Ann Harrison McCall (19 September 1936 – 22 February 2022), professionally known as Anna Karen, was a British actress best known for playing Olive Rudge in the ITV sitcom On the Buses from 1969 to 1973 including its film spin-offs and stage version and Aunt Sal in the BBC soap opera EastEnders on a recurring basis from 1996 to 2017.

Impressed with her performance, they offered her the role of Olive, the dowdy, overweight, bespectacled, sexually frustrated younger sister of Stan (Reg Varney), and wife of Arthur Rudge (Michael Robbins) in their forthcoming sitcom On the Buses.

Karen and co-stars Bob Grant and Stephen Lewis were the only members of the cast to appear in all seventy-four episodes of the series, as well as the three feature films.

[17] The pilot was also written by Grant aiming to reinvigorate his declining career due to the typecasting he received from On the Buses, however it was not commissioned for a series.

[18] From 1977 to 1978, Karen reprised the role of Olive in the LWT revival of the sitcom The Rag Trade created by the same writers as On the Buses.

In 1981, Karen had a main role in the sci-fi children's film Stainless Steel and the Star Spies about a group of robots intending to invade Earth to claim a crystal ball with extraterrestrial qualities.

[21] From 1985 to 1986, Karen had a main role in the sitcom Troubles and Strife alongside Annette Badland, however the series was not a success.

In 1996, she played a supporting role in the film Beautiful Thing, as a neighbour of the main characters, Ste and Jamie.

[22] Alongside EastEnders, in the late 1990s, Karen appeared in a number of educational films as well as an episode of Goodnight Sweetheart.

In 2006, Karen used her experience as a striptease dancer to act as a judge in the final edition of Channel 4's reality television documentary Faking It.

[23] Karen was also a regular in pantomimes over the years, and played the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella at the Millfield Theatre, in Edmonton, London, at Christmas 2008.

[32] Karen regularly taught drama on Saturday mornings at Brewers Academy, based in Hornchurch, East London.

[29] Karen's funeral took place on 18 March 2022 at Golders Green Crematorium and was attended by many of her co-stars, including John Altman, Jamie Borthwick, Peter Dean, Linda Lusardi, Kate Williams and Vicki Michelle.