John Marwood Cleese (/kliË z/ KLEEZ; born 27 October 1939) is an
English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He achieved
success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and
performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he co-founded Monty
Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty
Python's Flying Circus. Along with his Python co-stars Terry Gilliam,
Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Graham Chapman, Cleese
starred in Monty Python films, which include Monty Python and the Holy
Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983).In
the mid 1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote the
sitcom Fawlty Towers, and he starred in it as Basil Fawlty. The series
resulted in Cleese receiving the 1980 BAFTA for Best Entertainment
Performance and in 2000 the show topped the British Film Institute's
list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. In a 2001
Channel 4 poll, Basil was ranked second on their list of the 100
Greatest TV Characters. Cleese co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee
Curtis, and former Python colleague Michael Palin in A Fish Called
Wanda (1989) and Fierce Creatures (1997), both of which he also wrote;
for A Fish Called Wanda he was also nominated for the Academy Award
for Best Original Screenplay. He has also starred in Time Bandits
(1981) and Rat Race (2001) and has appeared in many other films,
including Silverado (1985), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), two
James Bond films (as R and Q), two Harry Potter films (as Nearly
Headless Nick) and the last three Shrek films.Emerging from the
Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, Cleese has specialised in satire,
black comedy, sketch comedy and surreal humour. With Yes Minister
writer Antony Jay, he co-founded Video Arts, a production company
making entertaining training films. In 1976, Cleese co-founded The
Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows to raise funds for the human
rights organisation Amnesty International. Although a long-running
supporter of the Liberal Democrats, in 1999 he turned down a life
peerage offer from the party.
English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He achieved
success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and
performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he co-founded Monty
Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty
Python's Flying Circus. Along with his Python co-stars Terry Gilliam,
Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Graham Chapman, Cleese
starred in Monty Python films, which include Monty Python and the Holy
Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983).In
the mid 1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote the
sitcom Fawlty Towers, and he starred in it as Basil Fawlty. The series
resulted in Cleese receiving the 1980 BAFTA for Best Entertainment
Performance and in 2000 the show topped the British Film Institute's
list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. In a 2001
Channel 4 poll, Basil was ranked second on their list of the 100
Greatest TV Characters. Cleese co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee
Curtis, and former Python colleague Michael Palin in A Fish Called
Wanda (1989) and Fierce Creatures (1997), both of which he also wrote;
for A Fish Called Wanda he was also nominated for the Academy Award
for Best Original Screenplay. He has also starred in Time Bandits
(1981) and Rat Race (2001) and has appeared in many other films,
including Silverado (1985), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), two
James Bond films (as R and Q), two Harry Potter films (as Nearly
Headless Nick) and the last three Shrek films.Emerging from the
Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, Cleese has specialised in satire,
black comedy, sketch comedy and surreal humour. With Yes Minister
writer Antony Jay, he co-founded Video Arts, a production company
making entertaining training films. In 1976, Cleese co-founded The
Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows to raise funds for the human
rights organisation Amnesty International. Although a long-running
supporter of the Liberal Democrats, in 1999 he turned down a life
peerage offer from the party.
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