Moyra Fraser (3 December 1923 – 13 December 2009) was an Australian-born English actress and ballet dancer, who is best known for playing Penny in the long-running sitcom As Time Goes By.
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Early life
Moyra Fraser was born in Sydney, Australia to John Newton Mappin Fraser, a director of Mappin & Webb, and Vera Eleanor (née Beardshaw) on 3 December 1923. Her sister was the actress Shelagh Fraser. Her family emigrated to the United Kingdom in June 1924. She was educated at St Christopher's, Kingswood, and Eversfield, Sutton. She left school at 14 to take up a scholarship with Sadler's Wells Ballet, where she was befriended by ballet dancer Robert Helpmann.
Stage career
Fraser joined the Sadler's Wells Ballet after training, dancing the title role in Giselle, the Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Princess and creating the role of Hope in The Quest (Ashton/Walton after Spenser). She left the company to play the principal role in Song of Norway at the Palace Theatre, London. Following that Fraser appeared as Venus in The Olympians at Covent Garden, and starred in many plays and pantomimes. These included Girl in the Window and the musical romance Golden City; she was in the revue Airs on a Shoestring at the Royal Court Theatre from 1953 to 1955. The Country Wife followed at the same theatre. She was part of the Old Vic Company in 1959–60, appearing in As You Like It, The Double Dealer and The Merry Wives of Windsor.