_actress_has_no_quarrel_with_rock_band |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416030711/http://www.getreading.co.uk/entertainment/music/local_bands/s/2111775_eastenders_actress_has_no_quarrel_with_rock_band |archive-date=16 April 2012 |title=EastEnders actress has no Quarrel with rock band |first=Tim |last=Harris |date=12 April 2012 |access-date=12 December 2018 |newspaper=[[Get Reading]] |publisher=S&B}}</ref>

==Later life and death==
Wing was a member of the [[Religious Society of Friends]], the Quakers, and supported the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]].<ref name=guardian />

She attended the funeral of her ''EastEnders'' on-screen daughter [[Wendy Richard]] on 9 March 2009.<ref name=guardian />

Wing died at the age of 98 from natural causes in the [[London Borough of Enfield]] on 7 July 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp#Results|title = WING, ANNA 1914 GRO Reference: DOR Q3/2013 in ENFIELD (227-1A) Entry Number 508778989|website = [[General Register Office]]|accessdate = 11 October 2024}}</ref> The episode of ''EastEnders'' which was broadcast the following day, was dedicated to her memory and was immediately followed by a 90-second long [[BBC News]] report, the headlines of which included her death.<ref name=bbc>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23268512 |title=Anna Wing, EastEnders' Lou Beale, dies aged 98 |work=BBC News |date= 11 July 2013|access-date=2019-09-26 }}</ref> Her funeral took place in London. [[Adam Woodyatt]] was amongst the mourners.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*{{IMDb name|id=0934923|name=Anna Wing}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060518161315/http://www.wgazette.com/int-wing.html Anna Wing, interview from ''The Walford Gazette'']
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060328233834/http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/eastenders/characters/character_content/character_lou_b.shtml Lou Beale, BBC character profile]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070216033419/http://www.exmemoriafilm.co.uk/ ''Ex Memoria'' (short film with Anna Wing)]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wing, Anna}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:English Quakers]]
[[Category:English soap opera actresses]]
[[Category:English stage actresses]]
[[Category:English television actresses]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Actors from the London Borough of Hackney]]
[[Category:Actresses from London]]
[[Category:20th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:21st-century English actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]]