Dora May Broadbent, (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television. Early life Bryan was born in Southport, Lancashire. Her father was a salesman and she attended Hathershaw County Primary School in Oldham, Lancashire. Her career began in pantomime before the Second World War, during which she joined ENSA in Italy to entertain British troops. Career Stage Bryan made her stage debut as a child in a pantomime in Manchester, and encouraged by her mother, joined the Oldham Repertory while still a teenager. After spending six years honing her craft there, she moved to London to develop her stage career, becoming a regular performer in the West End. Cast in a production of Noël Coward's Private Lives, the actress was encouraged to adopt a stage name by Coward himself. She opted for Dora Bryant, which she often said was inspired by a box of Bryant and May matches that were lying on the table, but a typographical error left off the last letter on the theatre credits and she became Dora Bryan. In 1955, Bryan received theatrical recognition when, after the first night of a production of A.P. Herbert's The Water Gypsies, the billing outside was changed to "Dora Bryan in A.P. Herbert's The Water Gipsies. It was Bryan's first venture into West End musical comedy, in which she played Lily Bell, and was a personal triumph. The show's hit songs, sung by Bryan, included "Why Did You Call Me Lily?", "You Never Know with Men", and "It Would Cramp My Style". Throughout her career, she continued to perform on the stage, often appearing in musicals such as Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1962) and Hello, Dolly! (1966–1968). She also headlined a number of stage revues such as The Dora Bryan Show (1966), "My Name Is Dora" (1967) and An Evening with Dora Bryan and Friends (1968). She made her Broadway debut as Mrs. Pierce in Pygmalion (1987), starring Peter O'Toole and Amanda Plummer. Other credits include her first Shakespearean role, Mistress Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor (1984), Mrs. Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer (1985) and Carlotta Campion (singing "I'm Still Here") in the 1987 London production of the Stephen Sondheim-James Goldman musical Follies. In 1992, she toured the country including appearing at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, her home town, and starred in London's West End at