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Ronald Fraser

Actor

Ronald Fraser

Born April 11, 1930 in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England, UKDied March 13, 199763 films

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.

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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.

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The Flight of the Phoenix posterFirst watchThe Flight of the Phoenix19657.2as Sergeant WatsonA cargo aircraft crashes in a sandstorm in the Sahara with less than a dozen men on board. One of the passengers is an airplane designer who comes up with the idea of ripping off the…View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach

Filmography

63 films as actor
  1. 1999The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Phantom Train of DoomDonald Parks
  2. 1996The Willows in WinterChief Judge
  3. 1995Heavy WeatherSir Gregory Parsloe
  4. 1993The Mystery of Edwin Drood
  5. 1992The Blackheath PoisoningsDoctor Porter
  6. 1991Let Him Have ItNiven's Judge
  7. 1990ObituariesTimothy Apcar
  8. 1990OxfordGeoffrey
  9. 1989ScandalJustice Marshall
  10. 1988Doctor Who: The Happiness PatrolJoseph C
  11. 1987Murder on the Bluebell LineDr Watson
  12. 1986Absolute BeginnersAmberley Drove
  13. 1985In the Secret StateBarnaby Tucker
  14. 1982Trail of the Pink PantherDr. Longet
  15. 1982TangiersJenkins
  16. 1981PygmalionColonel Pickering
  17. 1978The Wild GeeseSgt. Jock McTaggart
  18. 1977GhostsEngstrand
  19. 1977The Bass Player and the BlondeCharlie
  20. 1977Come Play with MeSlasher
  21. 1977HardcoreMarty
  22. 1975Paper TigerSergeant Forester
  23. 1975A Man in the ZooCurator
  24. 1974The Wood DemonSerbryakov
  25. 1974Percy's ProgressBleeker
  26. 1974Fallen AngelsWilly Banbury
  27. 1974Swallows and AmazonsUncle Jim
  28. 1973Pygmalion
  29. 1973A Bit of a LiftAlec
  30. 1972RentadickMajor Upton
  31. 1972Ooh...You Are AwfulReggie Campbell Peek
  32. 1971The Magnificent Seven Deadly SinsGeorge (segment "Wrath")
  33. 1970The Rise and Rise of Michael RimmerTom Hutchinson
  34. 1970Too Late the HeroPrivate Campbell
  35. 1969Sinful DaveyMacNab
  36. 1968The Killing of Sister GeorgeLeo Lockhart
  37. 1968The Fifty-Seventh SaturdayMr. McCarthy
  38. 1968The Brahmin WidowMajor-General Peter Howard
  39. 1968LutherTetzel
  40. 1968SebastianToby
  41. 1967FathomCol. Douglas Campbell, Chief of HADES
  42. 1967The WhisperersCharlie Ross
  43. 1965The Flight of the PhoenixSergeant Watson
  44. 1964Daylight RobberyTaxi driver
  45. 1964The Counterfeit ConstableSergent Timothy Reagan
  46. 1964The Beauty JungleWalter Carey
  47. 1964Code 7, Victim 5Inspector Dickie Lean
  48. 1964Crooks in CloistersWalter Dodd
  49. 1963Girl in the HeadlinesSergeant Saunders
  50. 1963The V.I.P.sJoslin
  51. 1963The Punch and Judy ManMayor Palmer
  52. 1962In Search of the CastawaysGuard at Dockyard Gate
  53. 1962The Pot CarriersRed Band
  54. 1962The Ginger Man
  55. 1962Private PotterDoctor
  56. 1961The HellionsFrank
  57. 1961The Best of EnemiesPerfect
  58. 1961Don't Bother to KnockFred
  59. 1961The Long and the Short and the TallL / Cpl. Macleish
  60. 1960The SundownersOcker
  61. 1960There Was a Crooked ManGen. Cummins
  62. 1958A Midsummer Night's DreamFlute
  63. 1957Black IceTom