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June Brown, the star of EastEnders, the classic British soap opera that is one of the longest-running shows on television and a favorite of Princess Diana’s, died on Sunday, April 3, 2022, per Variety. She was 95 years old. No cause of death was revealed, but Variety reports she died peacefully at her home. 

EastEnders is a staple of British television. It helped launch careers, including Lucifer’s Tom Ellis, and Brown earned several awards for her work. Brown worked at a breakneck pace on the show — 2,371 episodes between 1985 and 2020 (an average of 65 per year) — but still found time to play other roles.

Longtime EastEnders actor June Brown, holding her 2017 Television and Radio Industries Club special award, died at her home on April 3, 2022.
June Brown | Ian West/PA Wire/Getty Images

Other roles was Brown known for

Brown’s first credited role came in the 1957 TV movie The Case of the Frightened Lady. Much of her work appeared on British television, but she had some parts, albeit small ones, in some notable movie productions:

  • Brown played a woman patient in Sunday Bloody Sunday in 1971. The film earned four Oscar nominations.
  • She had an uncredited appearance as Mrs. Hebden in the 1971 Dustin Hoffman movie Straw Dogs.
  • Brown shared the screen with Gene Hackman in 1984’s Misunderstood.
  • One of her biggest movie roles came as part of the ensemble cast in 1997’s Bean.

Brown earned several awards and nominations

Brown spent more than 60 years working in front of the camera, and she picked up awards along the way.

She won two British Soap Awards in 2005 — a lifetime achievement award and best on-screen partnership, which she shared with John Bardon. She and Bardon shared the same award in 2002, and she earned best actress and best comedy performance nominations at the BSAs in 2001 and 1999, respectively.

Brown earned a best actress nomination at the 2009 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTAs), but she did not take home the trophy. 

In 2017, she won a special award from the Television and Radio Industries Club, per Metro UK. 

Heartfelt reactions to her death 

The BAFTA Twitter account expressed condolences to Brown’s family and friends.

Tony Maudsley, another British TV star on the show Coronation Street, mourned Brown’s death on Twitter. He wrote, “One of those legends we wanted to hang on to forever,” and he included sad face and heart emojis.

British TV critic, broadcaster, and podcaster Scott Bryan shared a video via Twitter of when Brown and Lady Gaga were guests on The Graham Norton Show, calling both legends.

The EastEnders Twitter account wrote, in part, “There are not enough words to describe how much June was loved and adored by everyone at EastEnders, her loving warmth, wit and great humour will never be forgotten.”

Brown joined the show when it debuted in 1985, and she appeared as Dot/Dot Cotton/Dot Branning in 2,371 episodes through 2020. The show continued to film during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but Brown’s final episode came on January 21, 2020, per her IMDb page. 

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