Name
Dora Bryan
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1923-02-07
Deathday
2014-07-23 (91 years old)
Place of Birth
Parbold, Lancashire, England, UK
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.
Known For
6.4
In a fantasy world of opposing kingdoms, a 15-year old girl must find the fabled MirrorMas...
7.1
While out to avoid spending time with her narcissistic and promiscuous mother, sixteen-yea...
7.3
Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robber...
7.2
Phillipe, the son of an ambassador in London, hero-worships his father's butler Baines. Hi...
6.6
P.C. George Dixon is a long-serving traditional copper who is due to retire shortly. He ta...
5.9
During WW2, German ships are "safely" docked upriver at Bordeaux, but the British send a t...
7
James Stewart plays aeronautical engineer Theodore Honey, the quintessential absent-minded...
6.4
Sergeant Grimshawe wants to retire in the flush of success by winning the Star Squad prize...
5.9
Marjory Clark wins a competition in her Midland town and finds herself in a Festival of Br...
6.2
A series of murders occur that mirror those committed by the Whitechapel Ripper. Through h...
- 1989 Apartment Zero as Margaret McKinney
- 1961 A Taste of Honey as Helen
- 1958 Carry On Sergeant as Norah
- 1966 The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery as Amber Spottiswood
- 2005 MirrorMask as Aunt Nan
- 1955 The Cockleshell Heroes as Myrtie
- 1972 Up the Front as Auntie Cora Crumpington
- 1950 No Trace as Maisie
- 1971 Hands of the Ripper as Mrs. Golding
- 1950 The Blue Lamp as Maisie
- 1966 The Sandwich Man as Mrs. De Vere
- 1958 The Man Who Wouldn't Talk as Telephonist
- 1953 The Fake as Barmaid
- 1954 Mad About Men as Berengaria
- 1949 Now Barabbas as Winnie
- 1954 Fast and Loose as Mary Rawlings, the maid
- 1955 You Lucky People! as Hortense Tipp
- 1967 Two a Penny as Ruby Hopkins
- 1952 Miss Robin Hood as Pearl
- 1995 Bed as Bosom Lady
- 1960 The Night We Got the Bird as Julie Skidmore
- 1950 Traveller's Joy as Eva
- 1996 Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout as Millie
- 1952 The Ringer as Mrs. Hackett
- 1959 Operation Bullshine as Pvt. Cox
- 1954 You Know What Sailors Are
- 1949 The Interrupted Journey as the waitress
- 1951 High Treason as Mrs. Bowers
- 1949 Once Upon a Dream as Barmaid
- 1959 Desert Mice as Gay Bennett
- 1951 Scarlet Thread as Maggie
- 1952 Mother Riley Meets the Vampire as Tilly
- 1950 Something in the City as Waitress
- 1953 The Real Thing as Dora
- 1960 Alice Through the Looking Box as Queen
- 1960 Follow That Horse!
- 1951 The Quiet Woman as Elsie Tripp
- 1952 Gift Horse as Glad Flanagan
- 1991 Palmer as Monica
- 1956 Child in the House as Cassie
- 1952 13 East Street as Valerie
- 1960 Hello London as herself
- 1953 Street Corner as Prostitute
- 1956 The Green Man as Lily
- 1952 Whispering Smith vs. Scotland Yard as Miss La Fosse
- 1953 Women of Twilight as Olga
- 1954 Harmony Lane as Comedian
- 1954 The Young Lovers as Switchboard Operator (uncredited)
- 1951 Lady Godiva Rides Again as Movie Publicist
- 1953 The Intruder as Dora Bee
- 1948 The Fallen Idol as Rose
- 1983 Screamtime as Emma
- 1951 Circle of Danger as Bubbles Fitzgerald
- 1949 The Cure for Love as Jenny Jenkins
- 1952 Time, Gentlemen, Please! as Peggy Stebbins
- 1954 The Crowded Day as Marge
- 1955 As Long as They're Happy as May
- 1951 No Highway in the Sky
- 1948 No Room at the Inn as The Girl
- 1957 Small Hotel as (uncredited)
- 1947 Odd Man Out as Girl in Telephone Kiosk (uncredited)
- 1949 Adam and Evelyne as Blonde Sales Assistant (uncredited)
- 1949 The Perfect Woman as Model in Shop
- 1949 Don't Ever Leave Me as Talkative Hairdresser (uncredited)
- 1964 The Dream Machine as Self
- 2003 Thora Hird Tribute as Self (archive footage, uncredited)
- 1990 On the Up ( 19 episodes )
- 1992 Heartbeat ( 1 episode ) as Jane Thompson
- 1973 Last of the Summer Wine ( 60 episodes ) as Roz
- 1998 dinnerladies ( 1 episode ) as Connie
- 1967 Before The Fringe ( 14 episodes )
- Soon According To Dora ( 14 episodes )
- 1991 Performance ( 1 episode ) as Bosom Lady
- 1986 Casualty ( 1 episode ) as Hester Blewett
- 1978 An Audience with... ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 1955 The Sooty Show ( 2 episodes ) as Herself
- 1994 Mother's Ruin ( 6 episodes )
- 1993 Frank Stubbs Promotes ( 1 episode ) as Molly Bramley
- 2000 Doctors ( 1 episode ) as Lily Anderson
- 1972 Both Ends Meet ( 7 episodes ) as Dora Page
- 1958 Educating Archie ( 1 episode )
- 1961 Happily Ever After ( 12 episodes ) as Dora Morgan
- 1957 Theatre Night ( 1 episode ) as Julie Skidmore
- 1999 Hippies ( 1 episode ) as Dame Nelly Fletcher
- 1992 Absolutely Fabulous ( 1 episode ) as Dolly
- 1963 World in Action ( 1 episode )
- 1992 Virtual Murder ( 1 episode ) as Mrs Mim
