John Marwood Cleese (born October 27, 1939 in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England) is a British comedian and actor best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for playing Basil Fawlty in the
sitcom Fawlty Towers.
Biography
His family's surname was previously "Cheese", but his father Reginald Francis Cheese, an insurance salesman, changed his surname to "Cleese" upon joining the army
in 1915 [1] (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=John%20Cleese).
Cleese was educated at Clifton College in Bristol. His talent for comedy emerged as a member of the Cambridge Footlights Revue when he was a law student at Downing College, 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 and
as a cast member of the highly successful BBC Radio show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, which ran 1965-1974. His fellow cast members were Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, David Hatch and Jo
Kendall. He rejoined the Cambridge Review for a tour of New Zealand and
New York, and decided to stay on in America performing on and off-Broadway. It was
during this time he met future Python Terry Gilliam and his future wife,
American actress Connie Booth who he married on February 20, 1968.
On his return to London in 1965, he and
Chapman began writing on The Frost Report, an important landmark in the satarism movement of the 1960s and British Comedy. The writing staff chosen for The Frost Report were, in many ways, the finest comedic minds
of the 1960s United Kingdom, consisting of many writers and performers who would go on to make a names for themselves in comedy.
They included future Goodies Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor, 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, Cleese and Chapman were invited to
work as writers and performers with Brook-Taylor and Feldman on At Last the 1948 Show. He and 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 nature, Cleese found himself baring 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,
with Terry Gilliam doing animations. The four of them had, on the back of the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set had 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 most important landmark in comedy was brought about by Cleese's desire to
work with Palin, who Cleese has maintained is his favorite Python to work with. Monty Python's Flying Circus ran for four series from 1969-1974 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, and who was beginning to find
working with the alcoholic Chapman an unfair strain - began to become agitated, wanting to move on. Though he stayed for the
third series, he did not appear in the forth series, and received only a minor writing credit.
In 1971, Booth gave birth the 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 cowrote with
Connie Booth. The series won mass critical acclaim and is still considered
one of the finest examples of British comedy. The series also famously starred Andrew Sachs as the much abused Spanish waiter Manuel, Prunella Scales and Basil's fire-breathing dragon of a wife, Sybill and Booth as waitress Polly. Cleese
based Basil Fawlty on a real character, Donald Sinclare, who he encountered when he and the rest of the Monty Python team were
staying at a hotel in Torquay called the Gleneagles whilst filming Monty Python's
Flying Circus. During the Pythons stay, Sinclare 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 encapsulated such elements as the British psyche towards sex, death and complaining, violence towards employees, unhappy marriages and
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 broke down. Despite this the two both
reprised their writing and performing roles in the second series. Fawlty Towers famously only comprised of twelve
episodes. Cleese and Booth both maintain that this was to prevent a gradual decline in the quality of the series.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese focused on
film work, though he did work with Peter Cook in his one off TV special Peter Cook and Co. in
1980. He also re-united with 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 A Fish Called Wanda and
starred in it, along with Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline and fellow python Michael Palin. The film became the most successful British film ever. Cynthia Cleese starred as John's
daughter. However, his marriage had hit trouble and in 1990 he and Trentham were divorced.
He was remarried on the 28 December 1992 to Alice Faye Eichelberger, his third blonde American actress wife.
He 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.
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).
In 1999, Cleese starred in the James
Bond movie, The World Is Not Enough as
Q's assistant, referred to 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.
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. From 1973-1975
Cleese was rector of St Andrews University, a position which he left to make Fawlty Towers.
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.
Radio credits
Television credits
Filmography
External links
References
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