EastEnder star Wendy Richard dies

LONDON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Wendy Richard, a British TV star who spent more than 20 years in the soap opera, "EastEnders," has died of breast cancer at age 65.

Richard, who revealed in October she was terminally ill, died Thursday with her husband of four months at her side, The Telegraph reported.

In a career that began in 1960 and included movies as well as television, Richard was best known for her work in two long-running shows that were broadcast around the world. From 1972 to 1985, she played the sexy department store clerk Miss Shirley Brahms on the sitcom "Are You Being Served?" and from 1985 to 1986 she was Pauline Fowler, one of the matriarchs of Albert Square, on "EastEnders."

James Alexandrou, who played her young son Martin starting in 1996 when he was 11, told "What's On TV" that he collapsed when he heard of Richard's death. He said he called her "his second Mum."

Richard, an original cast member, left the show in 2006 because the screenwriters wanted her character to remarry after several years of widowhood.

She received an M.B.E. in 2000 for her services to drama.

A political conservative, Richard once refused to allow her character to criticize Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during a scene on "EastEnders."