“My thirties were ruined by being pregnant. I loved my babies but I had been quite successful before I had them, playing Lady Macbeth and Hedda Gabler, one of my favourite roles.”

English actress and author

June Brown was an English actress and author, best known for playing Dot Cotton on the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She lived from 1927 to 2022 and became closely associated with one of British television’s most familiar long-running roles. Her work on EastEnders brought major recognition, including Best Actress at the 2005 Inside Soap Awards and a Lifetime Achievement award at the 2005 British Soap Awards. She was later nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress in 2009, and was appointed MBE in 2008 and promoted to OBE in 2022 for services to drama and charity. In February 2020, she said she had left EastEnders permanently.