Barbara Windsor has paid tribute to Cilla Black, calling her "very, very professional".
The actress told BBC News that she had seen Black only recently and that although she had been ill, she looked "immaculate".
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"It's awful. I was only with her a couple of weeks ago. I've seen her twice in the last few weeks," she said. "And as always she looked immaculate. That was the thing about Cilla, she always looked spot-on. But I knew she wasn't very well, she didn't seem well.
"It's ever so desperately sad. I last saw her at Paul O'Grady's party and we had a long, long chat. It was really good to see her and I sent her up a little bit because I said, 'You know what, I've been standing here. Only you would get the only seat in the house'.
"We talked about something she felt she was going to do at the Palladium."
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Windsor added that she got on well with Black because they shared a passion for professionalism.
"She was very, very professional," she said. "It all had to be the right way. That's how I got on well with her. When we did the Royal Command together, me, her and Paul, we rehearsed like crazy to get it right.
"I liked her, we got on well. She was nothing like me in personality at all, but she was a good, good all-round performer.
"She could do it all. I would have liked to have seen her do more comedy, because she had a great sense of humour."
Tributes have been flying in for Black since news of her death was broken earlier today, including from Black's close friend Paul O'Grady.
Cilla Black 1943-2015 - Life of a showbiz icon in pictures:
Cilla Black 1943-2015: Life of a showbiz icon in pictures
Reporter & Sub-Editor, Digital Spy Susannah is a freelance writer and sub-editor, specialising in the entertainment industry. She graduated in 2014, with a BA in English and American Literature and Creative Writing, and an MA in Creative Producing. She’s been writing for Digital Spy ever since, after first getting involved through work experience, and has written hundreds of stories for the site on a range of topics, from The Sims to Doctor Who. Susannah has also written for Reveal Magazine. Her special interests are soaps (her Mastermind subject would be 2000s Coronation Street), Marvel and Star Wars. She can also quote far too many lines from Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
