Dora Bryan
Birthday: Born in 1923-02-07 in Parbold, Lancashire, England, UK
Deathday: 2014-07-23
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.
TV Credits
On the Up
Character:
On the Up is a British sitcom written by Bob Larbey about a self-made millionaire and his staff of domestic helpers who he treats like family, much to the annoyance of his upper class wife. The show ran for three series, from 1990 to 1992....
Heartbeat
Character: Jane Thompson
Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines....
Last of the Summer Wine
Character: Roz
Unencumbered by wives, jobs or any other responsibilities, three senior citizens who've never really grown up explore their world in the Yorkshire Dales. They spend their days speculating about their fellow townsfolk and thinking up adventures not usually favored by the elderly. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse in 1973. The show ran for 295 episodes until 2010. It is the longest running comedy Britain has produced and the longest running sitcom in the world....
Absolutely Fabulous
Character: Dolly
Set in the world of fashion and PR, immature fun-loving mother Edina Monsoon and her best friend Patsy drive Eddie's sensible daughter, Saffron, up the wall with their constant drug abuse and outrageous selfishness. Numerous in-jokes and heavy doses of cruel humour have made this series a cult hit in the UK and abroad....
Virtual Murder
Character:
John Cornelius (called JC) is a university don who also works for his city police force as a consultant psychologist. Samantha Valentine is his offbeat personal assistant and lover, while Inspector Cadogan is their police contact and Professor Owen Griffiths is Cornelius's head of department....
dinnerladies
Character: Connie
Dinnerladies is a BBC sitcom written by and starring Victoria Wood that chronicles the antics of a group of workers in a canteen in the north of England. Bren tries to maintain a semblance of order in amongst the chaos, while dealing with the canteen supervisor, slightly sex-obsessed cancer sufferer Tony. Dolly and Jean are the bickering menopausal older women, always at odds but best friends beneath it all. Then there's thick-as-two-short-planks Anita, and the terminally uninterested Twinkle, m...
Performance
Character: Bosom Lady
An anthology series of various plays and dramatic performances....
Casualty
Character: Hester Blewett
Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives....
An Audience with...
Character: Self
An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style....
The Sooty Show
Character: Herself
The Sooty Show is a British children's Puppet series which aired on the BBC from 1955 to 1967 and ITV from 1968 to 1992. It follows the adventures and comedic day to day life of puppets Sooty, Sweep and Soo with their owner Harry Corbett, and in later years, his son Matthew....
Doctors
Character: Lily Anderson
Set in the fictional Midlands town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the city of Birmingham, this soap opera follows the staff and families of a doctor's surgery....
Last of the Summer Wine
Character: Ros
Unencumbered by wives, jobs or any other responsibilities, three senior citizens who've never really grown up explore their world in the Yorkshire Dales. They spend their days speculating about their fellow townsfolk and thinking up adventures not usually favored by the elderly. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse in 1973. The show ran for 295 episodes until 2010. It is the longest running comedy Britain has produced and the longest running sitcom in the world....
Movie Credits
Apartment Zero
Character: Margaret McKinney
In a rundown area of Buenos Aires, at the dawn of the 1980s, Adrian LeDuc owns both a struggling movie theater and a shabby apartment building filled with eccentric, squabbling tenants. To make ends meet, Adrian takes in a roommate, Jack Carney, but soon begins to suspect that the quiet American is responsible for a series of political assassinations that are rocking the city....
A Taste of Honey
Character: Helen
While out to avoid spending time with her narcissistic and promiscuous mother, sixteen-year-old Jo has a brief affair that leaves her pregnant and abandoned. When her mother remarries, Jo's only support becomes her friend Geoffrey, a homosexual....
Carry On Sergeant
Character: Norah
Sergeant Grimshawe wants to retire in the flush of success by winning the Star Squad prize with his very last platoon of newly called-up National Servicemen. But a motley bunch they turn out to be, and it's up to Grimshawe to put the no-hopers through their paces....
The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery
Character: Amber Spottiswood
The all-girl school foil an attempt by train robbers to recover two and a half million pounds hidden in their school....
MirrorMask
Character: Aunt Nan
In a fantasy world of opposing kingdoms, a 15-year old girl must find the fabled MirrorMask in order to save the kingdom and get home....
The Cockleshell Heroes
Character: Myrtie
During WW2, German ships are "safely" docked upriver at Bordeaux, but the British send a team of kayakers to attack them....
Up the Front
Character: Cora Crumpington
In Frankie Howerd's third Up... film it's World War I and he plays Lurk, an absolute cowerd, er coward. He's evading the call-up for all he's worth. But one evening he's hypnotised by a drunken hypnotist (Stanley Holloway) into being brave, but he fails to be released from it. So with his yellow streak gone Lurk is down that army office before you can say "titter ye not." Off to war he goes, mingling with sexy spies like Zsa Zsa Gabor and before long, the spellbound recruit is heading hot-foot b...
No Trace
Character: Maisie
A famous mystery writer uses his own plot tricks to murder a blackmailer in this British thriller....
Hands of the Ripper
Character: Mrs. Golding
A series of murders occur that mirror those committed by the Whitechapel Ripper. Through his experiments with psychoanalysis Dr Pritchard discovers a deadly violence in one of his young female patients. As he delves into the recesses of her mind he uncovers that Anna is possessed by her dead father's spirit, willing her to commit acts of gruesome savagery over which she has no control. But the most chilling revelation of all is the identity of her father: Jack the Ripper himself....
The Blue Lamp
Character: Maisie
P.C. George Dixon is a long-serving traditional copper who is due to retire shortly. He takes a new recruit under his aegis and introduces him to the easy-going night beat. Dixon is a classic ordinary hero but also anachronistic, unprepared and unable to answer the violence of the 1950s....
The Sandwich Man
Character: Mrs. De Vere
A man with a sandwich-board (advert) wanders around London meeting many strange characters....
The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
Character: Telephonist
American scientist Dr. Frank Smith is brought to Britain to help the C.I.A. There is a defecting East block scientist they want him to debrief. The commies are less than amused and set Dr. Smith up for a murder....
The Fake
Character: Barmaid
Someone is stealing priceless paintings from the great museums of the world and replacing them with nearly flawless forgeries. Leonardo da Vinci's "Madonna and Child" is being shipped to London's Tate Gallery for a special exhibition, and Paul Mitchell is assigned to protect it. Upon the painting's arrival, Paul realizes it has been switched. Eager to collect the museum's $50,000 reward, he teams up with Mary Mason, a Tate employee, to recover the original....
Mad About Men
Character: Berengaria
Flirtatious mermaid Miranda swaps places with a schoolteacher who has gone on holiday. All is well until she falls in love with a human....
Now Barabbas
Character: Winnie
A prison governor deals with a variety of different prisoners, including a charming murderer....
Fast and Loose
Character: Mary Rawlings, the maid
An unmarried couple are forced to adopt a series of pretexts when they stay at a country inn together with only one spare room....
You Lucky People!
Character: Hortense Tipp
Reservist Tommy Smart - who has made his fortune since the war selling army surplus - arrives at an army camp, with his chauffeur/valet, for two weeks' training. Bank manager Corporal Jones is in Tommy's squad. Sylvia, Jones' daughter, wishes to marry Lieutenant Robson, a National Service officer. Smart is under the orders of his old enemy Sergeant Thickpenny and R.S.M. Brittain; various parade ground antics ensue....
Two A Penny
Character: Ruby Hopkins
Set in London's Swiinging Sixties, Cliff Richard plays Jamie Hopkins, an art student whose desperate need for money leads him to dabble in the underworld of drug dealing. Cliff has stated that Two A Penny, his most dramatically challenging movie role ever, is the film he is proudest of. He has stated, "if I did want to send a fiolm as a CV, I would send that one". It is certainly his most demanding and controversial role; cynical, self centered and highly manipulative, Jamie Hopkins lies, steals...
Miss Robin Hood
Character: Pearl
In this delightful fantasy adventure, a mild-mannered writer of adventure stories for girls finds himself presented with an intriguing proposition from an elderly fan. She suggests that they conspire to steal a secret whiskey formula from ruthless distillers, who themselves stole it from her family in years gone by. With the recipe back in hand however, it's not long before they attract attention from the Inspectors of Scotland Yard....
Bed
Character: Bosom Lady
Surreal drama about seven old people living in the same bed, by Jim Cartwright....
The Night We Got the Bird
Character: Julie Skidmore
Good natured comic caper charting the misadventures of a hapless bunch of Brighton based petty crooks dogged with disaster at every turn....
Traveller's Joy
Character: Eva
A divorced couple, living hand-to-mouth in Stockholm, must first pay their hotel bill before returning to England. To raise the necessary funds, they must pretend that they're still married....
Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout
Character: Millie
Eddy and Patsy prepare to go on a skiing holiday to hopefully indulge in the jet-setting lifestyle of the international celebrity elite when Saffy is proposed to by her stuffy, upper-class boyfriend, Paolo. Eddy hits the slopes and has a near death experience where God appears to her and tells her it's not yet her time. When Eddy comes to, she waits for a sign that she should get involved in Saffy's wedding. As she returns to the house, it appears all hell has broken loose- relatives piling up, ...
The Ringer
Character: Mrs. Hackett
An underhand solicitor receives threatening notes, and the police are called in to protect him....
Operation Bullshine
Character: Pvt. Cox
During World War II, a Royal Artillery officer is assigned to an anti-aircraft battery that is filled with female soldiers of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. His wife who has enlisted is mistakenly posted to the battery in violation of regulations of husbands and wives serving together in the same formation. She becomes jealous of what she perceives as him paying too much attention to the other Auxiliary Territorial Service women....
You Know What Sailors Are
Character:
The best of British humor is on display in this satirical cold war romp! Donald Sinden plays Lieutenant Green, a radar expert in the Royal Navy. One night, whilst under the influence of alcohol, he welds an old pram to the deck of a foreign destroyer for a joke. The next morning, British Intelligence is desperate to know what the enemy’s new weapon is. To cover his tracks, Green calls it the ‘998’. When he is posted to the destroyer to explain about radar techniques, Green soon realizes that his...
The Interrupted Journey
Character: the waitress
When John North, a budding author, pulls the communication cord of a late night train that is taking him away on a weekend with his publishers wife, he sets in motion a series of events that lead to a train crash, a murder and a police man hunt, but all is not what it seems....
High Treason
Character: Mrs. Bowers
Men from Scotland Yard and military intelligence build a dossier on a sabotage ring....
Once Upon a Dream
Character: Barmaid
An officer's wife has a romantic dream about her husband's man (servant) and comes to believe it is true. Meanwhile the husband has asked his servant to help him, after the war, to suggest ways to ignite the romance he and his wife had before the war, as well as find a way to make money in a post-war economy....
Desert Mice
Character: Gay Bennett
A World War II farce that follows the antics of an ENSA (Entertainment National Service Association) group. Fresh from the music halls, they bumble their way from army camp to camp....
Scarlet Thread
Character: Maggie
Tale of Cambridge college exploits of two smash-and-grab thieves on the run....
Mother Riley Meets the Vampire
Character: Tilly
The legendary Bela Lugosi as "the Vampire" teams up with Britain's much-loved "Mother Riley" in this hilarious comedy adventure. The Vampire plans to control the world with the help of his robot, which accidentally gets shipped to Mother Riley. Through radar control, he contacts the robot and orders it to come to him, bringing along Mother Riley! But his life is turned upside down when he holds this most meddling of mothers captive....
Something in the City
Character: Waitress
A man hides the fact that he lost his job from his wife by apparently going off to work each day as normal but runs into trouble when he is tailed by a reporter....
Alice Through the Looking Box
Character:
A Christmas TV special in which Alice does not go through a looking glass, but through a TV set....
The Quiet Woman
Character: Elsie Tripp
The former wife of a criminal moves to a coastal town and takes over the running of a bar known as The Quiet Woman. She becomes outraged when she discovers the previous owner had allowed local smugglers to use it as a base. She soon has become romantically involved with one of the smugglers, which causes enormous problems when a customs officer turns up, followed closely by her former husband....
Gift Horse
Character: Glad Flanagan
Compton Bennett's war drama The Gift Horse follows the fortunes of ageing destroyer The Ballantrae and her crew from the time they come together in 1940 until the climactic raid on occupied St Nazaire in 1942. Trevor Howard plays Lt Cmdr Hugh Alginon Fraser, the newly appointed captain, back in service after having left the navy following a court martial....
Palmer
Character: Monica
Eddie Palmer attempts to run a private investigation bureau while coping with eccentric staff, an acrimonious divorce and a wayward daughter....
Child in the House
Character: Cassie
A lonely child must stay with her uncaring aunt and uncle after her mother is hospitalized. Her estranged father is a fugitive. For love and companionship, the eleven-year old girl becomes friends with the housemaid. When at long last, she meets her dad, she must vow to never reveal his location to the police....
13 East Street
Character: Valerie
When police inspector Gerald Blake wants to infiltrate a London stolen-goods gang, he does a thorough job of it. First, he robs a jewelry store, gets caught and is sentenced to prison. Then he teams up with gang-member Joey to make their escape. Once in the gang, Blake identifies the boss, Larry, and most of the other thieves, but not the "inside man." As a big fur job looms closer, the detective's task is complicated by the playful but seductive advances of Judy, a dazzling blonde who happens a...
Street Corner
Character: Prostitute
A pseudo-documentary focusing on the daily work and routine of women police officers built around three different storylines....
The Green Man
Character: Lily
Unknown to everyone but his shady Middle Eastern bosses, watchmaker Hawkins is actually a professional hired assassin with a predilection for killing his targets with bombs. After disposing of a dictator and millionaire, Hawkins is assigned to kill a politician who is heading to a remote hotel, The Green Man, for a secret tryst with his secretary. There, however, Hawkins' plot is discovered by vacuum salesman William Blake, who determines to stop him....
Whispering Smith Vs. Scotland Yard
Character: Miss La Fosse
Mystery directed by Francis Searle....
Women of Twilight
Character: Olga
When a nightclub singer is arrested for murder, his pregnant girlfriend moves into a boarding house for women, but the mother-to-be soon discovers that her new lodgings harbors a horrific secret....
Harmony Lane
Character: Comedian
The first British 3D short, this delightful 27 minute short is like spending a night at the Palladium with several variety acts. They include dancing by the Jack Billings Trio; a song by the Beverley Sisters; "Swan Lake" by Svetlana Beriosova and David Paltenghi of the Sadler's Wells Ballet; precision dancing by The Television Toppers and a comedy routine with Dora Bryan and Max Bygraves....
The Young Lovers
Character: Switchboard Operator (uncredited)
A young employee of the British State Department falls in love with the daughter of a top Russian diplomat, much to the panic of their respective countries' officials, who suspect espionage. The cast includes David Knight, Odile Versois, Theodore Bikel and David Kossoff....
Lady Godiva Rides Again
Character: Movie Publicist
Marjory Clark wins a competition in her Midland town and finds herself in a Festival of Britain procession as Lady Godiva - though not in the buff. This leads by way of a suspect beauty competition to the show-business world of London. But it could be a slippery slope for simple home-town Marge....
The Intruder
Character: Dora Bee
When Ex Colonel Merton discovers a burglar ransacking his home, he is shocked to find out that the thief is a former soldier from his tank regiment. When the thief escapes, Merton tries to contact former members of the regiment, in order to find out what set the thief on the road to crime....
The Fallen Idol
Character: Rose
Phillipe, the son of an ambassador in London, idolizes Baines, his father's butler, a kind of hero in the eyes of the child, whose perception changes when he accidentally discovers the secret that Baines keeps and witnesses the consequences that adults' lies can cause....
Screamtime
Character: Emma
Compilation of three short horror films: "That's The Way To Do It", "Dreamhouse" and "Do You Believe In Fairies?" plus some new linking material....
Circle of Danger
Character: Bubbles Fitzgerald
An American comes to Britain to investigate the murky circumstances of his brother's death that occurred during a WW2 commando raid....
The Cure for Love
Character: Jenny Jenkins
Sergeant Jack Hardacre returns from the war to his contemptible fiancée Janey Jenkins intending to reconcile with her against all odds. But he falls in love with a charming new lodger Milly Southern instead....
Time, Gentlemen, Please!
Character: Peggy Stebbins
Because of its high productivity and "almost" 100 per cent employment, the town of Hayhoe, England is expecting a visit from the Prime Minister. The "almost" is because of Dan Dance (Eddie Byrne), an old rogue who would rather drink and philosophize than work. The Village Council are determined to have a perfect record so they connive to have the old man put into the alms-house which has been unoccupied for many years, where he must abide by rules laid down 400 years ago. A new Vicar arrives and...
The Crowded Day
Character: Marge
One day in the lives and loves of the staff in a large department store....
As Long as They're Happy
Character: May
The suburban peace of the Bentley household is shattered when John Bentley is informed by his wife Stella that their two married daughters, Pat and Corrine are in trouble and need funds to come home and bring their husbands, Peter, a penniless Parisian artist and Barnaby, a Texas cowboy, with them. And the youngest daughter, Gwen, has tricked an American singer, Bobby Denver, into visiting them on the pretext that it is the home of a noted British film magnate. When all the women in the househol...
No Highway in the Sky
Character:
James Stewart plays aeronautical engineer Theodore Honey, the quintessential absent-minded professor: eccentric, forgetful, but brilliant. His studies show that the aircraft being manufactured by his employer has a subtle but deadly design flaw that manifests itself only after the aircraft has flown a certain number of hours. En route to a crash site to prove his theory, Honey discovers that he is aboard a plane rapidly approaching his predicted deadline....
No Room at the Inn
Character: The Girl
A group of children are evacuated during world war two into the care of an alcoholic woman....
Small Hotel
Character: (uncredited)
The dining room of the Jolly Fiddler has long been presided over by Albert, an aged but very shrewd waiter. A past master of the gentle art of fiddling, he extracts the maximum profit from his job while managing to endear himself to both the customers and staff. Then, there's a visit from Mr Finch, who feels it's time Albert was replaced....
Odd Man Out
Character: Girl in Telephone Kiosk (uncredited)
Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery....
Adam and Evelyne
Character: Blonde Sales Assistant (uncredited)
A handsome gambler unwittingly becomes guardian of an orphaned, teenaged girl....
The Perfect Woman
Character: Model in Shop
In need of cash, Roger Cavendish and his valet take a job escorting the perfect woman for a night on the town. She is in fact the robotic creation of Professor Belman, but it turns out rather to be the Professor's niece Penelope doing a pretty good imitation of the perfect Olga who winds up with them in the bridal suite at the Hotel Splendide....
Don't Ever Leave Me
Character: Talkative Hairdresser (uncredited)
Elderly crook Harry Denton, when challenged to prove he is "not past it," decides to kidnap Sheila Farlane, the 16 year old daughter of a famous actor. When Harry loses his nerve, Sheila won't let him give up....