Ronald Fraser

Birthday: 1930-04-11
Deathday: 1997-03-13
Birthplace: Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England, UK
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned

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.

Credits

Year Title Character
1996-12-26 The Willows in Winter Chief Judge
1995-12-24 Heavy Weather Sir Gregory Parsloe
1993-06-05 The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Phantom Train of Doom Donald Parks
1993-04-23 The Mystery of Edwin Drood
1992-12-07 The Blackheath Poisonings Doctor Porter
1991-10-04 Let Him Have It Niven's Judge
1990-08-16 Obituaries Timothy Apcar
1990-02-22 Oxford Geoffrey
1989-03-03 Scandal Justice Marshall
1988-11-16 Doctor Who: The Happiness Patrol Joseph C
1987-01-01 Murder on the Bluebell Line Dr Watson
1986-04-04 Absolute Beginners Amberley Drove
1985-03-10 In the Secret State Barnaby Tucker
1985-01-01 Tangiers Jenkins
1982-12-03 Trail of the Pink Panther Dr. Longet
1981-12-27 Pygmalion Colonel Pickering
1978-06-28 The Wild Geese Sgt. Jock McTaggart
1977-11-11 Ghosts Engstrand
1977-06-14 The Bass Player and the Blonde Charlie
1977-04-28 Come Play with Me Slasher
1977-03-17 Hardcore Marty
1974-11-17 The Wood Demon Serbryakov
1974-08-01 Percy's Progress Bleeker
1974-07-18 Fallen Angels Willy Banbury
1974-06-01 Swallows and Amazons Uncle Jim
1973-12-16 Pygmalion
1973-09-25 A Bit of a Lift Alec
1972-12-31 Rentadick Major Upton
1972-12-01 Ooh...You Are Awful Reggie Campbell Peek
1971-11-01 The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins George (segment "Wrath")
1970-11-12 The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer Tom Hutchinson
1970-05-20 Too Late the Hero Private Campbell
1969-02-10 Sinful Davey MacNab
1968-09-01 The Killing of Sister George Leo Lockhart
1968-07-03 The Fifty-Seventh Saturday Mr. McCarthy
1968-04-08 The Brahmin Widow Major-General Peter Howard
1968-01-29 Luther Tetzel
1968-01-24 Sebastian Toby
1967-08-25 Fathom Col. Douglas Campbell, Chief of HADES
1967-07-18 The Whisperers Charlie Ross
1965-12-15 The Flight of the Phoenix Sergeant Watson
1964-12-01 Daylight Robbery
1964-10-10 The Counterfeit Constable Sergent Timothy Reagan
1964-08-25 The Beauty Jungle Walter Carey
1964-07-10 Code 7, Victim 5 Inspector Dickie Lean
1964-01-01 Crooks in Cloisters Walter Dodd
1963-11-15 Girl in the Headlines Sergeant Saunders
1963-09-01 The V.I.P.s Joslin
1963-04-08 The Punch and Judy Man Mayor Palmer
1962-12-01 In Search of the Castaways Guard at Dockyard Gate
1962-03-10 The Pot Carriers Red Band
1962-01-01 The Ginger Man
1962-01-01 Private Potter Doctor
1961-11-27 The Hellions Frank
1961-10-26 The Best of Enemies Perfect
1961-05-28 Don't Bother to Knock Fred
1961-02-28 The Long and the Short and the Tall L / Cpl. Macleish
1960-12-08 The Sundowners Ocker
1960-08-31 There Was a Crooked Man Gen. Cummins
1957-12-12 Black Ice