Dora Bryan
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.
Acting
Movie
MirrorMask
as Aunt Nan
2005
Movie
Odd Man Out
as Girl in Telephone Kiosk (uncredited)
1947
Movie
The Fallen Idol
as Rose
1948
TV
Absolutely Fabulous
as Dolly
1992
Movie
A Taste of Honey
as Helen
1961
TV
Casualty
as Hester Blewett
1986
Movie
Hands of the Ripper
as Mrs. Golding
1971
Movie
Carry On Sergeant
as Norah
1958
Movie
No Highway in the Sky
1951
Movie
The Blue Lamp
as Maisie
1950
Movie
Apartment Zero
as Margaret McKinney
1989
TV
Doctors
as Lily Anderson
2000
TV
Last of the Summer Wine
as Roz
1973
Movie
The Green Man
as Lily
1956
TV
dinnerladies
as Connie
1998
TV
Heartbeat
as Jane Thompson
1992
Movie
The Cockleshell Heroes
as Myrtie
1955
Movie
The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery
as Amber Spottiswood
1966
Movie
Circle of Danger
as Bubbles Fitzgerald
1951
Movie
Screamtime
as Emma
1983
Movie
Gift Horse
as Glad Flanagan
1952
Movie
Mother Riley Meets the Vampire
as Tilly
1952
Movie
Mad About Men
as Berengaria
1954
Movie
The Interrupted Journey
as the waitress
1949