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
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
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
- Up the Front as Auntie Cora Crumpington
- Both Ends Meet as Dora Page
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
1961
- A Taste of Honey as Helen
- Happily Ever After as Dora Morgan
1960
- Hello London as herself
- Alice Through the Looking Box as Queen
- Follow That Horse!
- The Night We Got the Bird as Julie Skidmore
1959
- Operation Bullshine as Pvt. Cox
- Desert Mice as Gay Bennett
1958
- Carry On Sergeant as Norah
- The Man Who Wouldn't Talk as Telephonist
- Educating Archie
1957
- Small Hotel as (uncredited)
- Theatre Night as Julie Skidmore
1956
- The Green Man as Lily
- Child in the House as Cassie
1955
- The Sooty Show as Herself
- The Cockleshell Heroes as Myrtie
- You Lucky People! as Hortense Tipp
- As Long as They're Happy as May
1954
- Harmony Lane as Comedian
- The Crowded Day as Marge
- Mad About Men as Berengaria
- The Young Lovers as Switchboard Operator (uncredited)
- You Know What Sailors Are
- Fast and Loose as Mary Rawlings, the maid
1953
- Street Corner as Prostitute
- The Intruder as Dora Bee
- The Fake as Barmaid
- Women of Twilight as Olga
- The Real Thing as Dora
1952
- Gift Horse as Glad Flanagan
- The Ringer as Mrs. Hackett
- Miss Robin Hood as Pearl
- Mother Riley Meets the Vampire as Tilly
- Whispering Smith Hits London as Miss La Fosse
- Time, Gentlemen, Please! as Peggy Stebbins
- 13 East Street as Valerie
1951
- Scarlet Thread as Maggie
- High Treason as Mrs. Bowers
- No Highway in the Sky
- Circle of Danger as Bubbles Fitzgerald
- The Quiet Woman as Elsie Tripp
- Lady Godiva Rides Again as Movie Publicist
1950
- Something in the City as Waitress
- Traveller's Joy as Eva
- The Blue Lamp as Maisie
- No Trace as Maisie
1949
- Now Barabbas as Winnie
- The Interrupted Journey as the waitress
- Adam and Evelyne as Blonde Sales Assistant (uncredited)
- The Perfect Woman as Model in Shop
- Once Upon a Dream as Barmaid
- The Cure for Love as Jenny Jenkins
- Don't Ever Leave Me as Talkative Hairdresser (uncredited)
1948
- The Fallen Idol as Rose
- No Room at the Inn as The Girl
1947
- Odd Man Out as Girl in Telephone Kiosk (uncredited)