Bryant was born in
Hull, the daughter of
general practitioner Dr. William Arthur Bryant and Catherine Lewis. Bryant moved to
London with her parents on completing her education. There, she became interested in theatre, and appeared in the
chorus lines of various productions before moving on to musical comedies. She danced in
Fred Astaire's show
Stop Flirting in London's
Queen's Theatre (1923). Bryant appeared in a number of films, such as
The Cure for Love (1949) and
Beat Girl in 1960 and also in a
West End role, as Lucy in ''
Gay's the Word at the Saville Theatre. Bryant toured in My Mother Said'' and later appeared in the show's 1949 television production. She appeared in
The Bell Family and in the films
I Get Myself Arrested and
The Large Rope (1953). Bryant appeared in various television series including
Charlesworth at Large (1958),
Champion Road (1958),
Probation Officer (1960), and
Boyd Q.C. (1960)
Coronation Street Bryant's most notable role came later in life, playing the timid, elderly
Minnie Caldwell in the soap opera
Coronation Street, a role she occupied from 1960 to 1976, over the course of 987 episodes. The character's life tended to revolve around her ginger tomcat, Bobby. Caldwell was a diminutive figure, with a distracted manner and often appeared drinking
milk stout in the snug of the
soap's public house, the
Rovers Return Inn. The character, consequently, was a put upon companion of her two friends, busybody
Martha Longhurst (played by
Lynne Carol) and battle-axe
Ena Sharples (played by
Violet Carson). On the formation of the trio, the show's creator
Tony Warren explained, "I noticed that whenever you get tough, old viragos, they've got henchmen. Generally had a talkative one, who could be shouted down, and a silent one, who nodded but was a bit rebellious." Bryant suffered severe
memory loss in March 1976 and was unable to continue in the role; her penultimate episode involved her reading her lines off prompts and on props such as her handbag. Her final episode was broadcast in April 1976, with Minnie leaving the street to live with an old friend, Handel Gartside (played by Harry Markham), in
Derbyshire. Bryant never returned to the programme and her character had died off-screen by 2008, when returning former character
Jed Stone (played by
Kenneth Cope) was seen visiting Minnie's grave. ==Personal life and death==