Career
She trained at RADA alongside Tom Courtenay and John Thaw, among others. She got her breakthrough role alongside Courtenay in Billy Liar (1963). They later played the parents of character Dave Best in the Christmas special of The Royle Family (2008).
She is best known to television viewers for her long-running role in the ITV women's prison drama Bad Girls as unpleasant warder Sylvia "Bodybag" Hollamby from the very first episode in 1999 to the very last in 2006. She reprised the role in the West End production of Bad Girls: The Musical in 2007.
She made her TV debut in the early 1960s and her credits include Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, The Likely Lads, Doctor in the House,The Dustbinmen, Rising Damp, Tales of the Unexpected, Duty Free, One Foot in the Grave, Coronation Street and Casualty. She also worked on TV with comedians like Dick Emery and the Two Ronnies in the 1970s.
She has also appeared on stage, including with the Royal National Theatre, in the West End and in regional theatres across the country. In 2009 and 2010 she toured the UK as Mrs Fisher in a stage version of Billy Liar. In 2011 she joined the tour of Calendar Girls.
Read more about this topic: Helen Fraser
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“My ambition in life: to become successful enough to resume my career as a neurasthenic.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“The 19-year-old Diana ... decided to make her career that of wife. Today that can be a very, very iffy line of work.... And what sometimes happens to the women who pursue it is the best argument imaginable for teaching girls that they should always be able to take care of themselves.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.”
—William Cobbett (1762–1835)