Dora Bryan
Born: 1923-02-07 in Parbold, Lancashire, England, UK
Died: 2014-07-23
Known For: Acting
Biography
Dora May Bryan OBE was an English actress of stage, film and television. Born Dora May Broadbent, her career began in pantomime as a child actor. In World War II she joined the ENSA in Italy to entertain British troops. After having established herself as a versatile stage actress, covering everything from drama and comedy to musicals, she started to appear in film in the late 1940s, and in 1968 she even had her own TV series, "According to Dora". At one point in her career she was Britain's highest-paid star. She was active on stage until the mid 1990s and continued to work in film and television until 2005, when she finally had to give up the acting profession as she could no longer remember her lines. Her autobiography According To Dora was published in 1987. In 1996, she was awarded an OBE in recognition of her services to acting and the same year she was also awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for her role in the West End production of the Harold Pinter play "The Birthday Party". She was married to British cricket player Bill Lawton from 1954 to his death in 2008. She lived in a nursing home in Hove, outside Brighton, until her death in 2014.
Filmography
2005
- MirrorMask as Aunt Nan
2003
- Thora Hird Tribute as Self (archive footage, uncredited)
2000
- Doctors as Lily Anderson
1999
- Hippies as Dame Nelly Fletcher
1998
- dinnerladies as Connie
1996
- Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout as Millie
1995
- Bed as Bosom Lady
1994
1993
- Frank Stubbs Promotes as Molly Bramley
1992
- Heartbeat as Jane Thompson
- Absolutely Fabulous as Dolly
- Virtual Murder as Mrs Mim
1991
- Performance as Bosom Lady
- Palmer as Monica
1990
1989
- Apartment Zero as Margaret McKinney
1986
- Casualty as Hester Blewett
1983
- Screamtime as Emma
1978
- An Audience with... as Self
1973
- Last of the Summer Wine as Roz
1972
- Both Ends Meet as Dora Page
- Up the Front as Auntie Cora Crumpington
1971
- Hands of the Ripper as Mrs. Golding
1967
- Before The Fringe
- Two a Penny as Ruby Hopkins
1966
- The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery as Amber Spottiswood
- The Sandwich Man as Mrs. De Vere
1964
- The Dream Machine as Self
1963
1961
- A Taste of Honey as Helen
- Happily Ever After as Dora Morgan
1960
- Alice Through the Looking Box as Queen
- Hello London as herself
- The Night We Got the Bird as Julie Skidmore
- Follow That Horse!
1959
- Operation Bullshine as Pvt. Cox
- Desert Mice as Gay Bennett
1958
- Carry On Sergeant as Norah
- Educating Archie
- The Man Who Wouldn't Talk as Telephonist
1957
- Theatre Night as Julie Skidmore
- Small Hotel as (uncredited)
1956
- The Green Man as Lily
- Child in the House as Cassie
1955
- The Sooty Show as Herself
- The Cockleshell Heroes as Myrtie
- As Long as They're Happy as May
- You Lucky People! as Hortense Tipp
1954
- Mad About Men as Berengaria
- The Crowded Day as Marge
- Fast and Loose as Mary Rawlings, the maid
- The Young Lovers as Switchboard Operator (uncredited)
- Harmony Lane as Comedian
- You Know What Sailors Are
1953
- The Intruder as Dora Bee
- The Fake as Barmaid
- Street Corner as Prostitute
- Women of Twilight as Olga
- The Real Thing as Dora
1952
- Whispering Smith vs. Scotland Yard as Miss La Fosse
- Gift Horse as Glad Flanagan
- The Ringer as Mrs. Hackett
- Time, Gentlemen, Please! as Peggy Stebbins
- Mother Riley Meets the Vampire as Tilly
- Miss Robin Hood as Pearl
- 13 East Street as Valerie
1951
- No Highway in the Sky
- Lady Godiva Rides Again as Movie Publicist
- Circle of Danger as Bubbles Fitzgerald
- Scarlet Thread as Maggie
- High Treason as Mrs. Bowers
- The Quiet Woman as Elsie Tripp
1950
- The Blue Lamp as Maisie
- No Trace as Maisie
- Traveller's Joy as Eva
- Something in the City as Waitress
1949
- The Interrupted Journey as the waitress
- Adam and Evelyne as Blonde Sales Assistant (uncredited)
- The Cure for Love as Jenny Jenkins
- Once Upon a Dream as Barmaid
- Don't Ever Leave Me as Talkative Hairdresser (uncredited)
- The Perfect Woman as Model in Shop
- Now Barabbas as Winnie
1948
- The Fallen Idol as Rose
- No Room at the Inn as The Girl
1947
- Odd Man Out as Girl in Telephone Kiosk (uncredited)