John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese (born
October 27,
1939 in
Weston-super-Mare,
Somerset,
England) is an
English comedian and
actor best known for being one of the members of the comedy group
Monty Python and for co-writing the TV series
Fawlty Towers in which he played
Basil Fawlty.
John Cleese was born in
Weston-super-Mare,
Somerset,
England to Reginald Francis Cleese and Muriel Cross. His family's surname was previously "Cheese", but his father, an
insurance salesman, changed his surname to "Cleese" upon joining the
army in 1915
[Cleese John Cleese's father] As a boy, Cleese was educated at
Clifton College in
Bristol, from which he was expelled for a humorous defacing of school grounds: he used painted footsteps to suggest that the school's statue of
Field Marshal Earl Douglas Haig had got down from his plinth and gone to the toilet. His talent for comedy progressed with his membership of the
Cambridge Footlights Revue while he was studying for a law degree at
Downing College at the
University of Cambridge. Here he met his future writing partner
Graham Chapman. As Cleese's comic reputation flourished, he was soon offered a position as a writer with
BBC Radio, working on, among others, sketches for
The Dick Emery Show. The success of the Footlights Revue led to the recording of a short series of half-hour radio programmes, called
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (which was so popular that the BBC commissioned a regular series with the same title). He then joined the Cambridge Revue,
Cambridge Circus, for a tour of
New Zealand and
Broadway, and decided to stay on in America performing on and off-Broadway, including in the musical
Half a Sixpence. It was during this time he met future Python
Terry Gilliam (best known for
Brazil) and his future wife, American actress
Connie Booth, whom he married on
February 20 1968. After his return to England, he started performing as a cast member of the highly successful BBC Radio show
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, which ran from 1965 to 1974. His fellow cast members were
Tim Brooke-Taylor,
Graeme Garden,
Bill Oddie,
David Hatch and
Jo Kendall.
On his return to
London in 1965, Cleese and Chapman began writing on
The Frost Report, an important landmark in satire and British Comedy in the 1960s. The writing staff chosen for
The Frost Report were, in many ways, the finest comedy minds of the 1960s United Kingdom, consisting of many writers and performers who would go on to make names for themselves in comedy. They included future
Goodies Bill Oddie and
Tim Brooke-Taylor, and also
Frank Muir,
Barry Cryer,
Marty Feldman,
Ronnie Barker,
Ronnie Corbett,
Dick Vosburgh and future Python members
Eric Idle,
Terry Jones and
Michael Palin. It was whilst working on
The Frost Report, in fact, that the future Pythons developed their unique writing styles that would become so significant later. Cleese and Chapman's sketches often involved authority figures (some of which were performed by Cleese). Terry Jones and Michael Palin were both infatuated with filmed scenes that open with idyllic countryside panoramas. Eric Idle was one of those charged with writing
David Frost's monologue. It was during this period that Cleese met and befriended influential British comedian
Peter Cook.
Such was the popularity of the series that, in 1966, John Cleese and Graham Chapman were invited to work as writers and performers with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Marty Feldman on
At Last the 1948 Show, during which time the
Four Yorkshiremen sketch was written by all four writers/performers (the Four Yorkshiremen sketch is now better known as a
Monty Python sketch). John Cleese and Graham Chapman also wrote episodes of
Doctor in the House. These series were successful and, in 1969, Cleese and Chapman were offered their very own series. However, due to Chapman's
alcoholism, Cleese found himself bearing an increasing workload in the partnership and was therefore unenthusiastic about doing a series with just the two of them. He had found working with Michael Palin on
The Frost Report an enjoyable experience, and invited him to join the series. Palin had previously been working on
Do Not Adjust Your Set, with Eric Idle and Terry Jones, and Terry Gilliam doing animations. The four of them had, on the back of the success of
Do Not Adjust Your Set, been offered a series for
ITV, which they were waiting to begin when Cleese's offer arrived. Palin agreed to work with Cleese and Chapman in the mean time, bringing with him Gilliam, Jones and Idle. This union led to the creation of Monty Python. Many have suggested that this important landmark in comedy was brought about by Cleese's desire to work with Palin, who Cleese has maintained is his favourite Python to work with.
Monty Python's Flying Circus ran for four series from October 1969 to December 1974 on
BBC. Cleese is particularly remembered for the "
Cheese Shop", "
The Ministry of Silly Walks", and "
Dead Parrot" sketches. Though the programme lasted four series, by the start of series 3, Cleese — who was probably the most experienced and well known member of the group, was beginning to find working with Chapman an unfair strain and that the show's scripts were gradually declining in quality — began to become agitated, wanting to move on. Though he stayed for the third series, he did not appear in the fourth series, and received only a minor writing credit. Cleese returned to the troupe to co-write and co-star in the Monty Python films
Monty Python and the Holy Grail,
Life of Brian and
The Meaning of Life.
|
Cleese (back) as his most famous creation, Basil Fawlty with the rest of the Fawlty Towers cast. |
In 1971, Connie Booth gave birth to Cynthia Cleese, their only child.
Having left Python, Cleese went on to achieve possibly greater success in the
United Kingdom as the awful hotel manager Basil Fawlty in
Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with
Connie Booth. The series won widespread critical acclaim and is still considered one of the finest examples of British comedy. The series also featured
Andrew Sachs as the much abused Spanish waiter Manuel ("...he's from
Barcelona"),
Prunella Scales as Basil's fire-breathing dragon of a wife Sybil, and Booth as waitress Polly. Cleese based Basil Fawlty on a real character, Donald Sinclair, whom he encountered when he and the rest of the Monty Python team were staying at the Gleneagles hotel in
Torquay whilst filming
Monty Python's Flying Circus. During the Pythons' stay, Sinclair threw Eric Idle's briefcase out of the hotel "in case it contained a bomb", complained about Terry Gilliam's "American" table manners, and threw a bus timetable at another guest after they dared to ask the time of the next bus to town. The series portrayed stereotypical British attitudes towards
sex,
death, complaining, violence towards employees and unhappy marriages, often simultaneously embodied in Cleese's madcap physical performances. The first series began on
19 September 1975, and whilst not an instant hit, soon gained momentum. However, the second series did not appear until 1979, during which time Cleese's marriage to Booth had broken down. Despite this the two reprised their writing and performing roles in the second series.
Fawlty Towers famously comprised only twelve episodes. Cleese and Booth both maintain that this was to prevent a gradual decline in the quality of the series.
Cleese did not really sing on
The Muppet Show, but at the end of his Muppet Show episode, he showed up a pretend album, his own new vocal record "John Cleese: A Man & His Music".
During the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese focused on film, though he did work with Peter Cook in his one-off TV special
Peter Cook and Co. in 1980. He also rejoined the Pythons for
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982), and starred in
The Secret Policeman's Ball for
Amnesty International. He married
Barbara Trentham on
15 February 1981. Their daughter Camilla was born 1984.
In 1988 he wrote and starred in
A Fish Called Wanda, as the lead, Archie Leach, along with
Jamie Lee Curtis,
Kevin Kline and fellow python
Michael Palin.
Wanda became the most successful British film ever, and Cleese was nominated for an
Academy Award for his script. Cynthia Cleese starred as Leach's daughter.
However, his marriage was in trouble and in 1990 he and Trentham
divorced. On
28 December 1992 he married
Alice Faye Eichelberger, his third
blonde American actress wife.
Cleese gave a stirring
eulogy at Graham Chapman's memorial service, in which he "became the first person ever at a British memorial service to say 'fuck'". Many considered this to be the perfect tribute to his friend and comedic partner.
[Memorial eulogy by John Cleese for Graham Chapman]Cleese also produced and acted in a number of successful business training films, including
Meetings, Bloody Meetings and
More Bloody Meetings about how to set up and run successful meetings. These were produced by his company
Video Arts.
With
Robin Skynner, Cleese wrote two
books on relationships:
Families and how to survive them, and
Life and how to survive it. The books are presented as a dialogue between Skynner and Cleese.
In 1996, Cleese
declined the British honour of Commander of the
Order of the British Empire (CBE). Cleese has been a strong supporter of the UK
Liberal Democrats, and it is believed his refusal was politically motivated.
In 1999, Cleese appeared in the
James Bond movie,
The World Is Not Enough as
Q's assistant, ironically referred to by Bond as
R. In 2002, when Cleese reprised his role in
Die Another Day, the character was promoted, making Cleese the new quartermaster (Q) of MI6. Cleese is confirmed not to be reprising his role of either Q or R in the newest James Bond film,
Casino Royale, where
Daniel Craig replaces
Pierce Brosnan in the leading role.
He is currently an
Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at
Cornell University, his term having been extended until 2006. Although he makes occasional, well-received appearances on the Cornell campus, he lives in the town of
Montecito, California. He has also been appointed a Provost's Visiting Professor through 2009.
From 1970 to 1973 Cleese was
rector of the
University of St Andrews.
In a 2005 poll of comedians and comedy insiders
The Comedian's Comedian, Cleese's peers showed their appreciation of his talent when he was voted second only to
Peter Cook. Also in 2005, a long-standing piece of internet humor, "The Revocation of Independence", was wrongly attributed to Cleese.
John Cleese recently lent his voice to the BioWare video game
Jade Empire. His role was that of an "outlander" named Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard, stranded in the Imperial City of the Jade Empire. His character is essentially a British colonialist stereotype who refers to the people of the Jade Empire (effectively like the ancient Chinese) as a lot of savages in need of enlightenment. While perhaps a small role in John Cleese's respect, such lines as "half of you can't even grow a decent moustache" and "your idea of honour is outdated, too. (shoots player). PERCIVAL! My towel" were a welcome touch of humour.
He also had a cameo appearance in the computer game
Starship Titanic as "The Bomb" (credited as "Kim Bread"), written by
Douglas Adams. When the bomb is activated it tells you that, "The ship is now armed and preparing to explode. This will be a fairly large explosion, so you'd best keep back about 22 miles.".
In 2003, John also appeared as Lyle Finster in long-running US sitcom
Will & Grace. His character eventually ended up having a short-lived marriage to Karen (
Megan Mulally) and was Lorraine's (Karen's arch-nemesis, following her affair with Karen's then husband) father.
In 2004, Cleese was credited as co-writer of a
DC Comics graphic novel entitled
Superman: True Brit. Part of DC's "
Elseworlds" line of "what if?" stories,
True Brit, mostly written by
Kim Howard Johnson, suggests what might have happened had
Superman's rocket ship landed in Britain, not America.
From
10 November to
9 December 2005, Cleese toured
New Zealand with his stage show 'John Cleese — His Life, Times and Current Medical Problems'. Cleese described it as "a
one-man show with several people in it, which pushes the envelope of acceptable behaviour in new and disgusting ways." The show was developed in
New York with
William Goldman and includes Cleese's daughter Camilla as a writer and actor. It then played in universities in California and Arizona from
10 January to
25 March 2006 under the title "Seven Ways to Skin an Ocelot"
[Playbill]In June 2006, Cleese decided to retire from performing in sitcoms, instead opting to writing a book on the history of comedy and tutoring young comedians.
*Official web site
*John Cleese at the Museum of Broadcast Communication website
*John Cleese — BBC America
*John Cleese — BBC Guide to Comedy
*John Cleese - Comedy Zone
*A Taste of Cheese
*John Cleese — Yahoo Movies
*John Cleese — The Numbers
