Dora Bryan

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

Casualty

Heartbeat

Last of the Summer Wine

Doctors

Absolutely Fabulous

An Audience with...

The Sooty Show

Performance

All Movies (66)

• MirrorMask2005 · as Aunt Nan
• Thora Hird Tribute2003 · as Self (archive footage, uncredited)
• Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout1996 · as Millie
• Bed1995 · as Bosom Lady
• Palmer1991 · as Monica
• Apartment Zero1989 · as Margaret McKinney
• Screamtime1983 · as Emma
• Up the Front1972 · as Auntie Cora Crumpington
• Hands of the Ripper1971 · as Mrs. Golding
• Two a Penny1967 · as Ruby Hopkins
• The Sandwich Man1966 · as Mrs. De Vere
• The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery1966 · as Amber Spottiswood
• The Dream Machine1964 · as Self
• A Taste of Honey1961 · as Helen
• Alice Through the Looking Box1960 · as Queen
• Hello London1960 · as herself
• The Night We Got the Bird1960 · as Julie Skidmore
• Follow That Horse!1960
• Operation Bullshine1959 · as Pvt. Cox
• Desert Mice1959 · as Gay Bennett
• Carry On Sergeant1958 · as Norah
• The Man Who Wouldn't Talk1958 · as Telephonist
• Small Hotel1957 · as (uncredited)
• The Green Man1956 · as Lily
• Child in the House1956 · as Cassie
• The Cockleshell Heroes1955 · as Myrtie
• You Lucky People!1955 · as Hortense Tipp
• As Long as They're Happy1955 · as May
• Harmony Lane1954 · as Comedian
• Mad About Men1954 · as Berengaria
• The Crowded Day1954 · as Marge
• The Young Lovers1954 · as Switchboard Operator (uncredited)
• Fast and Loose1954 · as Mary Rawlings, the maid
• You Know What Sailors Are1954
• The Intruder1953 · as Dora Bee
• The Fake1953 · as Barmaid
• Street Corner1953 · as Prostitute
• Women of Twilight1953 · as Olga
• The Real Thing1953 · as Dora
• The Ringer1952 · as Mrs. Hackett
• Miss Robin Hood1952 · as Pearl
• Mother Riley Meets the Vampire1952 · as Tilly
• Time, Gentlemen, Please!1952 · as Peggy Stebbins
• Gift Horse1952 · as Glad Flanagan
• 13 East Street1952 · as Valerie
• Whispering Smith vs. Scotland Yard1952 · as Miss La Fosse
• High Treason1951 · as Mrs. Bowers
• Lady Godiva Rides Again1951 · as Movie Publicist
• No Highway in the Sky1951
• Scarlet Thread1951 · as Maggie
• Circle of Danger1951 · as Bubbles Fitzgerald
• The Quiet Woman1951 · as Elsie Tripp
• Traveller's Joy1950 · as Eva
• No Trace1950 · as Maisie
• Something in the City1950 · as Waitress
• The Blue Lamp1950 · as Maisie
• The Cure for Love1949 · as Jenny Jenkins
• The Interrupted Journey1949 · as the waitress
• Don't Ever Leave Me1949 · as Talkative Hairdresser (uncredited)
• Adam and Evelyne1949 · as Blonde Sales Assistant (uncredited)
• Now Barabbas1949 · as Winnie
• The Perfect Woman1949 · as Model in Shop
• Once Upon a Dream1949 · as Barmaid
• No Room at the Inn1948 · as The Girl
• The Fallen Idol1948 · as Rose
• Odd Man Out1947 · as Girl in Telephone Kiosk (uncredited)

All TV Shows (21)

• Doctors2000 · as Lily Anderson
• Hippies1999 · as Dame Nelly Fletcher
• dinnerladies1998 · as Connie
• Mother's Ruin1994
• Frank Stubbs Promotes1993 · as Molly Bramley
• Absolutely Fabulous1992 · as Dolly
• Virtual Murder1992 · as Mrs Mim
• Heartbeat1992 · as Jane Thompson
• Performance1991 · as Bosom Lady
• On the Up1990
• Casualty1986 · as Hester Blewett
• An Audience with...1978 · as Self
• Last of the Summer Wine1973 · as Roz
• Both Ends Meet1972 · as Dora Page
• Before The Fringe1967
• World in Action1963
• Happily Ever After1961 · as Dora Morgan
• Educating Archie1958
• Theatre Night1957 · as Julie Skidmore
• The Sooty Show1955 · as Herself
• According To Dora—