John Cleese

2/25/2015
John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Cleese
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Marwood Cleese (/kliz/; born 27 October

1939) is an English actor, comedian, writer and film
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 and the
four Monty Python films: And Now for Something
Completely Different, Monty Python and the Holy
Grail, Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.
John Cleese
In the mid-1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie

Booth, co-wrote and starred in the British sitcom
Fawlty Towers. Later, he co-starred with Kevin Kline,
Jamie Lee Curtis and former Python colleague
Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce
Creatures. He also starred in Clockwise, and has
appeared in many other films, including two James
Bond films, two Harry Potter films, and the last three
Shrek films.
With Yes Minister writer Antony Jay he co-founded
Video Arts, a production company making
entertaining training films.
Cleese in 2008
Born
John Marwood Cleese

27 October 1939
Weston-super-Mare, Somerset,
England
Almamater Clifton College

Downing College, Cambridge
Contents
Occupation
1 Early life and education

2 Career
Actor voice actor screenwriter

comedian producer
Yearsactive 1961present
2.1 Pre-Python
Height
6ft 5in (1.96m)
2.2 Monty Python
Liberal Democrat
2.2.1 Partnership with Graham
Political
party
Chapman
Spouse(s)
Connie Booth(m.1968; div. 1978)

Barbara Trentham(m.1981; div.
1990)
Alyce Eichelberger(m.1992; div.
2008)
Jennifer Wade(m.2012)
Children
Cynthia (b. 1971)

Camilla (b. 1984)
2.3 Post-Python
2.3.1 Fawlty Towers
2.4 1980s and 1990s
2.5 2000present
3 Admiration for black humour
4 Personal life
4.1 1960s1980s
Website
4.2 1990spresent
TheJohnCleese.com
(http://www.thejohncleese.com/)
5 Support of lemurs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cleese
1/25
2/25/2015
6 Political views
7 Radio credits
8 Television credits
8.1 Major roles
8.2 As host
8.3 Guest appearances
9 Filmography
10 Video game credits
11 Other credits
12 Television advertisements
13 Awards
14 Honours and tributes
15 Bibliography
15.1 Scripts
15.2 Dialogues
16 See also
17 References
18 Published works
19 External links
Early life and education

Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England, the only child of Reginald Francis Cleese,
an insurance salesman, and his wife Muriel Evelyn (ne Cross).[1] His family's surname was originally
Cheese, but his father had thought it was embarrassing and changed it when he enlisted in the Army
during World War I.
As a child, Cleese supported Bristol City Football Club and Somerset County Cricket Club.[2][3] Cleese
was educated at St Peter's Preparatory School, where he received a prize for English studies and did well
at cricket and boxing. When he was 13, he was awarded an exhibition at Clifton College, an English
public school in Bristol. He was already more than 6feet (1.83m) tall by then. He allegedly defaced the
school grounds, as a prank, by painting footprints to suggest that the statue of Field Marshal Earl Haig
had got down from his plinth and gone to the toilet.[4] Cleese played cricket in the First XI and did well
academically, passing 8 O-Levels and 3 A-Levels in mathematics, physics, and chemistry.[5][6] In his
autobiography So, Anyway he says that discovering, aged 17, he had not been made a house prefect by
his housemaster, Billy Williams, affected his outlook. 'It was not fair and therefore it was unworthy of
my respect... I believe that this moment changed my perspective on the world.
He could not go straight to Cambridge University as the ending of conscription in the United Kingdom
meant there were twice the usual number of applicants for places, so he returned to his prep school for
two years[7] to teach science, English, geography, history and Latin[8] (he drew on his Latin teaching
experience later for a scene in Life of Brian, in which he corrects Brian's badly written Latin graffiti[9]).
2/25
2/25/2015
He then took up a place he had won at Downing College, Cambridge to read Law. He also joined the
Cambridge Footlights. He recalled that he went to the Cambridge Guildhall, where each university
society had a stall, and went up to the Footlights stall where he was asked if he could sing or dance. He
replied "no" as he was not allowed to sing at his school because he was so bad, and if there was anything
worse than his singing it was his dancing. He was then asked "Well, what do you do?", to which he
replied, "I make people laugh".[7]
At the Footlights theatrical club he spent a lot of time with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie and met
his future writing partner Graham Chapman.[7] Cleese wrote extra material for the 1961 Footlights
Revue I Thought I Saw It Move,[7][10] and was Registrar for the Footlights Club during 1962. He was
also in the cast of the 1962 Footlights Revue Double Take![7][10]
Cleese graduated from Cambridge in 1963 with a 2:1. Despite his successes on The Frost Report, his
father would send him cuttings from The Daily Telegraph offering management jobs in places like
Marks and Spencer.[11]
Career
Pre-Python
Cleese was a scriptwriter, as well as a cast member, for the 1963 Footlights Revue A Clump of
Plinths.[7][10] The revue was so successful at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed
Cambridge Circus and taken to the West End in London and then on a tour of New Zealand and
Broadway, with the cast also appearing in some of the revue's sketches on The Ed Sullivan Show in
October 1964.[7][12]
After Cambridge Circus, Cleese briefly stayed in America, performing on and Off-Broadway. While
performing in the musical Half a Sixpence,[7] Cleese met future Python Terry Gilliam, as well as
American actress Connie Booth, whom he married on 20 February 1968.[7]
He was soon offered work as a writer with BBC Radio, where he worked on several programmes, most
notably as a sketch writer 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
were so popular that the BBC commissioned a regular series with the same title that ran from 1965 to
1974. Cleese returned to Britain and joined the cast.[7] In many episodes, he is credited as "John Otto
Cleese" (according to Jem Roberts, this may have been due to the embarrassment of his actual middle
name Marwood).[13]
Also in 1965, Cleese and Chapman began writing on The Frost Report. The writing staff chosen for The
Frost Report consisted of a number of writers and performers who would go on to make names for
themselves in comedy. They included co-performers from I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and 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. While working on The Frost Report, the future Pythons developed the writing styles that would
make their collaboration significant. Cleese's and Chapman's sketches often involved authority figures,
some of whom were performed by Cleese, while Jones and Palin were both infatuated with filmed
3/25
2/25/2015
scenes that opened with idyllic countryside panoramas. Idle was one of those charged with writing
David Frost's monologue. During this period Cleese met and befriended influential British comedian
Peter Cook.
It was as a performer on The Frost Report that Cleese achieved his breakthrough on British television as
a comedy actor, appearing as the tall, patrician figure in the classic class sketch, contrasting comically in
a line-up with the shorter, middle class Ronnie Barker and the even shorter, working class Ronnie
Corbett. This series was so popular that in 1966 Cleese and Chapman were invited to work as writers
and performers with Brooke-Taylor and Feldman on At Last the 1948 Show,[7] 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).[14] Cleese and Chapman also wrote episodes for the first
series of Doctor in the House (and later Cleese wrote six episodes of Doctor at Large on his own in
1971). These series were successful, and in 1969 Cleese and Chapman were offered their very own
series. However, owing 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 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 Idle and Jones, with Terry
Gilliam creating the animations. The four of them had, on the back of the success of Do Not Adjust Your
Set, been offered a series for Thames Television, which they were waiting to begin when Cleese's offer
arrived. Palin agreed to work with Cleese and Chapman in the meantime, bringing with him Gilliam,
Jones, and Idle.
Monty Python
Monty Python's Flying Circus ran for four seasons from October 1969 to December 1974 on BBC
Television, though Cleese quit the show after the third. Cleese's two primary characterisations were as a
sophisticate and a stressed-out loony. He portrayed the former as a series of announcers, TV show hosts,
and government officials (for example, "The Ministry of Silly Walks"). The latter is perhaps best
represented in the "Cheese Shop" and by Cleese's Mr Praline character, the man with a dead Norwegian
Blue parrot and a menagerie of other animals all named "Eric". He was also known for his working class
"Sergeant Major" character, who worked as a Police Sergeant, Roman Centurion, etc. He is also seen as
the opening announcer with the now famous line "And now for something completely different",
although in its premiere in the sketch "Man with Three Buttocks", the phrase was spoken by Eric Idle.
Partnership with Graham Chapman
Along with Gilliam's animations, Cleese's work with
Graham Chapman provided Python with its darkest
and angriest moments, and many of his characters
display the seething suppressed rage that later
characterised his portrayal of Basil Fawlty.
The Dead Parrot sketch performed on

Monty Python's Flying Circus in 1969
0:00
MENU
listen to a clip from the sketch.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Unlike Palin and Jones, Cleese and Chapman
actually wrote togetherin the same room; Cleese
claims that their writing partnership involved his sitting with pen and paper, doing most of the work,
while Chapman sat back, not speaking for long periods, then suddenly coming out with an idea that
often elevated the sketch to a different level. A classic example of this is the "Dead Parrot" sketch,
envisaged by Cleese as a satire on poor customer service, which was originally to have involved a
broken toaster and later a broken car (this version was actually performed and broadcast on the pre-
4/25
2/25/2015
Python special How To Irritate People). It was Chapman's suggestion to change the faulty item into a
dead parrot, and he also suggested that the parrot be specifically a Norwegian Blue, giving the sketch a
surreal air which made it far more memorable.
Their humour often involved ordinary people in ordinary situations behaving absurdly for no obvious
reason. Like Chapman, Cleese's poker face, clipped middle class accent, and imposing height allowed
him to appear convincingly as a variety of authority figures, such as policemen, detectives, Nazi officers
or government officialswhich he would then proceed to undermine. Most famously, in the "Ministry
of Silly Walks" sketch (actually written by Palin and Jones), Cleese exploits his stature as the cranelegged civil servant performing a grotesquely elaborate walk to his office.
Chapman and Cleese also specialised in sketches where two characters would conduct highly articulate
arguments over completely arbitrary subjects, such as in the "cheese shop", the "dead parrot" sketch and
"The Argument Sketch", where Cleese plays a stone-faced bureaucrat employed to sit behind a desk and
engage people in pointless, trivial bickering. All of these roles were opposite Palin (who Cleese often
claims is his favourite Python to work with)the comic contrast between the towering Cleese's crazed
aggression and the shorter Palin's shuffling inoffensiveness is a common feature in the series.
Occasionally, the typical Cleese-Palin dynamic is reversed, as in "Fish Licence", wherein Palin plays the
bureaucrat with whom Cleese is trying to work.
Though the programme lasted four series, by the start of series 3, Cleese was growing tired of dealing
with Chapman's alcoholism. He felt, too, that the show's scripts had declined in quality. For these
reasons, he became restless and decided to move on. Though he stayed for the third series, he officially
left the group before the fourth season. Despite this, he remained friendly with the group, and all six
began writing Monty Python and the Holy Grail; Cleese received a credit on three episodes of the fourth
series which used material from these sessions, though he was officially unconnected with the fourth
series. Cleese returned to the troupe to co-write and co-star in the Monty Python films Monty Python and
the Holy Grail, Monty Python's Life of Brian and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, and participated
in various live performances over the years.
Post-Python
From 1970 to 1973, Cleese served as rector of the University of St Andrews.[15] His election proved a
milestone for the university, revolutionising and modernising the post. For instance, the rector was
traditionally entitled to appoint an "Assessor", a deputy to sit in his place at important meetings in his
absence. Cleese changed this into a position for a student, elected across campus by the student body,
resulting in direct access and representation for the student body.[16]
Around this time, Cleese worked with comedian Les Dawson on his sketch/stand-up show Sez Les. The
differences between the two physically (the tall, lean Cleese and the short, stout Dawson) and socially
(the public school, and then Cambridge-educated Cleese and the working class, self-educated
Mancunian Dawson) were marked, but both worked well together from series 8 onwards until the series
ended in 1976.[17][18]
Fawlty Towers
Cleese achieved greater prominence in the United Kingdom as the neurotic hotel manager Basil Fawlty
in Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with his wife Connie Booth. The series won three BAFTA awards
when produced and in 2000, it topped the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest British
Television Programmes. The series also featured Prunella Scales as Basil's acerbic wife Sybil, Andrew
Sachs as the much abused Spanish waiter Manuel ("...he's from Barcelona"), and Booth as waitress
5/25
2/25/2015
Polly, the series' voice of sanity. Cleese based Basil Fawlty on a real person, Donald Sinclair, whom he
had encountered in 1970 while the Monty Python team were staying at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay
while filming inserts for their television series. Reportedly, Cleese was inspired by Sinclair's mantra, "I
could run this hotel just fine, if it weren't for the guests." He later described Sinclair as "the most
wonderfully rude man I have ever met," although Sinclair's widow has said her husband was totally
misrepresented in the series. During the Pythons' stay, Sinclair allegedly threw Idle's briefcase out of the
hotel "in case it contained a bomb," complained about 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 first series was screened from 19 September 1975 on BBC 2, initially to poor reviews,[19] but
gained momentum when repeated on BBC 1 the following year. Despite this, a second series did not air
until 1979, by which time Cleese's marriage to Booth had ended, but they revived their collaboration for
the second series. Fawlty Towers consisted of only twelve episodes; Cleese and Booth both maintain that
this was to avoid compromising the quality of the series.
In December 1977, Cleese appeared as a guest star on The
Muppet Show.[20] Cleese was a fan of the show, and co-wrote
much of the episode.[21] Cleese also made a cameo appearance in
their 1981 film The Great Muppet Caper.
Cleese won the TV Times award for Funniest Man on TV
197879.[22]
1980s and 1990s

Cleese as a Mexican maraca soloist as
part of his 1977 guest appearance on
The Muppet Show
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. In the same year Cleese played Petruchio, in
Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in the BBC Television
Shakespeare series. In 1981 he starred with Sean Connery and Michael Palin in the Terry Gilliamdirected Time Bandits as Robin Hood. He also participated in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
(1982), and starred in The Secret Policeman's Ball for Amnesty International. In 1985, Cleese had a
small dramatic role as a sheriff in Silverado, which had an all-star cast that included Kevin Kline, with
whom he would star with in A Fish Called Wanda three years later. In 1986, he starred in Clockwise as
an uptight school headmaster obsessed with punctuality and constantly getting into trouble during a
journey to a headmasters' conference.
Timed with the 1987 UK elections, he appeared in a video promoting
proportional representation.[23]
In 1988, he wrote and starred in A Fish Called Wanda, as the lead,
Archie Leach, along with Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael
Palin. Wanda was a commercial and critical success, and Cleese was
nominated for an Academy Award for his script. Cynthia Cleese starred
as Leach's daughter.
Graham Chapman was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1989; Cleese,
Michael Palin, Peter Cook, and Chapman's partner David Sherlock,
witnessed Chapman's death. Chapman's death occurred a day before the
20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus, with Jones
Cleese at the 1989 Academy

Awards
6/25
2/25/2015
commenting, "the worst case of party-pooping in all history." Cleese's eulogy at Chapman's memorial
servicein which he "became the first person ever at a British memorial service to say 'fuck'"has
since become legendary.[24]
Cleese would later play a supporting role in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein alongside Branagh himself and Robert De Niro. He also produced and acted in a number
of successful business training films, including Meetings, Bloody Meetings and More Bloody Meetings.
These were produced by his company Video Arts.
With Robin Skynner, the group analyst and family therapist, 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).
The follow-up to A Fish Called Wanda, Fierce Creatureswhich again starred Cleese alongside Kevin
Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Michael Palinwas also released that year, but was greeted with mixed
reception by critics and audiences. Cleese has since often stated that making the second film had been a
mistake. When asked by his friend, director and restaurant critic Michael Winner, what he would do
differently if he could live his life again, Cleese responded, "I wouldn't have married Alyce Faye
Eichelberger and I wouldn't have made Fierce Creatures."[25]
In 1999, Cleese appeared in the James Bond film, The World Is Not Enough as Q's assistant, 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. In 2004, Cleese was featured as Q in the video game
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, featuring his likeness and voice. Cleese did not appear in the
subsequent Bond films, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall; in the latter film, Ben Whishaw
was cast in the role of Q.
2000present
Cleese is Provost's Visiting Professor at Cornell University, after having been Andrew D. White
Professor-at-Large from 1999 to 2006. He makes occasional, well-received appearances on the Cornell
campus.
In 2001, Cleese was cast in the comedy Rat Race as the eccentric hotel owner Donald P. Sinclair, the
name of the Torquay hotel owner on whom he had based the character of Basil Fawlty.[26] In 2002,
Cleese made a cameo appearance in the film The Adventures of Pluto Nash in which he played "James",
a computerised chauffeur of a hover car stolen by the title character (played by Eddie Murphy). The
vehicle is subsequently destroyed in a chase, leaving the chauffeur stranded in a remote place on the
moon. In 2003, Cleese appeared as Lyle Finster on the US sitcom Will & Grace. His character's
daughter, Lorraine, was played by Minnie Driver. In the series, Lyle Finster briefly marries Karen
Walker (Megan Mullally). In 2004, Cleese was credited as co-writer of a DC Comics graphic novel
titled Superman: True Brit.[27] Part of DC's "Elseworlds" line of imaginary 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 City with William Goldman, and includes Cleese's daughter Camilla as a
writer and actor (the shows were directed by Australian Bille Brown). His assistant of many years, Garry
7/25
2/25/2015
Scott-Irvine, also appeared, and was listed as a co-producer. The show then played in universities in
California and Arizona from 10 January to 25 March 2006 under the title "Seven Ways to Skin an
Ocelot".[28] His voice can be downloaded for directional guidance purposes as a downloadable option on
some personal GPS-navigation device models by company TomTom.
In a 2005 poll of comedians and comedy insiders, The Comedians' Comedian, Cleese was voted second
only to Peter Cook. Also in 2005, a long-standing piece of Internet humour, "The Revocation of
Independence of the United States", was wrongly attributed to Cleese. In 2006, Cleese hosted a
television special of football's greatest kicks, goals, saves, bloopers, plays, and penalties, as well as
football's influence on culture (including the famous Monty Python sketch "Philosophy Football"),
featuring interviews with pop culture icons Dave Stewart, Dennis Hopper, and Henry Kissinger, as well
as football greats including Pel, Mia Hamm, and Thierry Henry. The Art of Soccer with John Cleese[29]
was released in North America on DVD in January 2009 by BFS Entertainment & Multimedia. Also in
2006, Cleese released the song "Don't Mention the World Cup".
Cleese 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 as "savages in need of enlightenment". His armour has the design of a fork stuck in a
piece of cheese. He also had a cameo appearance in the computer game Starship Titanic as "The Bomb"
(credited as "Kim Bread"), designed by Douglas Adams.[30]
In 2007, Cleese appeared in ads for Titleist as a golf course designer named "Ian MacCallister", who
represents "Golf Designers Against Distance". Also in 2007, he started filming the sequel to The Pink
Panther, titled The Pink Panther 2, with Steve Martin and Aishwarya Rai. On 27 September 2007
Cleese announced he was to produce a series of video podcasts called HEADCAST. Cleese released the
first episode of this series in April 2008 on his own website, headcast.co.uk.
Cleese collaborated with Los Angeles Guitar Quartet member William Kanengiser in 2008 on the text to
the performance piece "The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha". Cleese, as narrator, and the LAGQ
premiered the work in Santa Barbara. 2008 also saw reports of Cleese working on a musical version of A
Fish Called Wanda with his daughter Camilla.
At the end of March 2009, Cleese published his first article as 'Contributing Editor' to The Spectator:
"The real reason I had to join The Spectator".[31] Cleese has also hosted comedy galas at the Montreal
Just for Laughs comedy festival in 2006, and again in 2009. Towards the end of 2009 and into 2010,
Cleese appeared in a series of television adverts for the Norwegian electric goods shop chain, Elkjp.[32]
In March 2010 it was announced that Cleese would be playing Jasper in the video game Fable III.[33]
In 2009 and 2010, Cleese toured Scandinavia and the US with his Alimony Tour Year One and Year
Two. In May 2010, it was announced that this tour would extend to the UK (his first tour in UK), set for
May 2011. The show is dubbed the "Alimony Tour" in reference to the financial implications of Cleese's
divorce. The UK tour started in Cambridge on 3 May, visiting Birmingham, Nottingham, Salford, York,
Liverpool, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Oxford, Bristol and Bath (the Alimony Tour DVD was recorded
on 2 July, the final Bath date).[34] Later in 2011 John took his Alimony Tour to South Africa. He played
Cape Town on the 21 & 22 October before moving over to Johannesburg where he played from 25th to
30 October. In January 2012 he took his one man show to Australia, starting in Perth on 22 Jan and
throughout the next 4 months visited Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, New South Wales,
Melbourne, Sydney, and finished up during April in Canberra.
8/25
2/25/2015
In October 2010, Cleese was featured in the launch of an advertising campaign by The Automobile
Association for a new home emergency response product.[35] He appeared as a man who believed the
AA could not help him during a series of disasters, including water pouring through his ceiling, with the
line "The AA? For faulty showers?" During 2010, Cleese appeared in a series of radio advertisements
for the Canadian insurance company Pacific Blue Cross, in which he plays a character called "Dr. Nigel
Bilkington, Chief of Medicine for American General Hospital".[36][37]
In May 2012 he did a week run of shows in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Entitled 'An Evening
with John Cleese' he was at the Madinat Theatre, Souk Madinat Jumeirah from Wednesday 23rd to
Saturday 26th.
In 2012, Cleese was cast in Hunting Elephants, an upcoming heist comedy by Israeli filmmaker Reshef
Levi. Cleese had to quit just prior to filming due to heart trouble and was replaced by Patrick
Stewart.[38][39][40]
Between September and October 2013, Cleese embarked on his first ever cross-Canada comedy tour.
Entitled 'John Cleese: Last Time to See Me Before I Die tour', he visited Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto,
Edmonton, Calgary, Victoria and finished in Vancouver, performing to mostly sold-out venues.[41]
Cleese returned to the stage in Dubai in November 2013, where he performed to a sold-out theater.[42]
Cleese was interviewed and appears as himself in filmmaker Gracie Otto's 2013 documentary film The
Last Impresario, about Cleese's longtime friend and colleague Michael White. White produced Monty
Python and the Holy Grail and Cleese's pre-Python comedy production Cambridge Circus.[43]
At a comic press conference in November 2013, Cleese and other surviving members of the Monty
Python comedy group announced a reuniting performance to be held in July 2014.[44]
Admiration for black humour

In his Alimony Tour Cleese explained the origin of his fondness for black humour, the only thing that he
inherited from his mother. Examples of it are the Dead Parrot sketch, "The Kipper and the Corpse"
episode of Fawlty Towers, his clip for the 1992 BBC2 mockumentary "A Question of Taste", the
Undertakers sketch, the Vomit episode in The Meaning of Life and his eulogy at Graham Chapman's
memorial service.
Cleese blamed his mother Muriel, who lived to the age of 101, for his problems in relationships with
women, saying: "It cannot be a coincidence that I spent such a large part of my life in some form of
therapy and that the vast majority of the problems I was dealing with involved relationships with
women."[45]
Personal life
1960s1980s
Cleese met Connie Booth in the US and the couple married in 1968.[19] In 1971, Booth gave birth to
Cynthia Cleese, their only child. With Booth, Cleese wrote the scripts for and co-starred in both series of
the TV series Fawlty Towers, even though the two were actually divorced before the second series was
finished and aired. Cleese and Booth are said to have remained close friends since.
9/25
2/25/2015
Cleese married American actress Barbara Trentham in 1981.[46] Their daughter Camilla, Cleese's second
child, was born in 1984. He and Trentham divorced in 1990. During this time, Cleese moved from the
United Kingdom to Los Angeles.
1990spresent
In 1992, he married American psychotherapist Alyce Faye Eichelberger. They divorced in 2008. The
divorce settlement left Eichelberger with 12million in finance and assets, including 600,000 a year
for seven years. Cleese said that "What I find so unfair is that if we both died today, her children would
get much more than mine".[47]
Less than a year later he returned to the UK, where he has property in London and a home in Bath on the
Royal Crescent.[48][49]
In August 2012 he married British jewelry designer and former model Jennifer Wade, in a ceremony in
the Caribbean.[50]
Support of lemurs
Cleese has a passion for lemurs.[51][52] Following the 1997 comedy film Fierce Creatures, in which the
ring-tailed lemur played a key role, he hosted the 1998 BBC documentary In the Wild: Operation Lemur
with John Cleese, which tracked the progress of a reintroduction of Black-and-white Ruffed Lemurs
back into the Betampona Reserve in Madagascar. The project had been partly funded by Cleese's
donation of the proceeds from the London premier of Fierce Creatures.[52][53] Cleese is quoted as
saying, "I adore lemurs. They're extremely gentle, well-mannered, pretty and yet great fun... I should
have married one."[51]
Political views
Currently a member of the Liberal Democrats after previously being a Labour party voter, Cleese
switched to the SDP after their formation in 1981, and during the 1987 general election, Cleese recorded
a nine-minute party political broadcast for the SDP-Liberal Alliance, which spoke about the similarities
and failures of the other two parties in a more humorous tone than standard political broadcasts. Cleese
has since appeared in broadcasts for the Liberal Democrats, in the 1997 general election and narrating a
radio election broadcast for the party during the 2001 general election.[54] In April 2010, Cleese
expressed his support for the Liberal Democrats on Twitter after Nick Clegg performed strongly in the
first leaders' debate on ITV1, stating: "Well, well, well. First leaders debate, and LibDems do so well.
Good luck to them."[55]
In 2008, Cleese expressed support for Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, offering his services as a
speech writer.[56] He also criticised Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, saying that
"Michael Palin is no longer the funniest Palin".[57] The same year, he wrote a satirical poem about Fox
News commentator Sean Hannity for Countdown with Keith Olbermann.[58]
In 2011, Cleese declared his appreciation for Britain's coalition government between the Conservatives
and Liberal Democrats, saying: "I think what's happening at the moment is rather interesting. The
Coalition has made everything a little more courteous and a little more flexible. I think it was quite good
10/25
2/25/2015
that the Liberal Democrats had to compromise a bit with the Tories." He also criticised the previous
Labour government, commenting: "Although my inclinations are slightly left-of-centre, I was terribly
disappointed with the last Labour government. Gordon Brown lacked emotional intelligence and was
never a leader." Cleese also declared his support for proportional representation.[59]
In April 2011, Cleese revealed that he had declined a life peerage for political services in 1999.
Outgoing leader of the Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown, had put forward the suggestion shortly
before he stepped down, with the idea that Cleese would take the party whip and sit as a working peer,
but the actor quipped that he "realised this involved being in England in the winter and I thought that
was too much of a price to pay."[60]
Radio credits
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (197273)
Television credits
Major roles
The Frost Report (1966)
Frost on Sunday
At Last the 1948 Show
How to Irritate People (1968) with Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Connie Booth and Tim
Brooke-Taylor
Monty Python's Flying Circus (196974)
Sez Les (1971, 1974)
Fawlty Towers (1975, 1979)
Whoops Apocalypse (1982)
Cheers (episode "Simon Says") (1987), he won an Emmy Award for best actor in a guest starring
role
The Taming of the Shrew (1980) as Petruchio
True Stories: Peace in our Time? as Neville Chamberlain
As host
The Human Face
Wine for the Confused
We Are Most Amused: Master of Ceremonies for a stand-up comedy show celebrating Prince
Charles's 60th birthday.
Guest appearances
The Avengers (1968), guest appearance as Marcus Rugman (egg clown-face collector) in the
11/25
2/25/2015
episode Look (Stop Me if You've Heard this One)...

The Goodies (1973), guest cameo appearance as a Genie in the episode The Goodies and the
Beanstalk
Ripping Yarns (1979), guest cameo appearance as "Passer-by" in the episode Golden Gordon[61]
Doctor Who (1979), guest cameo appearance as an Art Lover in the episode City of Death as a
favour to writer/script editor Douglas Adams
The Muppet Show (1977)
Cheers (Season 5, Episode 21, Simon Says) as Dr. Simon Finch-Royce, an acquaintance of Kelsey
Grammer's character Frasier Crane and fellow psychiatrist, who offers pre-marriage advice to Sam
and Diane, much to his later chagrin.
Last of the Summer Wine (1993), guest cameo appearance in the episode Welcome to Earth.
25 Years of Last of the Summer Wine (1997).
3rd Rock from the Sun (19982001) as recurring character Dr. Liam Neesam.
Casper & Mandrilaftalen (1999) both as the repairman of the purple Gunrack, and as the Danish
soccer coach Bosse Bo Johansson.
Wednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central) (2002) as Red Lansing
Will & Grace (20032004) as recurring character Lyle Finster.
Numerous commercials, including for supermarket chain Sainsbury's, snack firm Planters and a
British government Stop Smoking campaign.
Party political broadcasts for the Liberal Democrats and predecessor, the SDP-Liberal Alliance.
In November 2009 commercials, in which he appears for Swedish electrical appliance chain
"Elgiganten", began broadcasting in Sweden, as well as broadcasting in Denmark in late 2010.
Song "Don't Mention The World Cup" animated video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Tg5tpMm_ruc) on YouTube played on ITV, BBC and Channel 4 News, June 2006.
Batteries Not Includedgadget show on UKTV channel Dave (2008).
Entourage as himself, season 7 finale (2010).
Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain as Himself.
Whitney as Dr. Grant (20122013).
Over the Garden Wall as Quincy Endicott / Adelaide (voices) (2014).
Filmography
Films
Year
1968
Title
Interlude
1969
The Magic Christian
1969
The Best House in

London
Jones
Uncredited
1970
The Rise and Rise of
Pummer
Writer
Role
TV Publicist
Mr. Dougdale
(director in
Sotheby's)
Notes
12/25
2/25/2015
1981
Michael Rimmer
And Now for Something
Completely Different
The Statue
Elementary, My Dear
Watson
Romance with a Double
Bass
Monty Python and the
Holy Grail
Meetings, Bloody
Meetings
The Strange Case of the
End of Civilization as
We Know It
Monty Python's Life of
Brian
The Secret Policeman's
Ball
The Great Muppet
Caper
1981
Time Bandits
1982
Privates on Parade
1983
1985
Yellowbeard
Monty Python's The
Meaning of Life
Silverado
1986
Clockwise
1988
A Fish Called Wanda
1989
Erik the Viking
1989
The Big Picture
1990
Bullseye!
1991
An American Tail:
Fievel Goes West
Did I Ever Tell You
1971
1971
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1979
1980
1983
1992
Various Roles
Harry
Sherlock
Holmes
Musician
Smychkov
Writer
Writer
Various Roles
Writer
Tim
Writer/Executive Producer
Documentary Short
Sherlock
Holmes
Various Roles
Writer
HimselfVarious Roles
Neville
Gormless Robin
Hood
Major Giles
Flack
Blind Pew
Various Roles
Writer
Langston
Evening Standard British Film Awards Peter
Sellers Award for Comedy
Writer/Executive Producer
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
NominatedAcademy Award For Best Original
Lawyer Archie Screenplay
Leach
NominatedBAFTA Award for Best Original
Screenplay
NominatedGolden Globe Award for Best
Actor Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Halfdan the
Black
Bartender
Man on the
Beach in
Barbados Who
Looks Like
John Cleese
Mr. Stimpson
Cat R. Waul
Voice Only
Narrator
How Lucky You Are?

13/25
2/25/2015
1993
Splitting Heirs
1996
Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein
Rudyard Kipling's The
Jungle Book
The Swan Princess
The Wind in the
Willows
Fierce Creatures
1997
George of the Jungle
1998
2000
In the Wild: Operation

Lemur with John Cleese
The Out-of-Towners
The World Is Not
Enough
Isn't She Great
2000
The Magic Pudding
2001
Quantum Project
1994
1994
1994
1996
1999
1999
Raoul P.
Shadgrind
Professor
Waldman
Dr. Julius
Plumford
Jean-Bob
speaking Voice Only
Mr. Toad's
Lawyer
Rollo Lee
Writer/Producer
An Ape Named Voice Only
'Ape'
Host
Narrator
Mr. Mersault
R
Henry Marcus
Albert, The
Magic Pudding Voice Only
Alexander
Pentcho
2002
Here's Looking at You:

The Evolution of the
Narrator
Human Face
Donald P.
Rat Race
Sinclair
Harry Potter and the
Nearly
Philosopher's Stone
Headless Nick
Harry Potter and the
Nearly
Chamber of Secrets
Headless Nick
Roberto Benigni's
The Talking
Pinocchio
Crickett
2002
Die Another Day
2002
The Adventures of Pluto James

Nash
Charlie's Angels: Full Mr. Munday
Throttle
Charles
Scorched
Merchant
Ape Named
George of the Jungle 2 An
'Ape'
Voice Only
Shrek 2
King Harold
Around the World in 80 Grizzled
Days
Sergeant
Valiant
Mercury
2001
2001
2001
2002
2003
2003
2003
2004
2004
2005
2006
Charlotte's Web
Samuel the
NominatedPhoenix Film Critics Society Award

for Best Ensemble Acting
Voice Only: English Version
Second appearance in a James Bond film,
replaces Desmond Llewelyn as Q in the series
three years after Llewelyn's death in 1999
Voice Only
14/25
2/25/2015
2006
Charlotte's Web
2006
2007
Man About Town

Shrek the Third
2008
Igor
Samuel the
Sheep
Dr. Primkin
King Harold
Dr.
Glickenstein
2008
The Day the Earth

Stood Still
Dr. Barnhardt
2009
The Pink Panther 2
2009
Planet 51
2010
Chief-Inspector
Charles Dreyfus
Professor
Voice Only
Kipple
The Guv
Awaiting international release
2011
2012
Spud
Legend of the
Guardians: The Owls of Ghost
Ga'Hoole
Shrek Forever After
King Harold
Historical
The Big Year
Montage
Narrator
Winnie the Pooh
Narrator
God Loves Caviar
McCormick
2013
The Last Impresario
Himself
2013
2013
2013
2015
The Croods
Spud 2
Planes
Absolutely Anything
The Guv
Bulldog
2010
2010
2011
Voice Only
Voice Only
Voice Only
Voice Only
Voice Only
Featured interview subject in this documentary

film about Michael White, producer of Monty
Python and the Holy Grail.
Story credit
Awaiting international release
Voice Only
Voice Only
Video game credits

Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time (1994) 7th Level
Storybook Weaver (1994) MECC
Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail (1996) 7th Level
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1997) Panasonic
Starship Titanic (1998) Simon & Schuster Interactive (voice of the Bomb) (Credited as Kim
Bread)
007 Racing (2000) Electronic Arts
The World Is Not Enough (2000) Electronic Arts
Time Troopers (2004) Mr. Cleese
Storybook Weaver Deluxe (2004) MECC, The Learning Company
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (2004) Electronic Arts
Trivial Pursuit: Unhinged (2004) Atari
Jade Empire (2005) BioWare (as Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard)
15/25
2/25/2015
Shrek the Third (2007) King Harold, Narrator

Fable III (2010) Jasper
Smart As (2012) The Narrator[62]
The Elder Scrolls Online (2014) Sir Cadwell
Other credits
In 2003, John Cleese took part in Mike Oldfield's re-recording of the 1973 hit Tubular Bells,
Tubular Bells 2003. He took over the "Master of Ceremonies" duties in the 'Finale' part, in which
he announced the various instruments eccentrically, from the late Vivian Stanshall.[63]
Cleese recorded the voice of God for Spamalot, the musical based on Monty Python and the Holy
Grail.
Cleese narrated the audio version of C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters.
In the mid-1980s, Cleese starred in British advertisements for Compaq computers and Schweppes
beverages.
In the late-1990s, Cleese appeared in a set of poorly received commercials for the UK supermarket
chain Sainsbury's. Around the same time, his Fawlty Towers co-star, Prunella Scales, appeared in
more well-received commercials for rival chain Tesco.
He has enunciated a set of directions for the TomTom in-car navigation system. This allows itself
humorous notes at non-critical moments, for instance when asking for a U-turn and when signing
off: "I'm not going to carry your baggagefrom now on, you're on your own" and "Bear
right..Beaver left."
He plays the voice of Samuel the Sheep in the 2006 adaptation of Charlotte's Web. Samuel
repeatedly tells the other sheep to be individuals, not sheep. This is a reference to Monty Python's
Life of Brian.
He has a speaking part at the end of the Alan Parsons song "Chomolungma" from the album A
Valid Path.
In 2008, John Cleese appeared in a humorous TV commercial in Poland advertising a bank loan.
From 2006 to 2008 John Cleese has appeared in humorous TV commercials in Iceland advertising
Kauping.
In 2004, Cleese co-wrote the graphic novel Superman: True Brit which reimagines the origin of
Superman, by considering how Clark Kent's upbringing would be different if his spaceship had
crashed in Weston-super-Mare in England instead of the fictional town of Smallville in Kansas,
America.
Television advertisements
Year
1970s
1975
Title
Royal Mail
Texaco
Role
Pirate / Sir Betty
Himself
16/25
2/25/2015
1978
19801982
1981
1982
1982
1982
1980s
1980s
1986
1988
199091
199293
199294
1993
1993
199395
1996
1996
1998
Accurist
Sony
Giroblauw (Holland)
Postbank (Holland)
EAC Multilist (Australia)
American Express
Compaq
Planters Pretzels (Australia)
Maxwell House
Talking Pages
Schweppes
Talking Pages
Magnavox
Nestl Milk Chocolate (Australia)
Cellnet
Health Education Authority (Smoking Quitline)
Norwich Union Direct
Tele Danmark (Denmark)
Tostitos
1998
Lexus
Himself
Himself
Interviewer
Himself
Estate Agent
Himself
Himself
Himself
Himself
Man who wants to marry Princess
Himself
Colin
Himself
Himself
Woman
Himself
Himself
Himself
French Chef
Himself, voice only
199899
1999
1999
2001
200108
2002
2002
2003
2005
2006
2006
200608
2008
2009
2009
2009
2010
201011
2011
2012
2012
2012
Sainsbury's
Melba toast
Artistdirect.com
007: Agent Under Fire
Titleist
Little Tikes
Heineken
Westinghouse Unplugged vacuum cleaner
Intel
TBS
TV Spielfilm (Germany)
Kauping (Iceland)
Bank Zachodni WBK (Poland)
Elgiganten (Sweden)
Hashahar Ha'oleh (Israel)
Accurist
William Hill (Austria)
AA
Dogtober (Australia)
Czech Olympic Team (Czech Republic)
DirecTV
Canadian Club (Australia)
Himself
Himself
Himself
R
Ian MacCallister
Himself
Himself
Himself
Himself
Himself
Himself
Himself
Himself
Himself
Western general
Himself
Himself
Himself
Himself, voice only
Himself
Himself
Himself, voice only
17/25
2/25/2015
Awards
Academy Awards
(1988) NominatedAcademy Award for Best Original Screenplay / A Fish Called Wanda
(shared with Charles Crichton)
Golden Globe Awards
(1988) NominatedGolden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or
Comedy / A Fish Called Wanda
BAFTA Awards
(1970) NominatedBAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance"
/ Monty Python's Flying Circus
/ Monty Python's Flying Circus
/ Fawlty Towers
(1980) WonBAFTA Television Award for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" /
Fawlty Towers
(1989) NominatedBAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay / A Fish Called Wanda
(also 1989) WonBAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Primetime Emmy Awards
(1987) WonPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series /
Cheers (as Dr. Simon Finch-Royce)
(1998) NominatedPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor Comedy
Series / 3rd Rock from the Sun (as Dr. Liam Neesam)
(2002) NominatedPrimetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Nonfiction Special" / The
Human Face
(2004) NominatedPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor Comedy
Series / Will & Grace (as Lyle Finster)
Writers Guild of America
(1989) NominatedWriters Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay / A Fish
Called Wanda (shared with Charles Crichton)
Honours and tributes

A species of lemur, the Bemaraha woolly lemur (Avahi cleesei), has been named in his honour.
John Cleese has mentioned this in television interviews. Also there is mention of this honour in
"New Scientist"[64]and John Cleese's response to the honour.[65]
An asteroid, 9618 Johncleese, is named in his honour.
Cleese declined a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1996.
18/25
2/25/2015
There is a municipal rubbish heap of 45 metres (148ft) in altitude that has been named Mt Cleese
at the Awapuni landfill just outside Palmerston North after he dubbed the city "suicide capital of
New Zealand".[66]
"The Universal Language" skit from All in the Timing, a collection of short plays by David Ives,
centres around a fictional language (Unamunda) in which the word for the English language is
"johncleese".
The post-hardcore rock band I Set My Friends on Fire has a song on their You Can't Spell
Slaughter Without Laughter album titled "Reese's Pieces, I Don't Know Who John Cleese Is?".
Bibliography
The Rectorial Address of John Cleese, Epam, 1971, 8 pages
Cleese Encounters: The Unauthorized Biography of Monty Python Veteran John Cleese, Jonathan
Margolis, St. Martin's Press, 1992, ISBN 0-312-08162-6
The Human Face (with Brian Bates) (DK Publishing Inc., 2001, ISBN 978-0-7894-7836-8)
Foreword for Time and the Soul, Jacob Needleman, 2003, ISBN 1-57675-251-8 (paperback)
So, Anyway..., 2014, Crown Archetype, ISBN 038534824X
Scripts
The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation As We Know It, w/Jack Hobbs & Joseph McGrath,
1977ISBN 0-352-30109-0
Fawlty Towers, w/Connie Booth, 1977 (The Builders, The Hotel Inspectors, Gourmet Night)
ISBN 0-86007-598-2
Fawlty Towers: Book 2, w/Connie Booth, 1979 (The Wedding Party, A Touch of Class, The
Germans)
The Golden Skits of Wing Commander Muriel Volestrangler FRHS & Bar, 1984ISBN 0-41341560-0
The Complete Fawlty Towers, w/Connie Booth, 1988ISBN 0-413-18390-4 (hardcover), ISBN 0679-72127-4 (paperback)
A Fish Called Wanda: The Screenplay, w/Charles Crichton, 1988ISBN 1-55783-033-9
Fawlty's Hotel: Smtliche Stcke, w/Connie Booth, (The Complete Fawlty Towers in German),
Haffmans Verlag AG Zrich, 1995
Dialogues
Families and How to Survive Them, w/Robin Skynner, 1983ISBN 0-413-52640-2 (hardc.), ISBN
0-19-520466-2 (p/back)
Life and How to Survive It, w/Robin Skynner 1993ISBN 0-413-66030-3 (hardcover), ISBN 0393-31472-3 (paperback)
19/25
2/25/2015
See also
Declining a British honour
References
1. ^ "John Cleese Biography (1939)" (http://www.filmreference.com/film/20/John-Cleese.html).
Filmreference.com. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
2. ^ Raphael, Amy (29 November 2008). " 'Ross and Brand were astoundingly tasteless' "
(http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/nov/29/john-cleese-interview). The Guardian. Retrieved
23 November 2014.
3. ^ "John Cleese catches out BBC with swear-word on live TV" (http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Cleeses-tall-stories-true-blue/story-23082924-detail/story.html). Western Daily Press. 10 October 2014. Retrieved
23 November 2014.
4. ^ "San Diego Magazine, Silly Walks and Dead Parrots" (http://www.sandiegomag.com/media/San-DiegoMagazine/March-2006/Silly-Walks-and-Dead-Parrots/). Sandiegomag.com. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
5. ^ "John Cleese" (http://www.cardinalfang.net/biographies/cleese_biog.html). Cardinal Fang's Python Site.
Retrieved 7 May 2011.
6. ^ "John Cleese" (http://www.leadingauthorities.com/agent/john-cleese.aspx). Leading Authorities. Retrieved
7 May 2011.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k From Fringe to Flying Circus 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960
1980' Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980, ISBN 0-413-46950-6.
8. ^ "John Cleese to Spend Five Years Tour As Professor at Cornell University"
(http://www.dailyllama.com/news/1999/llama090.html). Daily Llama. 18 January 1999. Retrieved 4 April
2012.
9. ^ Life of Brian commentary by Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam and Eric Idle
10. ^ a b c Footlights! 'A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy' Robert Hewison, Methuen London Ltd,
1983, ISBN 0-413-51150-2.
11. ^ Sunday Times, 16 October 1988.
12. ^ Episode #18.5 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0724736/) of The Ed Sullivan Show on Imdb.com
13. ^ P70, The Authorised History of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue; Jem Roberts ISBN 978-1-84809-132-0
14. ^ Morris Bright; Robert Ross (2001). Fawlty Towers: fully booked (http://books.google.com/books?id=AHFAAAAIAAJ). BBC. p.60. ISBN978-0-563-53439-6. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
15. ^ List of Rectors of University of St. Andrews (https://web.archive.org/web/20050114000125/http://foi.standrews.ac.uk/doc.jsp?id=295) at the Wayback Machine (archived January 14, 2005)
16. ^ "John Cleese Biography" (http://www.cardinalfang.net/biographies/cleese_biog.html). Cardinal fang.
Retrieved 8 October 2011.
17. ^ Andy Lowe. "30 Things You Genuinely Never Knew About John Cleese"
(http://www.bubblegun.com/features/cleese.html). Bubblegun.com. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
18. ^ "Why we'll never know the real Les Dawson: Correspondents 2008: Chortle: The UK Comedy Guide"
(http://www.chortle.co.uk/correspondents/2008/01/15/6271/why_well_never_know_the_real_les_dawson).
Chortle. 15 January 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
19. ^ a b Cahal Milmo "Life after Polly: Connie Booth (a case of Fawlty memory syndrome)",
(http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/life-after-polly-connie-booth-a-case-of-fawlty-memory-
20/25
2/25/2015
(http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/life-after-polly-connie-booth-a-case-of-fawlty-memorysyndrome-450289.html) The Independent, 25 May 2007
20. ^ Garlen, Jennifer C.; Graham, Anissa M. (2009). Kermit Culture: Critical Perspectives on Jim Henson's
Muppets. McFarland & Company. p.218. ISBN0-7864-4259-X.
21. ^ "John Cleese Episode 47"
(http://www.muppetcentral.com/guides/episodes/tms/season2/47_cleese.shtml). Muppet Central. Retrieved
20 December 2008.
22. ^ "John Cleese" (http://www.savemeaticket.com/event/theatre/entertainment/john-cleese-tickets). Save me a
ticket. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
23. ^ "YouTube John Cleese Explains Proportional Representation for Canada & Ontario changes Coming"
(http://www.topix.com/forum/world/canada/TCCS4ILPTT6OD8FVD). Topix. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
24. ^ Cleese continued to openly say the word, most notably reported in an interview hosted by Robert Klein, in
which Cleese remarked that Chapman is "stone-fucking-dead!"Memorial eulogy by John Cleese for Graham
Chapman (http://www.cardinalfang.net/misc/chapman_memorial.html)
25. ^ "Restaurant review: Michael Winner at Villa Principe Leopoldo, Switzerland"
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/eating_out/winners_dinners/article4275153
.ece). The Sunday Times (UK). 6 July 2008. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
26. ^ Rat Race (2001) Full cast and crew (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250687/fullcredits#cast)
27. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "2000s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling
Kindersley. p.315. ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9. "Comedy legend John Cleese joined forces with artist John
Byrne, inker Mark Farmer and writer Kim Johnson for a unique take on the Superman story. Superman: True
Brit saw Kal-El's rocketship land on a farm... in the UK."
28. ^ "John Cleese Brings Seven Ways to Skin an Ocelot to U.S."
(http://www.playbill.com/news/article/97589.html). Playbill. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
29. ^ "Art of Soccer, The With John Cleese" (http://www.bfsent.com/item_detail.asp?number=30895).
Bfsent.com. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
30. ^ "Starship Titanic" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134981/). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved
15 November 2011.
31. ^ "The real reason I had to join" (http://www.spectator.co.uk/i//the-magazine/features/3472446/the-realreason-i-had-to-join-the-spectator.thtml). The Spectator. UK. 25 March 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
32. ^ Ottosen, Peder. "John Cleese i Elkjp-reklame"
(http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/09/23/kjendis/tv/tv_og_medier/reklame/elkjop/8259273/). Kjendis.no.
Retrieved 17 February 2011.
33. ^ Brudvig, Erik (11 March 2010). "GDC 10: Designing Fable III Xbox 360 Preview at IGN"
(http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/107/1076735p1.html). Xbox360.ign.com. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
34. ^ "BBC Ex-Python John Cleese goes on first UK tour, aged 71"
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8695000/8695560.stm).
BBC News. 20 May 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
35. ^ Oatts, Joanne. "AA ad features John Cleese at" (http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/travel-andleisure/aa-ad-features-john-cleese/3019428.article). Marketingweek.co.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
36. ^ "Canadian Marketing Association Awards 2010" (http://www.thecma.org/awards/downloads/CA0GLR4WEB.pdf). Canadian Marketing Association. November 2010.
Retrieved 6 December 2011.
37. ^ "Pacific Blue Cross gets Comedic Insurance with John Cleese"
(http://www.waveproductions.com/newsframe.php). Wave Productions. 1 April 2010. Retrieved 6 December
21/25
2/25/2015
2011.
38. ^ Anderman, Irit (17 May 2012). "British actor John Cleese to appear in Israeli heist comedy"
(http://www.haaretz.com/culture/british-actor-john-cleese-to-appear-in-israeli-heist-comedy-1.431056).
Haaretz. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
39. ^ Roxborough, Scott (16 May 2012). "Cannes 2012: John Cleese Joins Israeli Comedy 'Hunting Elephants' "
(http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-john-cleese-hunting-elephants-325570). The Hollywood
Reporter. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
40. ^ "Cleese replaced by Stewart" (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4266862,00.html).
41. ^ Chamberlain, Adrian (October 9, 2013). "John Cleese, the minister of silly talks, sure has a big following"
(http://www.timescolonist.com/john-cleese-the-minister-of-silly-talks-sure-has-a-big-following-1.654719).
Times Colonist.
42. ^ Hymers, Sarah (November 6, 2013). "John Cleese in Dubai" (http://www.ahlanlive.com/john-cleese-indubai-%E2%80%93-an-evening-with-456682.html). Ahlan!.
43. ^ "Timeline Photos" (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?
fbid=390865694322039&set=a.367996839942258.84968.363551393720136&type=1&relevant_count=1).
Facebook. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
44. ^ Ng, David (November 21, 2013). "Monty Python makes it official: group reuniting in July"
(http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-monty-python-reunion20131121,0,6836416.story#axzz2o2zXYNAA). Los Angeles Times.
45. ^ "I blame my mother for my fawlty love life, says John Cleese" (http://www.express.co.uk/lifestyle/life/516788/I-blame-my-mother-for-my-fawlty-love-life-says-John-Cleese). Express.co.uk.
46. ^ "John Cleese" (http://www.nndb.com/people/124/000024052/). Nndb.com. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
47. ^ Pierce, Andrew (18 August 2009). "John Cleese in 12million divorce settlement"
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/6043628/John-Cleese-in-12-million-divorcesettlement.html). The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 6 May 2010.
48. ^ "John Cleese on move to 'beautiful' Georgian Bath"
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8920000/8920365.stm). BBC News. 17
August 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
49. ^ "John Cleese could be spending more time in Bath after selling His Monaco des res"
(http://www.southwestbusiness.co.uk/news/18032013093934-john-cleese-could-be-spending-more-time-inbath-after-selling-his-monaco-des-res/). Southwest Business. March 18, 2013.
50. ^ "John Cleese marries for the fourth time," The Daily Telegraph, 13 Aug 2012
51. ^ a b Hans ten Cate (13 June 2002). "John Cleese Visits Lemurs at San Francisco Zoo"
(http://www.webcitation.org/5vKSV7UX3). PythOnline's Daily Llama. Archived from the original
(http://www.dailyllama.com/news/2002/llama143.html) on 28 December 2010. Retrieved 28 December
2010.
52. ^ a b John Cleese (host) (1998). In the Wild: Operation Lemur with John Cleese
(http://www.webcitation.org/5vKSlRiBi) (DVD). Tigress Productions Ltd for BBC. Archived from the
original (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/inthewild/cleese.html) on 28 December 2010. Retrieved
28 December 2010.
53. ^ Duke University (12 October 1998). "Four More Lemurs To Be Released into Madagascar Jungle This
Fall" (http://www.webcitation.org/5vKScRzZ5). Science Daily. Archived from the original
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/10/981012073550.htm) on 28 December 2010. Retrieved
28 December 2010.
54. ^ "Lib Dems plan warmer homes"
22/25
2/25/2015
54. ^ "Lib Dems plan warmer homes"

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/vote2001/hi/english/newsid_1361000/1361458.stm). BBC News. 31 May 2001.
Retrieved 21 July 2008.
55. ^ JohnCleese. "John Cleese Twitter Status (15April 2010)"
(https://www.twitter.com/JohnCleese/status/12244973021). Twitter. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
56. ^ " 'Monty Python' icon John Cleese stumps to be Barack Obama's speechwriter"
(http://articles.nydailynews.com/2008-04-09/news/17895834_1_monty-python-obama-s-campaignspeechwriter). Daily News (New York). 9 April 2008. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
57. ^ Erik Pedersen (14 October 2008). "John Cleese: Sarah Palin Funnier Than Michael Palin"
(http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b63785_John_Cleese__Sarah_Palin_Funnier_Than_Michael_Palin.html).
E!. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
58. ^ "John Cleese Destroys Sean Hannity with Poetry" (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/8/21536/7048)
Daily Kos.
59. ^ Walker, Tim (25 January 2011). "David Cameron impresses John Cleese with his good manners"
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8279180/David-Cameron-impresses-John-Cleese-with-his-goodmanners.html). The Daily Telegraph.
60. ^ Nikkhah, Roya (17 April 2011). "Lord Cleese of Fawlty Towers: Why John Cleese declined a peerage"
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8455538/Lord-Cleese-of-Fawlty-Towers-Why-John-Cleesedeclined-a-peerage.html). The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
61. ^ " "Ripping Yarns" Golden Gordon (1979) Full cast and crew"
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0686862/fullcredits#cast). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 1 March 2011.
62. ^ David Hinkle (August 14, 2012). "John Cleese to crack wise in Smart As"
(http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/14/john-cleese-to-crack-wise-in-smart-as/). Joystiq. Retrieved May 25,
2014.
63. ^ Mike Oldfield "Tubular Bells" reaches thirty years old... (http://tubular.net/articles/03_07.shtml)
64. ^ "New Scientist" (http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg18825252.400) comment about the lemur
being named after John Cleese
65. ^ "New Scientist" (http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18825280.400) and John Cleese's response
to the honour
66. ^ Funnyman Cleese rubbishes NZ city (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,217674481702,00.html). The Australian, 21 May 2007
Published works
Cleese, John (2014). So, Anyway... Crown Archetype. ISBN978-0385348249.
External links
Official website (http://www.thejohncleese.com/)
John Cleese
Wikiquote has quotations

related to: John Cleese
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to John
Cleese.
23/25
2/25/2015
(http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/C/htmlC/cleesejohn/cleesejohn.htm) at the Museum of

Broadcast Communications
John Cleese (http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/people/john_cleese_person_page.shtml) at the BBC
Guide to Comedy
John Cleese (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000092/) at the Internet Movie Database
John Cleese (http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=79115) at the Internet Broadway Database
John Cleese (http://www.theguardian.com/culture/john-cleese) collected news and commentary at
The Guardian
John Cleese (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/john_cleese/index.html)
collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Works by or about John Cleese (http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n81-74401) in libraries
(WorldCat catalog)
Podcast to celebrate The Life of Brian (March 2008)
(http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23304261-5006016,00.html)
Daily Llama: John Cleese Visits Lemurs at San Francisco Zoo
(http://www.dailyllama.com/news/2002/llama143.html)
On-line video interview for Czech TV (24. 7. 2011)
(http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/1093836883-na-plovarne/204522160010020-na-plovarnes-johnem-cleesem/bonusy/1740-john-cleese/)
2014 John Cleese interview (http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/article3717304.html) with
Jon Niccum, Kansas City Star
John Cleese Speaking at the American School in London (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=6PJaHSovyZ4)
Academic offices
Precededby
Learie Nicholas Constantine,
Baron Constantine, Kt.
Rector of the University of St Andrews

19701973
Precededby
Q
Desmond Llewelyn (James Bond Character)
19631999
2002
Succeededby
Alan Coren
Succeededby
Ben Whishaw
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Cleese&oldid=648221878"

Categories: 1939 births Living people Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge
BAFTA winners (people) Best Actor BAFTA Award winners
British expatriate academics in the United States Cornell University faculty
Primetime Emmy Award winners English comedy writers English expatriates in the United States
English male film actors English male comedians English male musical theatre actors
English male radio actors English radio writers English male stage actors
24/25
2/25/2015
English male television actors English television personalities English television writers
English male voice actors Monty Python members People educated at Clifton College
Male actors from Los Angeles, California People from Weston-super-Mare
Rectors of the University of St Andrews Actors from Somerset 20th-century English male actors
21st-century English male actors 21st-century English writers English memoirists
People with social media presence
This page was last modified on 21 February 2015, at 19:17.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms
may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a
registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
25/25

John Cleese

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

John Cleese

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

2/25/2015

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Marwood Cleese (/kliz/; born 27 October

In the mid-1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie

John Marwood Cleese

Almamater Clifton College

1 Early life and education

Actor voice actor screenwriter

6ft 5in (1.96m)

2.2 Monty Python

2.2.1 Partnership with Graham

Connie Booth(m.1968; div. 1978)

Cynthia (b. 1971)

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Early life and education

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dead Parrot sketch performed on

listen to a clip from the sketch.

Problems playing this file? See media help.

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1980s and 1990s

During the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese focused on film, though he

Cleese at the 1989 Academy

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Admiration for black humour

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

episode Look (Stop Me if You've Heard this One)...

The Magic Christian

The Best House in

The Rise and Rise of

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Fish Called Wanda

Erik the Viking

The Big Picture

How Lucky You Are?

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George of the Jungle

In the Wild: Operation

The Magic Pudding

Here's Looking at You:

Die Another Day

The Adventures of Pluto James

NominatedPhoenix Film Critics Society Award

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Man About Town

The Day the Earth

The Pink Panther 2

The Last Impresario

Featured interview subject in this documentary

Video game credits

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shrek the Third (2007) King Harold, Narrator

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Honours and tributes

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Cleese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia