Ronald Fraser
Acting • Born 1930-04-11 – Died 1997-03-13
Biography
Ronald Gordon Fraser (11 April 1930 – 13 March 1997) was a British character actor, who appeared in numerous British plays, films and television shows from the 1950s to the 1990s. Fraser was a familiar figure in West End clubs during the 1960s, having had a long-standing reputation as a heavy drinker. His credits include The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961), ‘’The Best of Enemies (1961)’’Flight of the Phoenix (1965), The Avengers (1965), The Killing of Sister George (1968), The Misfit (1970–1971), Pygmalion (1973), Swallows and Amazons (1974), Come Play With Me (1977), The Wild Geese (1978), Spooner's Patch (1979), Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), Tangiers (1982), Absolute Beginners (1986), Minder (1985–1989), Scandal (1989), Let Him Have It (1991), Taggart (1992), and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1993) Ronald Fraser was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, the son of an interior decorator and builder from Scotland. He attended Ashton-under-Lyne Grammar School. He was further educated in Scotland and did national service as a lieutenant in the Seaforth Highlanders. Whilst serving in Benghazi, North Africa, he appeared in the Terence Rattigan comic play French Without Tears. He trained as an actor at RADA, graduating in 1953. He appeared at Glasgow's Citizens' Theatre, and joined the Old Vic repertory company in 1954, making his first London appearance in The Good Sailor, a stage adaptation of Herman Melville's novel, Billy Budd. In the West End, he appeared in The Long and the Short and the Tall (1959), The Ginger Man, The Singular Man, Androcles and the Lion (1961), The Showing Up of Blanco Posnet (1961), Purple Dust by Seán O'Casey, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Joseph Papp's production of The Pirates of Penzance and High Society. He also played Falstaff in a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. His only Broadway show was the flop La Grosse Valise by Robert Dhéry, Gérard Calvi and Harold Rome. He appeared in numerous television roles from 1954, and in nearly 50 films from 1957, mostly in comedies. He was notable as Basil "Badger" Allenby-Johnson in the 1970s television series The Misfit (1970–1971). In 1996 Fraser voiced the chief judge in The Willows in Winter.
Filmography
95 credits
The Flight of the Phoenix
Movie • 1965
Sergeant Watson
The Wild Geese
Movie • 1978
Sgt. Jock McTaggart
In Search of the Castaways
Movie • 1962
Guard at Dockyard Gate
Swallows and Amazons
Movie • 1974
Uncle Jim
The Willows in Winter
Movie • 1996
Chief Judge
The V.I.P.s
Movie • 1963
Joslin
Fathom
Movie • 1967
Col. Douglas Campbell, Chief of HADES
In the Secret State
Movie • 1985
Barnaby Tucker
Obituaries
Movie • 1990
Timothy Apcar
The Whisperers
Movie • 1967
Charlie Ross
The Killing of Sister George
Movie • 1968
Leo Lockhart
Girl in the Headlines
Movie • 1963
Sergeant Saunders
Percy's Progress
Movie • 1974
Bleeker
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer
Movie • 1970
Tom Hutchinson
Come Play with Me
Movie • 1977
Slasher
There Was a Crooked Man
Movie • 1960
Gen. Cummins
Black Ice
Movie • 1957
Tom
Code 7, Victim 5
Movie • 1964
Inspector Dickie Lean
Sinful Davey
Movie • 1969
MacNab
Ooh...You Are Awful
Movie • 1972
Reggie Campbell Peek
Crooks in Cloisters
Movie • 1964
Walter Dodd
The Wood Demon
Movie • 1974
Serbryakov
The Hellions
Movie • 1961
Frank
The Punch and Judy Man
Movie • 1963
Mayor Palmer
Ghosts
Movie • 1977
Engstrand
Hardcore
Movie • 1977
Marty
Rentadick
Movie • 1972
Major Upton
The Ginger Man
Movie • 1962
The Beauty Jungle
Movie • 1964
Walter Carey
Sebastian
Movie • 1968
Toby
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Movie • 1993
The Sundowners
Movie • 1960
Ocker
Oxford
Movie • 1990
Geoffrey
The Blackheath Poisonings
Movie • 1992
Doctor Porter
The Brahmin Widow
Movie • 1968
Major-General Peter Howard
Murder on the Bluebell Line
Movie • 1987
Dr Watson
Too Late the Hero
Movie • 1970
Private Campbell
The Bass Player and the Blonde
Movie • 1977
Charlie
Trail of the Pink Panther
Movie • 1982
Dr. Longet
Don't Bother to Knock
Movie • 1961
Fred
The Counterfeit Constable
Movie • 1964
Sergent Timothy Reagan
The Pot Carriers
Movie • 1962
Red Band
The Fifty-Seventh Saturday
Movie • 1968
Mr. McCarthy
Daylight Robbery
Movie • 1964
Taxi driver
Luther
Movie • 1968
Tetzel
Absolute Beginners
Movie • 1986
Amberley Drove
Scandal
Movie • 1989
Justice Marshall
Heavy Weather
Movie • 1995
Sir Gregory Parsloe
Doctor Who: The Happiness Patrol
Movie • 1988
Joseph C
Let Him Have It
Movie • 1991
Niven's Judge
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Phantom Train of Doom
Movie • 1999
Donald Parks
A Bit of a Lift
Movie • 1973
Alec
Private Potter
Movie • 1962
Doctor
Pygmalion
Movie • 1973
Tangiers
Movie • 1982
Jenkins
The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins
Movie • 1971
George (segment "Wrath")
Pygmalion
Movie • 1981
Colonel Pickering
The Long and the Short and the Tall
Movie • 1961
L / Cpl. Macleish
The Best of Enemies
Movie • 1961
Perfect
Fallen Angels
Movie • 1974
Willy Banbury
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Movie • 1958
Flute
Doctor Who
TV • 1963
Joseph C.
Taggart
TV • 1983
The Sweeney
TV • 1975
Titus Oates
Minder
TV • 1979
Albert Goddard
Lovejoy
TV • 1986
Drummer
Virtual Murder
TV • 1992
No Hiding Place
TV • 1959
Lovejoy
TV • 1986
Michael Edwards
BBC Play of the Month
TV • 1965
Serebryakov
The Famous Five
TV • 1978
Mr Barling
Life Without George
TV • 1987
Spooner's Patch
TV • 1979
Inspector Spooner
Minder
TV • 1979
Self-Inflicted Sid
Melissa
TV • 1974
Felix Hepburn
Follow Me...
TV • 1977
Sid Dawes
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
TV • 1971
Horrocks
The Play on One
TV • 1988
Apcar
The Blackheath Poisonings
TV • 1993
Doctor Porter
The Comic Strip Presents...
TV • 1982
Geoffrey
The Bass Player and the Blonde
TV • 1978
Charlie
Armchair Theatre
TV • 1956
BBC Play of the Month
TV • 1965
Squire
BBC Play of the Month
TV • 1965
Col. Pickering
The Misfit
TV • 1970
Basil Allenby-Johnson
Festival
TV • 1963
Tom Broadbent
Pennies from Heaven
TV • 1978
Major Archibald Paxville
Sword of Honour
TV • 1967
Apthorpe
Fortunes of War
TV • 1987
Commander Sheppy
Theatre 625
TV • 1964
Apthorpe
Sunday Night Theatre
TV • 1950
Flute
Star Maidens
TV • 1976
Kipple
Out of This World
TV • 1962
Oscar Raebone
Madson
TV • 1996
Walter Gardner
Armchair Theatre
TV • 1956
Football Fan