John Fraser (actor)

John Fraser (born 18 March 1931 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a BAFTA-nominated Scottish-born actor and writer.

Career

One of his earliest roles was as Inigo Jollifant in the second film version of J.B. Priestley's The Good Companions. He went on to have leading roles in films such as El Cid, 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), Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969), Columbo (1972), Doctor Who (1981) and The Bill (1995).

In 2004, he published his autobiography, Close Up, in which he wrote frankly about his gay life (albeit occasionally inaccurately regarding some third party details) and friendships. In the book, Fraser wrote that actor Laurence Harvey was gay and that his long-term lover was his manager James Woolf. According to Fraser, "As a teenager, [Harvey] started out living with Hermione Baddeley (the two appeared together in the acclaimed film Room at the Top), a blowsy star of intimate revue more than twice his age. Then he married Margaret Leighton, old enough to be his mother (actually Leighton was only six years older than Harvey) but a woman of style. When this marriage was over, he married Joan Cohn, the widow of Harry Cohn, managing director of Columbia Pictures. Throughout all these career marriages, he still managed to string Jimmy Woolf along."^[1] Of Dirk Bogarde, Fraser wrote, "Dirk's life with 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."

Selected filmography

Bibliography of works

• 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 

Footnotes

1. ↑ The Guardian "Sexy self-image that revved up Dirk Bogarde", 2 October 2004

External links

• Official website
• John Fraser at the Internet Movie Database