Anna Karen obituary
The actor Anna Karen, who has died in a house fire aged 85, was already appearing in a TV sitcom, Wild, Wild Women, as one of the workers in a millinery sweatshop, in 1969 when she was cast in another, in the role for which she is best remembered – Olive Rudge in the bawdy but hugely popular On the Buses.
The writing team of and , who created both programmes, conceived Olive as the dowdy, put-upon wife of the idle Arthur (played by Michael Robbins). They would appear alongside as Olive’s as his conductor, Jack, as their boss, Inspector “Blakey” Blake, and as Olive and Stan’s domineering mother. (Hare was the original choice for the role but was out of the country when the programme began, so was replaced for the first series by Cicely Courtneidge.)
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