Ronald Fraser
Known for: Acting
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
Series
Doctor Who
Joseph C.
1963
Series
Minder
Albert Goddard
1979
Series
Minder
Self-Inflicted Sid
1979
Series
BBC Play of the Month
Serebryakov
1965
Series
BBC Play of the Month
Squire
1965
Series
BBC Play of the Month
Col. Pickering
1965
Series
Theatre 625
Apthorpe
1964
Series
ITV Playhouse
Jonathan Wild
1967
Series
ITV Playhouse
Major-General Peter Howard
1967
Series
ITV Playhouse
Charlie
1967
Series
ITV Playhouse
Engstrand
1967
Series
The Sweeney
Titus Oates
1975
Series
No Hiding Place
1959
Series
Danger Man
Guiseppe
1960
Series
The Comic Strip Presents...
Geoffrey
1982
Series
Taggart
1983
Series
Sunday Night Theatre
Flute
1950
Series
Lovejoy
Drummer
1986
Series
Lovejoy
Michael Edwards
1986
Series
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
Horrocks
1971
Festival
Tom Broadbent
1963
Series
The Famous Five
Mr Barling
1978
Series
Half Hour Story
Mr. McCarthy
1967
Series
Out of This World
Oscar Raebone
1962
Series
Fortunes of War
Commander Sheppy
1987
Series
Pennies from Heaven
Major Archibald Paxville
1978
Film
The Flight of the Phoenix
Sergeant Watson
1965
Film
Scandal
Justice Marshall
1989
Series
The Misfit
Basil Allenby-Johnson
1970
Series
Madson
Walter Gardner
1996
Film
The Wild Geese
Sgt. Jock McTaggart
1978
Series
Armchair Theatre
1956
Series
Armchair Theatre
Football Fan
1956
Series
Armchair Theatre
Captain Brickman
1956
Series
Armchair Theatre
Ledbetter
1956
Series
Armchair Theatre
Alec
1956
Series
Virtual Murder
Van Helsing
1992
Series
Star Maidens
Kipple
1976
Series
Spooner's Patch
DI Spooner
1979
Series
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders
Sir Richard Gregory
1996
Film
Absolute Beginners
Amberley Drove
1986
Film
Come Play with Me
Slasher
1977
Series
The Blackheath Poisonings
Doctor Porter
1993
Film
Trail of the Pink Panther
Dr. Longet
1982
Dial M for Murder
Norman Nugent
1974
Life Without George
1987
Film
In Search of the Castaways
Guard at Dockyard Gate
1962
Film
Heavy Weather
Sir Gregory Parsloe
1995
Film
Fathom
Col. Douglas Campbell, Chief of HADES
1967
Film
The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Phantom Train of Doom
Donald Parks
1999
Film
The V.I.P.s
Joslin
1963
Film
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer
Tom Hutchinson
1970
Sword of Honour
Apthorpe
1967
Film
Let Him Have It
Niven's Judge
1991
Film
The Sundowners
Ocker
1960
Film
Sinful Davey
MacNab
1969
Film
Too Late the Hero
Private Campbell
1970
Film
The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins
George (segment "Wrath")
1971
Film
Percy's Progress
Bleeker
1974
Film
The Best of Enemies
Perfect
1961
Film
The Killing of Sister George
Leo Lockhart
1968
Film
Pygmalion
Colonel Pickering
1981
The Bass Player and the Blonde
Charlie
1978
Film
Swallows and Amazons
Uncle Jim
1974
Series
Follow Me...
Sid Dawes
1977
Film
Sebastian
Toby
1968
Tangiers
Jenkins
1982
Film
Obituaries
Timothy Apcar
1990
Film
Don't Bother to Knock
Fred
1961
Film
Code 7, Victim 5
Inspector Dickie Lean
1964
Series
Melissa
Felix Hepburn
1974
Film
Doctor Who: The Happiness Patrol
Joseph C
1988
Film
Rentadick
Major Upton
1972
Film
The Long and the Short and the Tall
L / Cpl. Macleish
1961
Film
The Counterfeit Constable
Sergent Timothy Reagan
1964
Film
Girl in the Headlines
Sergeant Saunders
1963
Film
The Willows in Winter
Chief Judge
1996
Film
Luther
Tetzel
1968
Film
The Whisperers
Charlie Ross
1967
The Ginger Man
1962
Film
The Hellions
Frank
1961
Film
Crooks in Cloisters
Walter Dodd
1964
Film
Hardcore
Marty
1977
Film
The Beauty Jungle
Walter Carey
1964
Film
Ooh...You Are Awful
Reggie Campbell Peek
1972
Film
There Was a Crooked Man
Gen. Cummins
1960
Film
In the Secret State
Barnaby Tucker
1985
Film
The Blackheath Poisonings
Doctor Porter
1992
Black Ice
Tom
1957
Film
Ghosts
Engstrand
1977
The Bass Player and the Blonde
Charlie
1977
Film
Fallen Angels
Willy Banbury
1974
Film
Private Potter
Doctor
1962
Film
The Punch and Judy Man
Mayor Palmer
1963
Film
Pygmalion
1973
The Brahmin Widow
Major-General Peter Howard
1968
Film
Daylight Robbery
Taxi driver
1964
Film
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Flute
1958
Film
A Bit of a Lift
Alec
1973
Film
The Wood Demon
Serbryakov
1974
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
1993
Film
The Pot Carriers
Red Band
1962
Film
Oxford
Geoffrey
1990
The Fifty-Seventh Saturday
Mr. McCarthy
1968
Murder on the Bluebell Line
Dr Watson
1987