Doris Hare

Doris Breamer Hare (1 March 1905 – 30 May 2000) was a Welsh actress, comedian, singer, and dancer best known for portraying "Mum" Mabel Butler in the British sitcom On the Buses and its film spin-offs, after replacing the original actress Cicely Courtneidge.

Early life Hare was born in Bargoed, Glamorgan. Her parents had a portable theatre in South Wales and it seemed inevitable that she would become a part of it, making her debut at the age of three in Queen's Evidence and appearing in juvenile troupes all over Britain as a child, before going solo as 'Little Doris Hare', appearing in music hall, variety, cabaret, revues and pantomimes. One of five, her brother, Bertie Hare and her sisters, Betty Hare and Winifred Breamer, were also actors and performers.

Career In 1930, the actress toured in The Show's the Thing, taking the part previously performed by Gracie Fields. In 1932, she appeared in the West End in Noël Coward's show Words and Music, alongside John Mills. In 1936, she made her Broadway debut in Night Must Fall. During World War II, she joined Evelyn Laye to put on a revue for the troops and compered Shipmates Ashore on the BBC Forces Programme for the Merchant Navy. She was subsequently appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1946 Birthday Honours "for services to the Merchant Navy".

In 1958, she created the role of Grannie Tooke in the original production of Sandy Wilson's musical version of Valmouth at the Lyric Hammersmith, which transferred to the West End. She also performed on the recording of this production made by Pye Records in 1959, where she duetted with Cleo Laine, who was standing in for Bertice Reading. In 1982, the musical was revived at the Chichester Festival Theatre and Hare, Bertice Reading, Fenella Fielding and Marcia Ashton all reprised the roles they had played in the original production.

In 1963, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and in 1965 she joined the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic. She acted in plays by Shakespeare, Shaw, Pinero, and Pinter.

She was offered the role of Ena Sharples in the serial Coronation Street in 1960, but she turned it down and it was given to Violet Carson. Hare did however play a smaller role in the series in 1968–69 as Alice Pickens, who was due to marry Albert Tatlock, but the wedding never took place.

That same year Hare came to national attention in the role of Mabel Butler in On the Buses, taking over the part from Cicely Courtneidge in the second series of the ITV comedy. The series ran until 1973 and spawned three spin-off films On the Buses (1971), Mutiny on the Buses (1972) and Holiday on the Buses (1973) in which Hare reprised her small-screen role. The cast also performed a stage version of the series in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1988.

In 1974, Hare spent a year in the West End farce No Sex Please, We're British and made her final stage appearance, aged 87, at the London Palladium alongside Sir John Mills in a tribute show to Evelyn Laye.

Hare received a Variety Club of Great Britain Special Award for her contributions to showbusiness in 1982.

Death Hare died on 30 May 2000, aged 95, at Denville Hall, in Northwood, London.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1935 Night Mail Uncredited1935 Jubilee Window Uncredited1935 Opening Night 1938 Luck of the Navy Mrs. Maybridge 1939 Discoveries Bella Brown 1939 She Couldn't Say No Amelia Reeves 1948 It's Hard to Be Good Minor Role Uncredited1948 Here Come the Huggetts Mrs. Fisher 1949 The History of Mr. Polly May Pant 1950 Dance Hall Blonde 1953 Thought to Kill Agnes 1954 Double Exposure WPC 1955 Tiger by the Tail Nurse Brady, hospital property clerk 1955 No Smoking Customer 1957 Strangers' Meeting Nellie 1958 Another Time, Another Place Mrs. Bunker 1960 The League of Gentlemen Molly Weaver 1964 A Place to Go Lil Flint 1964 Esther Waters Mrs. Randall 1 episode1969–1973 On the Buses Mabel "Mum" Butler 67 episodes1971 On the Buses 1972 Mutiny on the Buses 1973 Holiday on the Buses 1975 Confessions of a Pop Performer Mrs. Lea 1976 Confessions of a Driving Instructor 1977 Confessions from a Holiday Camp 1980 Why Didn't They Ask Evans? Rose Pratt TV movie1986 Never the Twain 1990 Nuns on the Run Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart 1994 Second Best Mrs. Hawkins (final film role)