Bruce was born in Prestwich, Lancashire, in 1919, and started her acting career as a teenager on stage as a chorus girl.

[4] She starred as Winnie in the 1962 British premiere of Samuel Beckett's Happy Days,[8] and in 1977 as Lucilla Edith Cavell Teatime in Murder Most English.

[9] Bruce played Aunt Dahlia in the 1990s production of Jeeves and Wooster with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.

[10] Other roles include Tilda in the Doctor Who story "Paradise Towers",[11] Bea in the rag trade drama Connie[12] and Granny Grogan in The Riff Raff Element.

[15] She was married and widowed twice, first to television personality Roy Rich, with whom she had two daughters, and second to actor Clement McCallin, with whom she adopted a son.