Carry On star Anita Harris was previously left "homeless and penniless" despite once being the world's highest paid cabaret artist. The actress, 83, who appeared in two Carry On films in 1967 and 1969, admitted in 2009 that she and her TV director husband Mike Margolis couldn't repay their debts worth £50,000. At the time, Anita was staying in her friend's spare room after their money troubles left her homeless. The performer also feared she would end up living in her car after having arguments with her friends.
She said: "We had a series of bad blows and they keep coming. I get up every morning at five and pray. We are not two people who want to owe anyone anything." In 2007, the couple were forced to sell their £900,000 home in South West London along with most of their belongings in order to stay financially afloat.
Anita portrayed Nurse Clarke in Carry On Doctor and Ellen Moore in Carry On Again Doctor two years later. But she amassed a fortune as a vocalist and performer, launching numerous chart-topping singles.
Her biggest hit, Just Loving You, released in 1967, reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart and stayed in the Top 40 for several months.
She went on to become a popular act on the UK cabaret circuit throughout the 1970s and 1980s, headlining at top cabaret venues in the UK and abroad, including prestigious London clubs and theatres.
She was also a regular on televised variety and cabaret shows. Anita and Mike lost their life savings when the Banque de Rhône et de la Tamise in Geneva collapsed in 1985.
At the time, the couple were living in a home in London’s Hyde Park Gate. The loss of their savings and home thrust them into severe financial hardship.
She recalled it as “an awful, black time,” but said they eventually “picked ourselves up and we worked, worked, worked".
Despite the hardship, Anita and her husband kept working and she took on TV roles and stage work.
Several years later in 2014, the couple faced a bankruptcy petition from HM Revenue & Customs, but the bankruptcy order was annulled after they reached an agreement to repay debts and avoid outright bankruptcy.
Mike died aged 83 in 2023, less than one week after the couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.
