# John Fraser (actor)

John Alexander Fraser (18 March 1931 – 6 November 2020) was a Scottish actor and author. 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). 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. 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).
He released several singles in the late 1950s.
In 2004, he published his autobiography, Close Up, in which he wrote frankly about his gay life and friendships. In the book, Fraser wrote that actor Laurence Harvey was gay and that his long-term lover was his manager James Woolf. 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."

## Personal life and death

Fraser died from oesophageal cancer on 6 November 2020 at the age of 89.

## 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 |
| 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 2 "John Fraser". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 23 April 2017.
* 1 2 Percival, Ash (10 November 2020). "John Fraser, The Dam Busters Star, Dies Aged 89". HuffPost.
* ↑ "The Good Companions (1957)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017.
* ↑ "John Fraser". aveleyman.com.
* ↑ TV.com. "John Fraser". TV.com. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016.
* ↑ "John Fraser - Trolley Stop" – via 45cat.com.
* ↑ 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.
* 1 2 The Guardian "Sexy self-image that revved up Dirk Bogarde", 2 October 2004
* ↑ "John Fraser". aveleyman.com.
* ↑ "It's not just Michael Powell: British films of the 30s, 40s and 50s". britishpictures.com.
* ↑ "John Fraser, prolific film actor of 1950s and 1960s once dubbed most handsome man in Britain – obituary". The Telegraph. 9 November 2020. (subscription required)
* ↑ "In pictures: Scottish screen legend John Fraser dead at 89 after battle with cancer". The Herald. Glasgow. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
* ↑ "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.