dead June Brown

[Whitehouse 872]

I'm Dutch.

[Bibliogryphon 9,565]

15 minutes ago, Whitehouse said:

I'm Dutch.

Clearly Eastenders didn't make it across there. Most people in the UK would recognise the character even if they didn't watch the soap. 

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,218]

21 minutes ago, Whitehouse said:

I'm Dutch.

You had them fooled for a while there.

[Toast 16,127]

35 minutes ago, Whitehouse said:

Absolutely no clue who she is....

 

Well, I'm shocked. 

I knew somebody would soon be along to say that, I just expected it to be an American.

[Joey Russ 7,220]

15 minutes ago, Toast said:

 

Well, I'm shocked. 

I knew somebody would soon be along to say that, I just expected it to be an American.

Apart from Sir Gaffe seems like most of the Americans on here tend to be more polite nowadays

[Paul Bearer 6,099]

1 hour ago, Whitehouse said:

Absolutely no clue who she is....

She didn't have a clue who you were either. 

[Windsor 2,233]

Perhaps I’ve been reading comments on the Royal Family Facebook page for too long, but…is anyone else annoyed at the Eastenders folk referring to her as June Brown OBE, MBE?

 

Shocking. They did they same thing with Dame Barbara Windsor. It kinda puts the whole Ukraine thing into perspective really…

[Sean 6,309]

I think most Americans know who she is.Easily one of the most famous and recognisable faces in Britain and in British culture.In terms of famousness she is as famous as you can get without being royalty really.In the same league of UK notability as David Attenborough , Michael Caine , Rupert Murdoch , Paul McCartney .Mick Jagger , Keith Richards , Ringo Starr .One of those names that almost every single person in the UK knows from 10 -110. A bit like when Bruce Forsyth  and Barbara Windsor when they were still alive.One of the few names everyone in Britain is aware of.

[Sean 6,309]

Just now, Windsor said:

Perhaps I’ve been reading comments on the Royal Family Facebook page for too long, but…is anyone else annoyed at the Eastenders folk referring to her as June Brown OBE, MBE?

 

Shocking. They did they same thing with Dame Barbara Windsor. It kinda puts the whole Ukraine thing into perspective really…

The honours system is a joke though.Case in point:Sir Gavin Williamson

[Sean 6,309]

June Brown was one of only 2 British actors or actresses ever nominated for a BAFTA (the other being Jean Alexander) and also with regular soap actresses are on the TV multiple times a week from millions of people and before the days of netflix and the internet there wasn`t much competition.Soaps had millions of people watching in the day in fact at its height Eastenders had a viewing audience of nearly half the poplulation at one point.

 

edit (More than half of the UK population at the time)

[Grim Up North 3,725]

8 minutes ago, Sean said:

I think most Americans know who she is.Easily one of the most famous and recognisable faces in Britain and in British culture.In terms of famousness she is as famous as you can get without being royalty really.In the same league of UK notability as David Attenborough , Michael Caine , Rupert Murdoch , Paul McCartney .Mick Jagger , Keith Richards , Ringo Starr .One of those names that almost every single person in the UK knows from 10 -110. A bit like when Bruce Forsyth  and Barbara Windsor when they were still alive.One of the few names everyone in Britain is aware of.

Have you posted this in the wrong thread?

 

June Brown is a nobody if you don’t watch Eastenders but if you live in UK you will be aware of her - outside UK I would be surprised if anyone knew her.

 

Whereas the names you list are truly household names across the world.

 

EDIT And all the above goes for Jean Alexander too.

[Sean 6,309]

I believe Eastenders was broadcast across the English speaking world.Hence my observation.Especailly in the days of social media.Just like most UK people know who Angela Lansbury Betty White and Cloris Leachman  are and are extensively known by UK audiences.

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,218]

To be fair, I only know Dutch sports people, mainly footballers, and Sylvie Van Der Vaart, which she isn't anymore.

Just sayin, like.

 

[Death Impends 7,953]

30 minutes ago, Sean said:

I think most Americans know who she is.Easily one of the most famous and recognisable faces in Britain and in British culture.In terms of famousness she is as famous as you can get without being royalty really.In the same league of UK notability as David Attenborough , Michael Caine , Rupert Murdoch , Paul McCartney .Mick Jagger , Keith Richards , Ringo Starr .One of those names that almost every single person in the UK knows from 10 -110. A bit like when Bruce Forsyth  and Barbara Windsor when they were still alive.One of the few names everyone in Britain is aware of.

 

None of the big British soaps have any real US cultural imprint ftr. Not said in the ignorance way as I always welcome broadening my horizons but in the "no she wasn't famous here" way!

[msc 18,421]

34 minutes ago, Sean said:

I believe Eastenders was broadcast across the English speaking world.Hence my observation.Especailly in the days of social media.Just like most UK people know who Angela Lansbury Betty White and Cloris Leachman  are and are extensively known by UK audiences.

 

Well, yes, given DAME Angela Lansbury is quite famously British! 

[Bibliogryphon 9,565]

2 minutes ago, msc said:

 

Well, yes, given DAME Angela Lansbury is quite famously British! 

I had the same thought myself but I understood the principal that post Bedknobs and Broomsticks the thing she is best known for is an American serial. 

[msc 18,421]

Just now, Bibliogryphon said:

I had the same thought myself but I understood the principal that post Bedknobs and Broomsticks the thing she is best known for is an American serial. 

 

Hey, I'm so used to her being TV Granny due to Jessica Fletcher and Bedknobs above that I was quite taken aback at how good she was as a villain in The Manchurian Candidate when I saw it!

 

Anyhow, June Brown's a good example of not giving up. She had a good theatre and TV career but roles had dried up as she approached 60 and she was broke, when she got offered a short term contract for Eastenders. Two weeks turned into 30 years, and she wound up more famous from that than for An Inspector Calls and her other acclaimed stage work. 

[Drewsky1211 4,725]

14 minutes ago, Bibliogryphon said:

I had the same thought myself but I understood the principal that post Bedknobs and Broomsticks the thing she is best known for is an American serial. 

Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast?

EDIT: Just noticed you were talking about her role in Murder, She Wrote.

This is what I most know her from.

[Sean 6,309]

48 minutes ago, msc said:

 

Well, yes, given DAME Angela Lansbury is quite famously British! 

Indeed but her fame comes from American TV shows primarily.

[The Old Crem 3,580]

Eastenders hasn’t really been shown much out of the UK and Ireland. It’s been shown on some PBS stations in the USA and is available on Britbox. Corrie and Emmerdale  have more worldwide reach as Corrie is on free to air Tv still in Canada (where the fan base is well established) and New Zealand and Emmerdale is in Scandinavia. 

[Bibliogryphon 9,565]

5 hours ago, msc said:

 

Hey, I'm so used to her being TV Granny due to Jessica Fletcher and Bedknobs above that I was quite taken aback at how good she was as a villain in The Manchurian Candidate when I saw it!

 

Anyhow, June Brown's a good example of not giving up. She had a good theatre and TV career but roles had dried up as she approached 60 and she was broke, when she got offered a short term contract for Eastenders. Two weeks turned into 30 years, and she wound up more famous from that than for An Inspector Calls and her other acclaimed stage work. 

Actually that reminds me of an interview I heard with Angela Lansbury where she was defending Murder She Wrote. She was the highest paid TV star at the time and she said for the 30 years previous she had almost continually been on tour or in theatre working extremely hard she felt she had earned the right to make some money at a more sedate pace.

 

Contrasting that with John Laurie who complained about Dad's Army that he'd worked his entire life in the industry and he finally got some fame for this crap!

[JustPassingThrough 148]

I'd say a good number of Americans know of EastEnders, but probably not much more than the title and the genre.  In June Brown's New York Times obit, for example, the show itself goes fairly well unexplained. But the actual length of the article is nowhere near as extensive as the ones she's gotten in the British newspapers. It appearing the day after the announcement of her death also suggests they didn't have a prewritten one on file for her, which again is a pretty major contrast to the UK coverage.

[Cerberus 302]

18 hours ago, Sean said:

I think most Americans know who she is.Easily one of the most famous and recognisable faces in Britain and in British culture.In terms of famousness she is as famous as you can get without being royalty really.In the same league of UK notability as David Attenborough , Michael Caine , Rupert Murdoch , Paul McCartney .Mick Jagger , Keith Richards , Ringo Starr .One of those names that almost every single person in the UK knows from 10 -110. A bit like when Bruce Forsyth  and Barbara Windsor when they were still alive.One of the few names everyone in Britain is aware of.

I think people tend to be more familiar with the character's name than the actor's, though. Just as people will often recognise a song without knowing the name of the artist. 

[Redrumours 860]

Wasn't she married to Jim Branning In Eastenders?

[RoverAndOut 4,745]

1 hour ago, Redrumours said:

Wasn't she married to Jim Branning In Eastenders?

 

Yes, John Bardon, who died back in 2014.