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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Harry Rutter

On The Buses’ Anna Karen leaves most of £400,000 fortune to co-star Sophie Lawrence

Late On The Buses star Anna Karen has left the majority of her fortune to her former EastEnders co-star Sophie Lawrence.

The actress, who played Olive Rudge in the ITV transport sitcom between 1969 and 1973, died in a house fire at her home in Ilford earlier this year.

Her East London home went up in flames in February in a horror blaze which neighbours believe was started by a cigarette after she fell asleep while smoking.

"She was apparently in bed at the time of the fire. It’s thought she fell asleep with a cigarette,” a source told The Sun earlier this year.

She played Olive in 74 episodes of On The Buses (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Anna tragically died in a house fire in February (UK Press via Getty Images)

Her agent Shane Collins also told the publication: "We don’t know if it was an electrical fault or whether it was because she was smoking."

Anna had resided in London since she was 17 years old and lived in a modest terraced home.

Over £420,000 of her estate was left for her close friend Sophie, 50, who played Diane Butcher in EastEnders between 1988 and 1991.

Anna also appeared in EastEnders between 1996 and 2017, playing Aunt Sal, aunt of Grant and Phil Mitchell and sister of Peggy Mitchell, played by Barbara Windsor.

Anna left 65 per cent of her estate to Lawrence (PA)

According to probate records seen by the MailOnline, Anna's will left 65 per cent of her net estate to Lawrence after payment of funeral and legal costs, inheritance tax and a £1,500 legacy to another friend.

Anna’s will reportedly left a further fifth of the residuary of her estate to her stepdaughter Gloria Gill, the daughter of her actor husband Terry Duggan, who died in 2008.

Another eighth was left to four other friends or relatives and the final 2.5 per cent was left to the Actors' Benevolent Fund.

Anna Karen in EastEnders alongside Barbara Windsor (BBC)

Sophie, born in Ilford but now living in Norwich, finished her soap career and entered the music work, reaching number 21 in the UK singles charts in 1991 with a cover version of Donna Summer's 1977 song Love's Unkind.

Anna, born in South Africa, performed as a striptease artist to pay her way through drama school.

She portrayed the sister of bus driver Stan Butler, played by Reg Varney, in 74 episodes of On The Buses as well as three spin-off films.

She also appeared in the film comedies 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.

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