Elizabeth Joan Winch (14 August 1930 – 6 September 2018),[1][2] known professionally as Liz Fraser, was a British film actress, best known for being cast in provocative comedy roles.
Liz Fraser | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Elizabeth Joan Winch 14 August 1930 |
| Died | 6 September 2018 (aged 88) Chelsea, London, England |
| Alma mater | Goldsmiths College London School of Dramatic Art |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1952–2018 |
| Spouses | Peter Yonwin
(m. 1958; div. 1960)Bill Hitchcock
(m. 1965; died 1974) |
Early life
editFraser was born in Southwark, London.[3] Her year of birth was usually cited as 1933, which she gave when auditioning for her role in I'm All Right Jack, because the Boulting Brothers wanted someone younger for the part. In fact she was three years older, as she confirmed in her 2012 autobiography Liz Fraser ... and Other Characters,.[3] Her father was a travelling salesman for a brewery and her mother owned a corner shop just off the New Kent Road. Their family life was disrupted by the Second World War, when she was evacuated, initially to Westerham in Kent and then, when that was deemed still too vulnerable to bombing, to Chudleigh, a town in Devon. Her father died in May 1942, aged 40, when she was 11.[3]
She went to St Saviour's and St Olave's Grammar School for Girls between the ages of 13 and 17. She then attended evening courses at Goldsmiths College, where she joined a drama group, and the City of London College for Commerce, Book-Keeping, Shorthand and Typing, and won an evening scholarship to the London School of Dramatic Art.[4]
Career
editHer first film appearance was in Touch and Go (1955), using her birth name,[5] and The Smallest Show on Earth (1957) in which she worked with Peter Sellers for the first time.[6] Fraser also appeared in commercial television's first live play The Geranium for Associated-Rediffusion. She made an uncredited appearance as June in Alive and Kicking (1959), Her breakthrough role was as the daughter of Sellers' character in I'm All Right Jack (1959), for which she received a BAFTA nomination as Most Promising Newcomer.[7] She was in several of the early Carry On films: Carry On Regardless (1961), Carry On Cruising (1962), and Carry On Cabby (1963), but was sacked by producer Peter Rogers after casually saying the series could be better marketed. She re-appeared in the series in Carry On Behind (1975), her salary apparently half of what it had been before.[5][8]
Her other film appearances include Desert Mice (1959), Two-Way Stretch (1960), again with Sellers,[9] The Bulldog Breed (1960),[10] Double Bunk (1961),[11] Fury at Smugglers Bay (1961) starring Peter Cushing, Raising the Wind (1961), On the Fiddle (1961), The Painted Smile (1962),[12] The Americanization of Emily (1964),[13] The Family Way (1966),[14] Up the Junction (1968),[15] Dad's Army (1971),[16] and a string of sex comedies: Adventures of a Taxi Driver[17] (1976), Confessions of a Driving Instructor (1976), Adventures of a Private Eye (1977), Confessions from a Holiday Camp (1977) and Rosie Dixon – Night Nurse[18] (1978).
Fraser was also known for her many appearances in British television series, including Hancock's Half Hour,[19] and the Avengers episode "The Girl from Auntie"[20] where she guest starred opposite Carry On regular Bernard Cribbins. As Elizabeth Fraser, over a period of nearly six months, she appeared in numerous editions of the Associated-Rediffusion soap opera Sixpenny Corner (1955–56). She appeared on Benny Hill's late-1950s TV shows, and in a single sketch in the 23 December 1970 episode of his Thames TV series. This episode was in black and white (owing to the "Colour Strike" by ITV technicians, who wanted to be paid extra for working with the then-new colour TV technology), and hence the sketch was not included in any of the half-hour syndicated episodes of The Benny Hill Show. However, it is included in the Volume 1 box set of the complete Benny Hill Show, issued by A&E and Fremantle.[citation needed]
Fraser also starred as Gloria Simpkins in the radio sitcom Parsley Sidings alongside Arthur Lowe and Kenneth Connor from 1971 to 1973.[21]
She played Mrs Brent, the mother of a missing girl, in the television production of Agatha Christie's Nemesis, starring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple, in 1987.[22] Another role was in the "Backtrack" episode of the British police series The Professionals, as Margery Harper, a glamorous woman who fenced stolen property in her shop.[23]
Her other television work included Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Crown Court, Citizen James, Robin's Nest, Rumpole of the Bailey, Last of the Summer Wine,[24] The Bill, Foyle's War, Birds of a Feather, Minder[25] and Holby City.[26]
Personal life and death
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Fraser married Peter Yonwin, a travelling salesman, in November 1958, but the marriage soon broke down and they were divorced. She married her second husband, Bill Hitchcock, a TV director, in January 1965 at Harrow Register Office. They agreed not to work together, but this changed in 1972 when she appeared in the Rodney Bewes sitcom Albert!, which Hitchcock co-directed,[27] and again later in the same year, when she acted in Turnbull's Finest Half-Hour, a comedy series starring Michael Bates and produced by Hitchcock.[28] Hitchcock died from a pulmonary embolism in February 1974, at the age of 45. Fraser was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1978 and 1979, undergoing a lumpectomy the first time and having reconstructive surgery at the Marsden in 1979.[29]
Fraser had a half-brother, Philip, 11 years older, the son of her mother from a previous marriage. She supported various charities and was a patron of the London Repertory Company.[30] She was also an enthusiastic and talented poker and bridge player.[31]
She died on 6 September 2018 at Royal Brompton Hospital as a result of complications following an operation.[9]
Filmography
editTelevision appearances
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | The Geranium | Maid | TV film |
| 1955 | Sixpenny Corner | Julie Perkins | Unknown episodes |
| 1956–1960 | Hancock's Half Hour | Various characters | 8 episodes |
| 1956 | The Grove Family | Julie Perkins | Episode: "Sour Grapes" |
| 1957 | ITV Television Playhouse | Beryl | Episode: "Two Ducks on a Pond"" |
| 1957 | Dixon of Dock Green | Jeannie Richards | Episode: "False Alarm" |
| 1957 | Shadow Squad | Gilda | 2 episodes |
| 1957 | The Army Game | Unknown | Episode: "The Misguided Missiles" |
| 1957 | Whack-O! | Matron | 10 episodes |
| 1958 | Hotel Imperial | Unknown | Episode: "The Star in the Penthouse Suite" |
| 1958 | Educated Evans | W.R.A.C. Clerk | Episode: "All Change" |
| 1958 | Dixon of Dock Green | Maisie Perkins | Episode: "They Don't Like Policemen" |
| 1958 | The Sky Larks | Rose | Episode: "Free Beer" |
| 1958 | Educating Archie | Unknown | Episode: #1.1 |
| 1958 | Murder Bag | Unknown | Episode: "Lockhart Probes the Past" |
| 1958 | Dixon of Dock Green | Lena | Episode: "Strangers at the Same Table" |
| 1959 | No Hiding Place | Rose Glorie | Episode: "Murder with Witnesses" |
| 1959 | Boyd Q.C. (1959) | Unknown | Episode: "In a Manner Dangerous" |
| 1959 | ITV Play of the Week | Dora | Episode: "Deep and Crisp and Even" |
| 1959 | The Vise | Betsy Linton | Episode: "Murder for Revenge" |
| 1960 | ITV Television Playhouse | Mavis | Episode: "Incident" |
| 1960 | Knight Errant Limited | Gloria MacLean | Episode: "Beauty and the Feast" |
| 1960 | BBC Sunday-Night Play | Riggie | Episode: "Doctor in the House" |
| 1960–1962 | Citizen James | Liz | 7 episodes |
| 1962 | Probation Officer | Lorna | Episode: #4.14 |
| 1963 | No Hiding Place | Sheba | Episode: "Solomon Dancey's Luck" |
| 1963 | Harry's Girls | Sally Witherspoon | Episode: "Made in Heaven" |
| 1964 | Fire Crackers | Mary Medway | Episode: "Fire Belle for Five" |
| 1965 | No Hiding Place | Phyllis Nolan | Episode: "The Grass" |
| 1965 | It's Not Me: It's Them! | Mrs. Ember | Episode: #1.2 |
| 1966 | The Avengers | Georgie Price-Jones | Episode: "The Girl from AUNTIE" |
| 1967 | Seven Deadly Virtues | Agnes | Episode: "A Pain in the Neck" |
| 1967 | Mickey Dunne | Maisie | Episode: "Big Fleas, Little Fleas" |
| 1970 | Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) | Fay Crackan | Episode: "It's Supposed to be Thicker than Water" |
| 1970 | Here Come the Double Deckers! | Zizi Bagor | Episode: "Starstruck" |
| 1970 | The Goodies | Miss Heffer | Episode: "Caught in the Act" |
| 1970 | The Benny Hill Show | Various Roles | 2 episodes |
| 1971 | BBC World About Us documentary | Co-presenter | Episode: "Under London Expedition" |
| 1971 | ITV Sunday Night Theatre | Countess Antonescu | Episode: "Man and Boy" |
| 1972 | Jason King | Claire Brown | Episode: "An Author in Search of Two Characters" |
| 1972 | Crime of Passion | Denise | Episode: "Lina" |
| 1972 | Dear Mother...Love Albert | Ann | Episode: "If He'd Meant Us to Fly" |
| 1972 | Turnbull's Finest Half-Hour | Faye Bush | 5 episodes |
| 1972 | These Two Fellas | Various | TV film |
| 1973 | The Tarbuck Follies | Various | TV film |
| 1973 | Crown Court | Lady Esham | Episode: "Murder Most Foul" |
| 1977 | Seven Faces of Woman | Delilah Brown | Episode: "She: Sight Unseen" |
| 1978 | Rumpole of the Bailey | Bobby Dogherty | Episode: "Rumpole and the Alternative Society" |
| 1978 | Robin's Nest | Vera | Episode: "The Happy Hen" |
| 1979 | The Professionals | Margery Harper | Episode: "Backtrack" |
| 1984 | Shroud for a Nightingale | Sister Mavis Gearing | All 5 episodes |
| 1984–1986 | Fairly Secret Army | Doris Entwhistle | 11 episodes |
| 1987 | Miss Marple | Mrs. Brent | Episode: "Nemesis" |
| 1987 | Hardwicke House | Agnes | 4 episodes |
| 1988 | Rude Health | Mrs. Joy | 4 episodes |
| 1988 | ScreenPlay | Mrs. Dewey | Episode: "Eskimos Do It" |
| 1988 | The Lady and the Highwayman | Flossie | TV film |
| 1989 | Capstick's Law | Florence Smith | |
| 1991 | Birds of a Feather | Olive Stubbs | |
| 1993 | Minder | Delilah | |
| 1993 | Demob | Edith | |
| 1994 | The Bill | Grace Walsh | |
| 1996 | Wales Playhouse | Nel | |
| 1997 | Drover's Gold | Ma Whistler | |
| 2000 | Hold to Zero | Grace | |
| 2000 | Last of the Summer Wine | Reggie Unsworth | |
| 2006 | Pickles: The Dog Who Won the World Cup | Ada | |
| 2006 | Doctors | Beryl Gifford | |
| 2007 | Foyle's War | Mollie Summersgill | |
| 2007 | Holby City | Tabitha Blackstock | |
| 2018 | Midsomer Murders | Marcia Jackson |
References
edit- ^ "Liz Fraser, British Star of Comedy Film Series 'Carry On,' Dies at 88". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
- ^ "FreeBMD Entry Info". freebmd.org.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ a b c Fraser, Liz (2012). Liz Fraser... and other characters. Signum Books. ISBN 978-0956653413.
- ^ "An Evening with Liz Fraser NEW EVENT " The Cinema Museum, London". CinemaMuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ a b "Liz Fraser, big-hearted blonde actress in Carry On films – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
- ^ "The Smallest Show On Earth – British Comedy Films". comicbrits.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ Mayer, Geoff (1 January 2003). Guide to British Cinema. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313303074.
- ^ Webber, Richard (31 March 2011). Fifty Years Of Carry On. Random House. ISBN 9781446409961.
- ^ a b "Liz Fraser: Carry On actress dies at 88". BBC News. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
- ^ Variety's Film Reviews: 1959–1963. Bowker. 1 May 1989. ISBN 9780835227896.
- ^ Reid, John Howard (1 March 2006). America's Best, Britain's Finest: A Survey of Mixed Movies. Lulu.com. ISBN 9781411678774.
- ^ Keaney, Michael F. (5 March 2008). British Film Noir Guide. McFarland. ISBN 9780786464272.
- ^ Blum, Daniel (1 June 1966). Daniel Blum's Screen World 1965. Biblo & Tannen Publishers. ISBN 9780819603067.
- ^ Willis, John (1 June 1983). Screen World 1968. Biblo & Tannen Publishers. ISBN 9780819603098.
- ^ Willis, John (1 June 1983). Screen World 1968. Biblo & Tannen Publishers. ISBN 9780819603098.
- ^ McCaighey, Mark (3 March 2015). The Dad's Army Movie Dossier: The Making of Jimmy Perry and David Croft's Classic Film. Andrews UK Limited. ISBN 9781785381423.
- ^ Weiner, David J. (1 April 1991). Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever, 1992. Thomson Gale. ISBN 9780810394049.
- ^ "Liz Fraser filmography". locatetv.com. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ Webber, Richard (31 January 2011). Fifty Years Of Hancock's Half Hour. Random House. ISBN 9781446409985.
- ^ "The Avengers Forever: The Girl From Auntie". theavengers.tv. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ "Liz Fraser". British Comedy Guide.
- ^ "Ciaran Brown meets actress Liz Fraser". ciaranbrown.com. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ Matthews, Dave. "The Professionals details". mark-1.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ "Last of the Summer Wine | Series 21 – 7. Just a Small Funeral | Radio Times". RadioTimes. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ TV.com. "Liz Fraser profile". TV.com. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ "Holby City | Series 9 – 32. The Human Jungle | Radio Times". RadioTimes. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ "Dear Mother.... ....Love Albert – Albert! – If He'd Meant Us To Fly – British Comedy Guide". comedy.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ "Turnbull's Finest Half Hour-Part 3 (1972)". BFI. Archived from the original on 30 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ BBC Radio 4 That Reminds Me 16 September 2003
- ^ "Liz Fraser profile". LondonRepertoryCompany.com. Archived from the original on 30 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- ^ "Liz Fraser | English Bridge Union". www.ebu.co.uk.
Sources
edit- Simon Sheridan Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema, Titan Books (2011, 4th edition); ISBN 9780857682796