Frazer is settled up for success

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Publication: The Newcastle Journal
Date: 1990-07-27
Author: Kirby Weston
Page: Women's Journal, p. 9
Language: English

Watch out Coronation Street and Neighbors. The forgotten soap Emmerdale, now revamped and appealing to the green welly brigade, recently bat EastEnders in the TV ratings for the first time. Kirby Weston talks to one of the soap's longest surviving actors, Frazer (Joe Sugden) Hines.

Not many people know that Frazer Hines who plays the Emmerdale heartthrob Joe Sugden once appeared in a Charlie Chaplin film.

"No, it wasn't a silent movie!" chuckles Frazer. "It was in 1957 and I was 12 years old. Called A King in New York, Chaplin was a penniless European king who found himself at odds with the American way of life.

"But I'd started in the business before that advertising oranges pit. By the time I was 15 I'd been in half a dozen films, as well as stage plays."

The 45-year-old star might have been a favourite in another soap, Coronation Street. "But much as I love the Street, I'm glad that Granada didn't offer me a long-term contract," he says.

Roger, the chap I played, was a fairly nasty piece of work and I'd have hated making a career out of him --although I suppose J.R. hasn't done so badly has he?"

Frazer has been in Emmerdale since it began 18 years ago, but is delighted many people still remember him as Dr. Who's taciturn and kilted Scottish assistant, Jamie.

"I was Jamie for three years, and Patrick Troughton was the Doctor.. I even a record called Who's Doctor Who, but it didn't act exactly become a smash hit. It sold around 5,000 copies. It's probably a collector's item now."

One of the many films in which he's appeared, one he particularly enjoyed was The Last Valley, made 20 years ago.

"Michael Caine and Omar Sharif with the stars, and we had a fantastic time working on location in Austria," he says.

"There were some stunning women out there, too, and I remembered one I fancied like mad. I wanted to make a real impression on her so I borrowed Omar's Rolls Royce.

"I certainly made an impression," Frazer sighs. "The next time a nice saw Omar in that car that very same extremely beautiful woman was sitting snuggled up beside him."

Yet Frazer didn't remain heartbroken for too long. He was married to actress Gemma Craven for almost three years, and his other girlfriends have included Lyn Paul, Susan George, Liza Goddard and Michael Caine's daughter Nikki.

Frazer certainly enjoys an interesting lifestyle. He holed a jockey's license and has ridden several winners. He owns a horse called Excavator Lady and as part of another and is part owner of another, Joe Sugden

"I wrote my first winner in 1972, when I was 27," he says, "and I've been hooked ever since.

"A big ambition of mine is to make a Western. I'm a great John Wayne fan and such a cowboy fanatic that I once visited Monument Valley to stand on the very spot where John Wayne made Stagecoach."

"I stayed in a dude ranch, too, where I learned to ride horses, coyboy-style, And even now I'm always in touch with the old west because the only stuff I ever played on my car stereo is country and western and Cajun music."

Something else Frazer is mad keen about is cricket. He plays regularly for the Lords Taveners.

"I once flew 8,000 miles back home from Canada, changing planes three times so that I could play in a charity match in Headingsley. It was a memorable occasion even though I was caught out after only one run.

Frazer is settled up for success

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