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It didn't matter that in 1969 the world might not have been ready for 'Monty Python's Flying Circus.' It happened anyway! Pictured, left to right: Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, and Michael Palin.
Pre-Python success included appearances on the British satirical television show 'The Frost Report.' The classic class sketch featuring Cleese, Ronnie Barker, and Ronnie Corbett (pictured), which parodied the British class system, helped win the show the Rose d'Or at the 1967 Montreux festival.
Varying success in subsequent film roles throughout the 1990s peaked with a plum role as a rather scatty but earnest R, Q's assistant and appointed successor, in the Bond movie 'The World Is Not Enough.'
Having considered the possibility at the end of the second season, Cleese left the Flying Circus at the end of the third. He cited Chapman's alcoholism as one reason for his departure. Another was that he felt he no longer had anything fresh to offer the show. It was time to break out of the mold.
In this sketch, the entire Monty Python team imitate esteemed British journalist and broadcaster Alan Whicker (1921–2013). A Whicker is on a tropical island speaking into camera. A second Whicker moves into camera and continues his monologue before passing it on to a third Whicker, and so on and so forth...
The first episode of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' premiered on BBC 1 on October 5, 1969. Comedy would never be the same again! Absurd situations, mixed with risqué and innuendo-laden humor, sight gags, and observational sketches without punchlines characterized the format. Some sketches became comedy classics in their own right, including the 'Dead Parrot' sketch (pictured), which features Cleese with Michael Palin.
Another sketch sees Palin's character deliberately seeking an argument with someone in a clinic and ends up sitting face to face with Cleese's character. The two men begin an argumentative and contradictory back-and-forth in a brilliant example of how wordplay and language works.
Two special episodes of the series were filmed in Bavaria, Germany and broadcast in 1972. Palin later commented: "Whenever anyone says, you know, the Germans have no sense of humor, say no, hang on, hang on, they got Monty Python before a lot of other countries." Pictured is Cleese during filming.
Cleese based the character Basil Fawlty on an eccentric hotel owner whom he'd encountered when he stayed at his hotel (Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, England) along with the rest of Monty Python team in May 1970.
Cleese's misanthropic, pessimistic snob was a huge hit with audiences everywhere. And despite only 12 half-hour episodes ever having been made, 'Fawlty Towers' remains one of the most successful comedy shows in UK television history. Cleese is pictured with fellow cast members Andrew Sachs, Prunella Scales, and Connie Booth (the latter his wife and writing partner at the time, though the two were actually divorced before the second series was finished and aired).
While the series had ended six years previously, Monty Python was not dead like the parrot. The team reconvened in 1980 (pictured) to woo audiences in America with a live comedy show in Hollywood. The performance was released as a movie in 1982. In fact, during the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese concentrated more or less exclusively on film.
Based on the television series, 'And Now for Something Completely Different' features sketches from the program's first two series. The announcer (Cleese) appears briefly between some sketches to deliver the immortal line "and now for something completely different." And that's exactly what he did next.
The Python's third film saw Cleese in a number of different roles, including Fish No 2 and the hapless Maître D' in arguably the film's most notorious scene, the 'Mr. Creosote' sketch.
'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' parodies the legend of King Arthur's quest for the Holy Grail and was conceived during the hiatus between the third and fourth series of the troupe's television series.
In the movie, Cleese plays Sir Lancelot the Brave (pictured) as well as the Black Knight, French Taunter, and Tim the Enchanter, among other hilarious roles. A financial and critical success, Eric Idle used the film as the basis for the musical 'Spamalot' a full 30 years later.
Forty-five episodes of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' were made over four series. During that time Cleese played a series of ridiculous authority figures, intimidating maniacs, and foreigners with silly accents.
In 1979, John Cleese joined a glittering cast of comics for 'The Secret Policeman's Ball.' These are a series of benefit shows he co-founded with Amnesty International that help raise money for the human rights organization. Early shows featured all five members of Monty Python. He's pictured here, though, with the late master of satire, Peter Cook.
In 'Silverado,' the comic got serious as Sheriff John Langston, who draws his gun on several occasions to run bad guys out of town.
Cleese's most successful film outing to date is 'A Fish Called Wanda.' A heist comedy caper, he starred alongside Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and fellow Python Michael Palin.
When Cleese reprised his role in 'Die Another Day,' the character was promoted, making him the new quartermaster (Q) of MI6. However, Cleese did not appear in subsequent Bond films, his role going to Ben Whishaw.
These days, John Cleese's film career is divided between character and voice acting: he's the voice of King Harold in the 'Shrek' films and Doc Walrus in 'Arctic Dogs' (2019), among other heard-but-not-seen roles.
Cleese is also a successful author. The comedy legend has penned several books including 'Families and How to Survive Them,' 'Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide,' and the autobiography 'So, Anyway.' He's pictured with Taylor Swift on Britain's 'The Graham Norton Show' promoting one of his publications.
See also: Celebrity authors at their book signings
British sitcom 'Fawlty Towers' introduced television audiences to Basil Fawlty, the cynical and sarcastic proprietor of the hotel Fawlty Towers.
John Marwood Cleese was born on October 27, 1939, in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England. But did you know that his family's surname was originally Cheese? His dad used the name 'Cleese' when he enlisted in the Army during the First World War; he changed it officially by deed poll in 1923.
Cleese went to Cambridge, one of the world's most esteemed universities. There he joined the Cambridge Footlights amateur theatrical club as a scriptwriter and actor.
It was during his time with the Footlights that he met his future Monty Python writing partner Graham Chapman (pictured) among other seriously silly comedians, including Tim Brooke-Taylor.
Required television viewing in 1967 included Cleese's next series, 'At Last the 1948 Show.' Another satirical take on everyday life, the show co-starred Tim Brooke-Taylor, Aimi McDonald, Graham Chapman, and Marty Feldman.
Typically, John Cleese and Graham Chapman worked as one pair isolated from the others, as did Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Eric Idle wrote alone, but was also the musician among the troupe.
But John Cleese isn't done bringing the funny. Over the last several years he's been touring the world with his show "Last Time to See Me Before I Die."
For his role as barrister Archie Leech, Cleese picked up a BAFTA Award for Best Actor while Palin won Best Supporting Actor. Kline, meanwhile, took home an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
The story of Brian Cohen (played by Chapman), a young Jewish man who is born on the same day as—and next door to—Jesus Christ, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah, sounds innocuous enough, doesn't it? Well, not quite. The film's themes of religious satire were controversial at the time of its release, and it was banned in some theaters. But it was a commercial and critical success.
As with all the cast, Cleese played a number of roles, including Reg, who asks the immortal question, "What have the Romans ever done for us?"
John Cleese is one of the most famous and successful comedy actors working today. A member of the British madcap and surreal Monty Python team, Cleese found further fame as the cynical and misanthropic snob Basil Fawlty in the hit television show 'Fawlty Towers.' Moviegoers meanwhile remember him for the highly acclaimed series of Monty Python films, his role in the multi-award-winning 'A Fish Called Wanda,' and as 'R' in two James Bond movies, among other big screen outings. Still busy acting, writing, and making personal appearances around the world, Cleese shows no sign of slowing down—"unless he dies," to quote his own inimitable view on life.
Click through the following gallery and laugh out loud at this satirical genius and the roles he's played.
John Cleese and his incredibly silly life and career to date
The funnyman turns 83 today
CELEBRITY Retrospective
John Cleese is one of the most famous and successful comedy actors working today. A member of the British madcap and surreal Monty Python team, Cleese found further fame as the cynical and misanthropic snob Basil Fawlty in the hit television show 'Fawlty Towers.' Moviegoers meanwhile remember him for the highly acclaimed series of Monty Python films, his role in the multi-award-winning 'A Fish Called Wanda,' and as 'R' in two James Bond movies, among other big screen outings. Still busy acting, writing, and making personal appearances around the world, Cleese shows no sign of slowing down—"unless he dies," to quote his own inimitable view on life.
Click through the following gallery and laugh out loud at this satirical genius and the roles he's played.