Close up biography john fraser
In this acclaimed autobiography, John Fraser takes us from the council estates of prewar Glasgow to the glamour of 's Hollywood and beyond.
Fraser's is a remarkably candid memoir, relating his affairs, friendships and working relationships with some of the biggest stars of the stage and screen, including Rudolf Nureyev, Dirk Bogarde and Bette Davis....
Close Up: An Actor Telling Tales
September 11, 2022
Shakespeare wallah: John Fraser’s memoir is at its best as a social history - a document of the way we were and I should say invaluable for anyone under 30 as a testament to the tribulations of gay life from the 1940s, as well as required reading for the dwindling band who opine a fondness for the pre-decriminalisation period.
“It’s almost impossible to understand how in the dark people were in my youth about sex in general, let alone about deviance.
“It’s almost impossible to understand how in the dark people were in my youth about sex in general, let alone about deviance.
I thought there was me, David and Jonathan a bit, but not really, and Oscar Wilde. And a few men with haunted eyes in the gents at Central Station.” Fraser grew up in working class Glasgow between the wars and his assertion of the problems seems almost optimistic: “…two men living openly together would attract nothing but derision at best and at worst a brick through the window.”
He eases gracefully into a more settled life though the contortions he - even as a fairly minor celebrit