Liz Fraser

Elizabeth Joan Winch (14 August 1930 – 6 September 2018), known professionally as Liz Fraser, was a British film actress, best known for being cast in provocative comedy roles.

Her first film appearance was in Touch and Go (1955), using her birth name, and The Smallest Show on Earth (1957), where she worked with Peter Sellers for the first time. 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. 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 Carry On Behind (1975), her salary half of what it had been before.

Her other film appearances include Desert Mice (1959), Two-Way Stretch (1960), again with Sellers, The Bulldog Breed (1960),[12] Double Bunk (1961), Raising the Wind (1961), On the Fiddle (1961), The Painted Smile (1962) The Americanization of Emily (1964), The Family Way (1966), Up the Junction (1968), Dad’s Army (1971), and a string of sex comedies: Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1976), Confessions of a Driving Instructor (1976), Adventures of a Private Eye (1977), Confessions from a Holiday Camp (1977) and Rosie Dixon – Night Nurse[20] (1978).

Fraser was also known for her many appearances in British television series, including Hancock’s Half Hour and the Avengers episode “The Girl from Auntie”, where she guest starred opposite Carry-On regular Bernard Cribbins. As Elizabeth Fraser, over 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). Hence, the sketch was not included in 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.

Fraser also starred as Gloria Simpkins in the radio sitcom Parsley Sidings alongside Arthur Lowe and Kenneth Connor from 1971 to 1973.

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. 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.

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, The Bill, Foyle’s War, Birds of a Feather, Minder and Holby City.