Though she was an acting icon, Susan Shaw died penniless and alone after her life was struck by tragedy. The Carry On Nurse star, whose real name was Patricia Gwendoline Sloots, was born in 1929 in London. By the 1940s she was acting in musicals like Walking on Air, before she landed bigger roles in It Always Rains on Sunday and To the Public Danger.

But despite her incredible career, which also included theatre credits in Peter Pan, Rebecca and The Blue Lamp, Susan's life off-screen was a tragic one. Her first marriage to German actor Albert Lieven ended in divorce after the pair welcomed daughter Anna together. Just a year later, Susan was ready to tie the knot again.

She married actor Bonar Colleano in 1954, and they quickly welcomed son Mark together. But by 1958, Bonar was almost £10,000 in debt - around £205,000 in today's money - due to his "extravagant lifestyle".

By August that year, Bonar was dead. He was killed in a traffic collision, which left Susan devastated, and she sadly descended into alcohol addiction, giving their son to his grandmother as she could no longer raise him.

Things continued to spiral. In 1959, Susan married for a third time, to TV producer Ronald Rowson. After just a year of marriage the pair divorced, with Ronald claiming Susan had cheated on him with writer Stanley Mann.

By the 70s, Susan was penniless and alone, living in Soho. She died in 1978 of cirrhosis of the liver - and her funeral was paid for by the Rank Organisation.

Pub landlord Charlie Stevenson admitted at the time: "She came in here every day. They say she died of cirrhosis of the liver and she lived next door to prostitutes in Soho. But this is Soho. We all live next door to prostitutes.

"We loved her and we weren't going to see her buried in a pauper's grave. Now we shall give the money to medical charities."