Sally Fraser obit

RIP Sally Fraser

She was not on the list.

Actress Sally Fraser who appeared on television and in numerous films died in Harrison, Idaho on January 13, 2019. She became best known for appearing in low-budget science fiction films of the 1950s. Born in Williston, North Dakota on December 12, 1932, Fraser moved to Southern California with her family after spending a few years in Minneapolis. She was spotted after singing on a local TV show and was encouraged to take drama lessons and eventually gained experience in stage plays. On television she appeared opposite Tyler MacDuff in the episode "The Saga of Clement O'Toole" of the western series, Annie Oakley. She also appeared on Guy Madison's series, The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok. She was in the 1954 TV presentation of A Christmas Carol starring Fredric March, in the role of "Belle, sweetheart of Scrooge's youth, and as the Spirit of Christmas Past."

On May 27, 1954, Fraser was part of the Anderson family in a pilot for the television version of Father Knows Best. The pilot was broadcast as an episode of Ford Television Theatre. Fraser played the older daughter but (as with all others in the family except Robert Young) was not cast as part of the regular series.

In 1955, Fraser (along with Jil Jarmyn) completed two pilot episodes of Behind the Scenes (not to be confused with a latter Public Broadcasting Service series of the same name), a series about the "adventures of two girls trying for movie careers in Hollywood."

Fraser eventually became typecast in low budget 1950s sci-fi films. She played a wife possessed by aliens in the Roger Corman film “It Conquered the World” (1956), the sister of the titular monster in “War of the Colossal Beast” (1958), and a mother protecting her baby in “Earth vs. the Spider” (1958). She was briefly onscreen as the United Nations receptionist who introduces Cary Grant's character to Philip Ober's Lester Townsend in Hitchcock's “North by Northwest” also appeared in “Giant from the Unknown” (1958).

She continued to work on television and the stage into the 1960s until she decided to retire to raise her family. Fraser moved to Harrison, Idaho in the 1980s and lived on a ranch with her husband Allan Johnson.

Partial filmography

    All I Desire (1953) - Daughter in Auditorium (uncredited)

    Flight Nurse (1953) - Best Girl (uncredited)

    It's a Dog's Life (1955) - Dorothy Wyndham

    The Adventures of Champion (1956, TV Series) - Beth Collier

    It Conquered the World (1956) - Joan Nelson

    Giant from the Unknown (1958) - Janet Cleveland

    War of the Colossal Beast (1958) - Joyce Manning

    Earth vs. the Spider (1958) - Mrs. Helen Kingman

    Roadracers (1959) - Joanie Wilson

    North by Northwest (1959) - UN Receptionist #1 (uncredited)

    Elmer Gantry (1960) - Prostitute (uncredited)

    Dangerous Charter (1962) - June