Richard Fraser
Also Known As: Richard Mackie Simpson
Biography: Early life After graduating from Sedbergh School as Richard Mackie Simpson, Richard's mother Margaret Kyd Mackie divorced and his name was shortened to Richard Mackie. After attending Cambridge University, Richard Mackie studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Having Spent time as a London stage actor, Richard emigrated to the USA and in New York married Louise Christine Sheldon, the couple then moved to Hollywood before the Second World War. Discovering that there was already a Richard Mackie acting in the US he adopted the stage name Richard Fraser. He then signed a contract with 20th Century Fox and appeared in numerous films. Career His American film career reached its peak with his performance as James Vane, the vengeful brother of Sibyl Vane in the film The Picture of Dorian Gray. Richard retired from acting in 1949, returning to Britain in 1961 with his then-wife, US actress Ann Gillis, spending his most of his last decade working for the BBC in export sales. Private life Richard married Louise Christine Sheldon in 1938 and had a daughter by her (Melinda Mackie 1940-2012), they divorced in 1944. Richard then married actress Ann Gillis in 1952, and had a son by her (Gordon Hamilton Mackie Fraser 1958- ). After retiring from acting in 1949 Richard and Ann lived in Britain in the 1960s, Richard as a businessman in which, among other things, he worked for the BBC in export sales selling Dr. Who around the world, as Ann continued her acting career (2 Episodes of "The Saint" and a small part in 2001 A Space Odyssey). The two divorced in 1970 and Richard married Edna Martin in summer 1971, he died in January 1972 of cancer.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Adult: No
Deathday: January 19, 1972
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Known For:
Bedlam
Overview: London, 1761. St. Mary's of Bethlehem, a sinister madhouse, is visited by wealthy people who enjoy watching the patients confined there as if they were caged animals. Nell Bowen, one of the visitors, is horrified by the deplorable living conditions of the unfortunate inhabitants of this godforsaken place, better known as Bedlam.
Genres: Drama Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-05-10
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How Green Was My Valley
Overview: A man in his fifties reminisces about his childhood growing up in a Welsh mining village at the turn of the 20th century.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-10-28
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Blackmail
Overview: A private detective is offered a job protecting a rich business man from suspected blackmail. Before he can accept the case a murder is uncovered.
Genres: Action Crime Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-07-24
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Joan of Paris
Overview: An RAF squadron is brought down over occupied France. The flyers get to Paris in spite of the fact that the youngest, Baby, is injured. He must be hidden and his wounds cared for. The Gestapo has already issued orders for their arrest.
Genres: Romance War Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-01-20
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White Pongo
Overview: Suspecting that a safari guide is a wanted killer, undercover policeman Geoffrey Bishop (Richard Fraser) joins a safari led by the suspect for a scientist that hopes to find and prove that a fabled white gorilla is a missing link.
Genres: Adventure Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-11-02
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A Yank in the R.A.F.
Overview: An American pilot impulsively joins His Majesty's Royal Air Force in Britain in an attempt to impress his ex-girlfriend.
Genres: War Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-09-26
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The Gorilla Man
Overview: A wounded soldier discovers his hospital is secretly run by the Nazis.
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-01-16
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The Fatal Witness
Overview: A playboy produces an airtight alibi when he is questioned about the murder of his wealthy aunt.
Genres: Drama Mystery Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-09-15
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Busses Roar
Overview: A sergeant saves the day when Axis agents plant a bomb on a bus bound for California oil fields.
Genres: War Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-09-19
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Truck Busters
Overview: An independent truck driver organizes his fellow truckers to resist the efforts of a crooked trucking company exec to bring all drivers under his control. When the trucker's brother dies in an "accident" arranged by the trucking company's henchmen, he takes matters into his own hands
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-01-28
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The Private Affairs of Bel Ami
Overview: A self-serving journalist uses influential women in late-1800s Paris and denies the one who truly loves him.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-04-25
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The Tiger Woman
Overview: Murder mystery programmer from Republic pictures
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-11-16
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Raw Deal
Overview: Joe Sullivan is itching to get out of prison. He's taken the rap for his accomplice Rick, a sadistic mobster who owes him $50,000 from the job they pulled. Rick sets up an escape for Joe, assuming that Joe will be killed while fleeing. But with the help of his love-struck girl Pat and his sympathetic legal caseworker Ann, Joe gets further than Rick intended...
Genres: Crime Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-05-21
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Desperate Journey
Overview: During WWII, when an allied bomber is shot down over Germany, the five surviving crew are captured but cleverly escape detention after learning German secret information and knocking out a Nazi major. With the angry major in hot pursuit, aided by military personnel, Gestapo agents and Hitler-loyal citizens, the five wend their way across perilous Germany, intent on reaching the UK with the secrets they have learned.
Genres: War Adventure Action
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-09-26
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Alaska Patrol
Overview: Spotted after he microfilms secret U.S. Navy documents, foreign agent Rattick is killed when he tries to make a getaway. Naval Intelligence officer Captain Wright and Operative Dale are assigned to investigate and determine who is behind the spy syndicate for which Rattick worked. They bring in the services of Agent Tom Norman, who bears a strong resemblance to Rattick.
Genres: Action
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-03-10
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The Adventure of the Speckled Band
Overview: Sherlock Holmes gets the clues he needs to solve a murder, and to prevent another one from occurring, when he finds out that a doctor owns a poisonous snake--the deadly swamp adder. Filmed on the expensive sets leftover from the movie Joan of Arc at Hal Roach Studios in Culver City and produced for the "Your Show Time" series, the short has been released as a solo feature on many DVDs that chronicle classic Sherlock Holmes films..
Genres: Mystery Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-03-25
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Thumbs Up
Overview: In this wartime musical, a feisty singer working in a London dive swears that she will become a star. She gets a job in an airplane plant when she learns that her fiance, a producer, and his partner are looking for new talent at the war factories. While working there, the woman meets a handsome RAF officer and falls in love. This causes some trouble.
Genres: Music Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-07-05
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Shadow Of Terror
Overview: A scientist possessing the formula for making a nuclear bomb finds himself chased by evil gangsters in this thriller that was made just after the A-bomb was dropped upon Hiroshima.
Genres: Thriller Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-10-04
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The Lone Wolf in London
Overview: Michael Lanyard (Gerald Mohr) is suspected of stealing two fabulous diamonds from a vault in Scotland Yard, where they were being held for safekeeping, but the Yard can't prove he did it. Later, Lanyard is summoned by a member of the nobility to help the latter raise money to pay a blackmailer. Lanyard later finds evidence to reveal the diamonds as having been stolen by a famous stage star.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-11-13
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Scotland Yard Investigator
Overview: A London curator loses the Mona Lisa to a collector, who discovers it's a fake.
Genres: Mystery Action Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-09-30
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Blonde for a Day
Overview: Hugh Beaumont stars as detective "Michael Shayne" in this 1946 B-film.
Genres: Mystery Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-06-10
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The Undercover Woman
Overview: Two women private detectives arrive at a dude ranch in time to investigate the murder of their client's philandering husband.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-01-01
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Eagle Squadron
Overview: An American joins the British Royal Air Force just before Pearl Harbor is attacked, and falls in love with a beautiful English girl.
Genres: Romance War Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-06-16
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The Cobra Strikes
Overview: A newspaper reporter investigates the near-fatal shooting of a medical scientist.
Genres: Mystery Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-04-24
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The Picture of Dorian Gray
Overview: Posing for a portrait, Dorian Gray talks with Lord Henry Wotton, who says that men should pursue their sensual longings, but laments that only the young get to do so. Taken with the idea, Dorian imagines a scenario in which the painting will age as he stays youthful. His wish comes true, and his boyish looks aid him as he indulges his every whim. But when a stunning revelation forces him to see what he's become, Dorian faces some very dangerous questions.
Genres: Drama Horror Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-03-03
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Edge of Darkness
Overview: The film pivots around the local Norwegian doctor and his family. The doctor's wife (Ruth Gordon) wants to hold on to the pretence of gracious living and ignore their German occupiers. The doctor, Martin Stensgard (Walter Huston), would also prefer to stay neutral, but is torn. His brother-in-law, the wealthy owner of the local fish cannery, collaborates with the Nazis. The doctor's daughter, Karen (Ann Sheridan), is involved with the resistance and with its leader Gunnar Brogge (Errol Flynn). The doctor's son has just returned to town, having been sent down from the university, and is soon influenced by his Nazi-sympathizer uncle. Captain Koenig (Helmut Dantine), the young German commandant of the occupying garrison, whose fanatic determination to do everything by the book and spoutings about the invincibility of the Reich hides a growing fear of a local uprising.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-04-09
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The Ghost Goes West
Overview: Donald Glourie shares his crumbling ancestral home with the ghost of his Highland ancestor, Murdoch, who has been condemned to haunt the castle until he avenges a 200-year-old insult from a rival clan. To clear his mounting debts, Donald sells the dilapidated pile to an American businessman, Mr Martin, who has the castle complete with the Glourie ghost transported and rebuilt in Florida. While old-world gentility rubs up comically against 20th-century materialism, Martin's daughter takes a liking to both Donald and Murdoch, convinced they are one and the same man...
Genres: Romance Comedy Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1935-12-17
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Man Hunt
Overview: Shortly before the start of WW2, renowned British big-game hunter Alan Thorndike, vacationing in Bavaria, has Hitler in his gun sight. He is captured, beaten, left for dead, and escapes back to London where he is hounded by Nazi agents and aided by a young woman.
Genres: Thriller War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1941-06-13
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Rogues' Regiment
Overview: A post World War 2, US Army agent is assigned to join the Foreign Legion in search of high ranking Nazi war criminal who may have also enlisted.
Genres: Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-12-28
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To the People of the United States
Overview: World War II public education film about sexually transmitted diseases focused on syphilis.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-04-16
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The Red Danube
Overview: A Russian ballerina in Vienna tries to flee KGB agents and defect.
Genres: Drama War Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-10-14
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