
Ronald Fraser
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.
Known For
Credits
- 1996 · The Willows in Winter as Chief Judge
- 1995 · Heavy Weather as Sir Gregory Parsloe
- 1993 · The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Phantom Train of Doom as Donald Parks
- 1993 · The Mystery of Edwin Drood as
- 1993 · The Blackheath Poisonings as Doctor Porter
- 1992 · The Blackheath Poisonings as Doctor Porter
- 1992 · Virtual Murder as
- 1991 · Let Him Have It as Niven's Judge
- 1990 · Obituaries as Timothy Apcar
- 1990 · Oxford as Geoffrey
- 1989 · Scandal as Justice Marshall
- 1988 · Doctor Who: The Happiness Patrol as Joseph C
- 1988 · The Play on One as Apcar
- 1987 · Fortunes of War as
- 1987 · Life Without George as
- 1987 · Murder on the Bluebell Line as Dr Watson
- 1986 · Absolute Beginners as Amberley Drove
- 1986 · Lovejoy as Drummer
- 1986 · Lovejoy as Michael Edwards
- 1985 · In the Secret State as Barnaby Tucker
- 1985 · Tangiers as Jenkins
- 1983 · Taggart as
- 1982 · Trail of the Pink Panther as Dr. Longet
- 1982 · The Comic Strip Presents... as Geoffrey
- 1981 · Pygmalion as Colonel Pickering
- 1981 · Brideshead Revisited as Red-Haired Man
- 1979 · Minder as Albert Goddard
- 1979 · Minder as Self-Inflicted Sid
- 1979 · Spooner's Patch as Inspector Spooner
- 1978 · The Bass Player and the Blonde as Charlie
- 1978 · The Famous Five as Mr Barling
- 1978 · The Wild Geese as Sgt. Jock McTaggart
- 1978 · Pennies from Heaven as Major Archibald Paxville
- 1977 · Ghosts as Engstrand
- 1977 · Follow Me... as Sid Dawes
- 1977 · The Bass Player and the Blonde as Charlie
- 1977 · Come Play with Me as Slasher
- 1977 · Hardcore as Marty
- 1976 · Star Maidens as
- 1975 · The Sweeney as Titus Oates
- 1974 · Melissa as Felix Hepburn
- 1974 · The Wood Demon as Serbryakov
- 1974 · Percy's Progress as Bleeker
- 1974 · Fallen Angels as Willy Banbury
- 1974 · Swallows and Amazons as Uncle Jim
- 1973 · Pygmalion as
- 1973 · A Bit of a Lift as Alec
- 1972 · Rentadick as Major Upton
- 1972 · Ooh...You Are Awful as Reggie Campbell Peek
- 1971 · The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins as George (segment "Wrath")
- 1971 · The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes as Horrocks
- 1970 · The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer as Tom Hutchinson
- 1970 · Too Late the Hero as Private Campbell
- 1970 · The Misfit as
- 1969 · Sinful Davey as MacNab
- 1968 · The Killing of Sister George as Leo Lockhart
- 1968 · The Fifty-Seventh Saturday as Mr. McCarthy
- 1968 · The Brahmin Widow as Major-General Peter Howard
- 1968 · Luther as Tetzel
- 1968 · Sebastian as Toby
- 1967 · Fathom as Col. Douglas Campbell, Chief of HADES
- 1967 · The Whisperers as Charlie Ross
- 1965 · The Flight of the Phoenix as Sergeant Watson
- 1965 · BBC Play of the Month as Serebryakov
- 1964 · Daylight Robbery as
- 1964 · The Counterfeit Constable as Sergent Timothy Reagan
- 1964 · The Beauty Jungle as Walter Carey
- 1964 · Code 7, Victim 5 as Inspector Dickie Lean
- 1964 · Crooks in Cloisters as Walter Dodd
- 1963 · Doctor Who as Joseph C.
- 1963 · Girl in the Headlines as Sergeant Saunders
- 1963 · The V.I.P.s as Joslin
- 1963 · The Punch and Judy Man as Mayor Palmer
- 1962 · In Search of the Castaways as Guard at Dockyard Gate
- 1962 · Out of This World as
- 1962 · The Pot Carriers as Red Band
- 1962 · Private Potter as Doctor
- 1962 · The Ginger Man as
- 1961 · The Hellions as Frank
- 1961 · The Best of Enemies as Perfect
- 1961 · Don't Bother to Knock as Fred
- 1961 · The Long and the Short and the Tall as L / Cpl. Macleish
- 1960 · The Sundowners as Ocker
- 1960 · There Was a Crooked Man as Gen. Cummins
- 1959 · No Hiding Place as
- 1957 · Black Ice as
- 1956 · Armchair Theatre as