John Fraser (actor)

John Fraser
Picturegoer postcard, 1950s
Born	John Alexander Fraser (1931-03-18)18 March 1931 Glasgow, Scotland
Died	6 November 2020(2020-11-06) (aged 89)
Occupations	Actor writer
Years active	1952–1996

John Alexander Fraser (18 March 1931 – 6 November 2020) was a Scottish actor and author.^[1][2] He is best known for his performances in the films The Dam Busters (1955), The Good Companions (1957), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960), El Cid (1961), Repulsion (1965) and Isadora (1968).

Career

One of his earliest roles was as Inigo Jollifant in the second film version of J.B. Priestley's The Good Companions (1957).^[3] Later, Fraser had leading roles in films such as El Cid, Tunes of Glory, The Trials of Oscar Wilde (playing Lord Alfred Douglas), Roman Polanski's Repulsion, Isadora and Schizo.^[1] He made appearances on television series including Danger Man (1964), Casting the Runes (1968), Randall and Hopkirk (1969), Columbo (1972), Doctor Who (1981), and The Bill (1995).^[4][5]

He released several singles in the late 1950s.^[6]

In 2004, he published his autobiography, Close Up, in which he wrote frankly about his gay life and friendships.^[7] In the book, Fraser wrote that actor Laurence Harvey was gay and that his long-term lover was his manager James Woolf.^[8] Of Dirk Bogarde, Fraser wrote, "Dirk's life with [Anthony] Forwood had been so respectable, their love for each other so profound and so enduring, it would have been a glorious day for the pursuit of understanding and the promotion of tolerance if he had screwed up the courage ... to make one dignified allusion to his true nature. Self-love is no substitute for self-respect."^[8]

Personal life and death

Fraser died from oesophageal cancer on 6 November 2020 at the age of 89.^{[2][9][10][11][12]}

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Awards / Notes
1953	The Good Beginning	Johnny Lipson
1953	Valley of Song	Cliff Lloyd
1953	The Desert Rats	Artillery Man
1953	Titanic	Steward
1954	The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships	Drago
1955	Touch and Go	Richard Kenyon
1955	The Dam Busters	Flight Lieutenant John Hopgood DFC
1957	The Good Companions	Inigo Jollifant
1958	The Wind Cannot Read	Peter Munroe
1960	The Trials of Oscar Wilde	Lord Alfred Douglas	BAFTA nomination[13]
1960	Tunes of Glory	Corporal Piper Ian Fraser
1961	El Cid	Prince Alfonso
1961	Fury at Smugglers' Bay	Christopher Trevenyan
1962	Waltz of the Toreadors	Lt. Finch
1963	Tamahine	Richard Poole
1965	A Study in Terror	Lord Carfax
1965	Repulsion	Colin
1965	Operation Crossbow	Flight Lieutenant Kenny
1966	Doctor in Clover	Miles Grimsdyke
1968	Isadora	Roger
1975	The Doll	Peter Matty	3 episodes
1976	Schizo	Leonard Hawthorne
1978	Wilde Alliance	Colonel Stone	Episode:The Private Army of Colonel Stone
1981	Doctor Who: Logopolis	The Monitor
1982	Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House	Uncle Gideon	6 episodes
1996	Truth or Dare	Gordon Hillan

Selected recordings

• 1957 - Bye Bye Love / Why Don't They Understand
• 1958 - Presenting John Fraser (EP) with Tony Osborne, the Beryl Stott Group, the Kim Drake Orchestra
• 1958 - Trolley Stop / Bye Bye Love with the Beryl Stott Group
• 1959 - Bye Bye Baby Goodbye
• 1960 - Jaula Dorada / Adios Adios Muchacha / Adios Amor / Por Que No Comprenden

Footnotes

1. "John Fraser". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 23 April 2017.
2. Percival, Ash (10 November 2020). "John Fraser, The Dam Busters Star, Dies Aged 89". HuffPost.
3. "The Good Companions (1957)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017.
4. "John Fraser". aveleyman.com.
5. TV.com. "John Fraser". TV.com.
6. "John Fraser - Trolley Stop" – via 45cat.com.
7. Fraser, John (2004). Close Up : An Actor Telling Tales The Autobiography of John Fraser (1st, Sarah Zaluckyj ed.). London UK: Oberon Books. ISBN 978-1-84002-457-9.
8. The Guardian "Sexy self-image that revved up Dirk Bogarde", 2 October 2004
9. "John Fraser". aveleyman.com.
10. "It's not just Michael Powell: British films of the 30s, 40s and 50s". britishpictures.com.
11. "John Fraser, prolific film actor of 1950s and 1960s once dubbed most handsome man in Britain – obituary". The Telegraph. 9 November 2020. (subscription required)
12. "In pictures: Scottish screen legend John Fraser dead at 89 after battle with cancer". The Herald. Glasgow. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
13. "BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org.

Bibliography of works

• Fraser, John (2007). The Wild Beast May Break Them. Troubador Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-906221-26-3.
• Fraser, John (2004). Close Up. Oberon. ISBN 1-84002-504-2.
• Fraser, J. (1986). In Place of Reason. Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-40718-0.
• Fraser, J. (1978). The Bard in the Bush. Granada. ISBN 0-246-11014-7.
• Fraser, J. (1969). Clap Hands If You Believe in Fairies. Collins. ISBN 0-00-221116-5.

External links

• John Fraser at IMDb
• John Fraser discography at Discogs
• The Guardian obituary