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Ronald Fraser

Ronald Fraser

Actor · 1930 – 1997 · Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England, UK

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.

Movies24

  • Movie5.1

    Trail of the Pink Panther

    1982 · 337 votes

  • Movie6.8

    The Wild Geese

    1978 · 295 votes

  • Movie7.2

    The Flight of the Phoenix

    1965 · 389 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Scandal

    1989 · 105 votes

  • Movie5.5

    Absolute Beginners

    1986 · 72 votes

  • Movie6.1

    The V.I.P.s

    1963 · 68 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Too Late the Hero

    1970 · 81 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Let Him Have It

    1991 · 51 votes

  • Movie4.8

    Come Play with Me

    1977 · 30 votes

  • Movie6.9

    The Best of Enemies

    1961 · 40 votes

  • Movie6.7

    The Willows in Winter

    1996 · 15 votes

  • Movie5.7

    Allez France !

    The Counterfeit Constable

    1964 · 14 votes

  • Movie6.7
  • Movie6.2
  • Movie5.0
  • Movie6.1
  • Movie6.7

    The Sundowners

    1960 · 63 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Fathom

    1967 · 42 votes

  • Movie6.5
  • Movie6.2

    Girl in the Headlines

    1963 · 9 votes

  • Movie5.2

    Sinful Davey

    1969 · 18 votes

  • Movie3.8

    Hardcore

    1977 · 8 votes

  • Movie2.0

    Fallen Angels

    1974 · 1 votes

  • Movie6.0

Series24

  • TV7.9

    Doctor Who

    1963 · 722 votes

  • TV7.1

    Minder

    1979 · 30 votes

  • TV5.2

    BBC Play of the Month

    1965 · 8 votes

  • TV7.2

    Theatre 625

    1964 · 5 votes

  • TV7.0

    ITV Playhouse

    1967 · 3 votes

  • TV8.1

    The Sweeney

    1975 · 28 votes

  • TV4.8

    No Hiding Place

    1959 · 4 votes

  • TV7.4
  • TV3.5

    Sunday Night Theatre

    1950 · 2 votes

  • TV6.4

    Taggart

    1983 · 22 votes

  • TV7.3

    Danger Man

    1960 · 25 votes

  • TV6.0

    The Play on One

    1988 · 3 votes

  • TV7.4

    Lovejoy

    1986 · 56 votes

  • TV7.5
  • TV8.0

    Festival

    1963 · 1 votes

  • TV5.8

    Out of This World

    1962 · 4 votes

  • TV7.5

    The Famous Five

    1978 · 20 votes

  • TV6.3

    Fortunes of War

    1987 · 14 votes

  • TV7.5

    Half Hour Story

    1967 · 2 votes

  • TV
  • TV8.5
  • TV9.0

    The Misfit

    1970 · 1 votes

  • TV4.2

    Star Maidens

    1976 · 8 votes

  • TV7.0

    Madson

    1996 · 3 votes