Dora Bryan

Dora Bryan (1923–2014): A Life in Laughter, Grit and Glitter

Dora May Broadbent—better known to generations of stage and screen audiences as Dora Bryan—was born on 7 February 1923 in Southport, Lancashire, and raised in a village near Oldham. Her early life was shaped by modest circumstances: her father Albert’s small mill failed, leaving him to make ends meet by selling bobbins door to door, while her mother Georgina encouraged young Dora to perform whenever she could. From an early age Bryan recognised that acting offered both adventure and attention, and she pursued it with single-minded determination.

Bryan’s first professional appearance came at the age of 12, dancing and singing in Jack and the Beanstalk with the Eileen Rogan Drury Lane Babes. Although she won a place at grammar school, she turned it down to pursue performance full-time, moving into pantomime in Glasgow and later appearing in Mother Goose in London with Max Wall. She trained at the London Academy of Music and the Manchester Repertory School before joining Oldham Rep as an assistant stage manager.

During the Second World War, she travelled to Italy with ENSA, entertaining British troops—an experience that strengthened her stagecraft and resilience. After the war she returned to Oldham Coliseum for six formative years before striking out for London.

Her West End debut proved auspicious. Cast in Noël Coward’s Private Lives, she was advised by Coward to adopt a more memorable stage name. She chose “Dora Bryant,” inspired (she said) by a box of Bryant and May matches lying nearby, but a typesetting slip dropped the final “t”—and “Dora Bryan” was born.

She quickly gained a reputation as a scene-stealing comic performer. Her breakthrough came in 1955 with The Water Gipsies; after the opening night, her success was so great that the theatre’s posters were revised to read “Dora Bryan in A.P. Herbert’s The Water Gipsies.” From then on, she became a reliable West End draw, starring in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1962), Hello, Dolly! (1966–68, and later again), revues such as My Name Is Dora (1967), and Shakespearean and classic roles including Mistress Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor (1984) and Mrs Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer (1985). She made her Broadway debut in 1987 in Pygmalion, playing Mrs Pearce opposite Peter O’Toole.

In 1994, she earned critical acclaim in Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party at the National Theatre, winning the Laurence Olivier Award (1995) for Best Supporting Actress.

Instantly recognisable by her bright, slightly husky, thoroughly individual voice, Bryan became a familiar film figure in the postwar decades, often cast as kindly but worldly “women of easy virtue.” Early roles included The Fallen Idol (1948), The Blue Lamp (1950), Gift Horse (1952), The Cockleshell Heroes (1955), The Green Man (1956), and Carry On Sergeant (1958). Though often in supporting roles, she brought warmth and wit to even the briefest appearances. By the time she was 37, Bryan had appeared in 28 films without ever having her name above the title.

Her most celebrated cinematic performance came as the self-absorbed, flamboyant Helen in Tony Richardson’s A Taste of Honey (1961), a role that won her the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress. Curiously, despite this triumph, Bryan made relatively few films thereafter; yet she remained constantly in demand on stage and television.

Bryan also appeared frequently on radio, including in Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, and in 1957 was featured by British Pathé in a short film about life in her caravan.

In later years she ventured into darker or more eccentric roles, including the cult Anglo-Argentine thriller Apartment Zero (1988), in which she and Liz Smith appeared as two wonderfully odd, corridor-snooping spinsters.

Bryan’s television work was prolific. She headlined her own BBC series, According to Dora (1968–69), and became a familiar face through appearances in On the Up (1990), dinnerladies (1998), and Absolutely Fabulous (1996, 2001). From 2000 to 2005 she played Ros Utterthwaite in Last of the Summer Wine, her final substantial TV role.

Her last screen appearance was in the short film Gone to the Dogs (2006).

In 1954, Bryan married cricketer Bill Lawton, whom she had met during the war. Their marriage lasted 54 years, until his death in 2008. Together they ran Brighton’s Clarges Hotel—later converted into flats—at 115–119 Marine Parade, and lived there for more than four decades. The hotel served as an exterior location for two Carry On films.

Her personal life was marked by both joy and hardship: she lost two babies born prematurely, suffered bouts of depression, and turned to Alcoholics Anonymous in the 1970s. Her conversion to Christianity, inspired by Cliff Richard, gave her comfort during difficult periods. She reduced professional commitments in her husband’s final years to care for him, and by 2013 she was living in a nursing home in Hove.

Bryan’s autobiography, According to Dora, appeared in 1987. She was the subject of This Is Your Life twice, in 1962 and 1989, and in 1996 she was appointed OBE for services to drama.

Even into her seventies she delighted in demonstrating that she could still perform the splits—an emblem of the irrepressible spirit that made her so beloved. Her 1963 novelty single All I Want for Christmas Is a Beatle reached number 20 on the UK charts and was later voted “Best Bad Record” on Top of the Pops, a distinction she accepted with relish.

On 31 May 2009, London’s Her Majesty’s Theatre hosted Dora – A Gala Charity Show in her honour. Friends and admirers including Cliff Richard, June Whitfield, Joanna Lumley and Rita Tushingham paid tribute to her generosity, humour and tenacity.

Dora Bryan died on 23 July 2014 at the age of 91. Her funeral was held at St George’s Church, Brighton. She was predeceased by her husband Bill and her daughter Georgina, and survived by her sons Daniel and William.

A blue plaque now marks her long-time Brighton home—an enduring reminder of an actress who, in the words of her friend Roy Hudd, “was greatly loved… somebody who could make us laugh is much more important than some great serious actor luvvie or lady.” Bryan’s legacy is that of a consummate performer whose mix of comedy, candour and courage made her one of Britain’s most cherished entertainers.