John Cleese facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Cleese
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Cleese in 2023
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| Born |
John Marwood Cleese
27 October 1939 Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England
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| Alma mater | Downing College, Cambridge |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1961–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Barbara Trentham
(m. 1981; div. 1990)Alyce Eichelberger
(m. 1992; div. 2008)Jennifer Wade
(m. 2012) |
| Children | 2 |
John Marwood Cleese (born 27 October 1939) is a famous English actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for being a member of the comedy group Monty Python and for creating and starring in the TV show Fawlty Towers.
Cleese started his comedy career in the 1960s with a group called the Cambridge Footlights. He became famous as a writer and performer on the TV show The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he helped create Monty Python. This comedy group made the popular sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus.
With his Monty Python friends, Cleese starred in movies like Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and Life of Brian (1979).
In the 1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, wrote and starred in the sitcom Fawlty Towers. He played the hotel owner Basil Fawlty. For this role, he won a British Academy Television Award in 1980. The show is considered one of the best British TV shows ever made.
Cleese has also appeared in many other movies. You might know him as Nearly Headless Nick in the first two Harry Potter films. He was also King Harold in the Shrek movies and the character "R" and then "Q" in two James Bond movies.
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Early Life and School Days
John Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare, a town in Somerset, England. He was the only child of Reginald and Muriel Cleese. His family's last name was originally "Cheese," but his father changed it to "Cleese" when he joined the army.
Cleese went to St Peter's Preparatory School, where he was good at English, cricket, and boxing. By the time he was 13, he was already over 6 feet (1.83 m) tall. He then attended Clifton College in Bristol. As a prank, he once painted footprints on the ground to make it look like a statue of a famous general had walked off to use the toilet.
After finishing school, he taught for two years before going to the University of Cambridge. At Cambridge, he studied law and joined the famous student comedy club, the Cambridge Footlights. There, he met his future writing partner, Graham Chapman.
Career Beginnings
Before Monty Python
Cleese's comedy career took off with the Footlights. Their show was so successful that it moved to London's West End and even toured to New Zealand and Broadway in the United States. The cast also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.
After the tour, Cleese stayed in America for a short time. He met and married American actress Connie Booth in 1968. He then returned to Britain and began writing for BBC Radio and TV shows.
Cleese and Graham Chapman started writing for a popular TV show called The Frost Report. There, they worked with other talented writers who would later become famous, including future Monty Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. It was on this show that Cleese performed in the famous "Class sketch", where his tall height was used for great comic effect.
Creating Monty Python
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In 1969, Cleese and Chapman were offered their own TV series. Cleese enjoyed working with Michael Palin, so he invited him to join. Palin brought along his own writing partners: Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and the animator Terry Gilliam. Together, the six of them created Monty Python's Flying Circus.
The show ran from 1969 to 1974 and was known for its strange and silly humor. Cleese often played serious characters in ridiculous situations. Some of his most famous sketches include the "The Ministry of Silly Walks" and the "Dead Parrot sketch". He also often said the line, "And now for something completely different," which became a catchphrase for the show.
Cleese and Chapman wrote many of the darkest and angriest sketches for Python. A classic example is the "Dead Parrot" sketch. Cleese first imagined it as a story about a broken toaster. It was Chapman's idea to make it about a dead parrot, which made the sketch much funnier and more memorable.
Cleese left the TV show before its final season, but he returned to write and star in the Monty Python movies, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Monty Python's Life of Brian.
Fawlty Towers and Film Career
The Famous Fawlty Towers
Cleese's next big success was the TV show Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with his wife, Connie Booth. The show is about a rude and stressed hotel owner named Basil Fawlty. Cleese got the idea for the character from a real hotel owner he met who was incredibly rude to his guests.
Fawlty Towers only had 12 episodes, split into two series (one in 1975 and one in 1979). Cleese and Booth wanted to make sure every episode was perfect. The show became a huge hit and is still loved by audiences around the world. In one famous scene, Basil tells everyone "Don't mention the war!" while German guests are staying at the hotel.
Success in Movies
In the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese focused more on movies. He starred in films like Time Bandits (1981) and Clockwise (1986).
In 1988, he wrote and starred in A Fish Called Wanda. He played the main character, Archie Leach, alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and fellow Python Michael Palin. The movie was a big hit, and Cleese was nominated for an Academy Award for his script.
He later appeared in many other popular films. He played "R," the assistant to the gadget-master Q, in the James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough (1999). In the next Bond film, Die Another Day (2002), he became the new Q.
Later Work and Recent Years
Harry Potter, Shrek, and More
In the 2000s, Cleese became known to a new generation of fans. He played the ghost Nearly Headless Nick in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).
He also provided the voice for King Harold in the animated movies Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), and Shrek Forever After (2010). He has also lent his voice to video games, including Fable III.
Touring and Writing
Cleese has toured the world with his one-man shows, where he tells stories about his life and career. In 2014, he reunited with the other surviving members of Monty Python for a series of live shows in London called Monty Python Live (Mostly).
He has also written several books. These include books about relationships, co-written with psychiatrist Robin Skynner, and his autobiography, So, Anyway..., which was published in 2014. In 2020, he released a short book about being creative called Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide.
In 2023, he began hosting a show on the TV channel GB News called The Dinosaur Hour.
Personal Life
John Cleese has been married four times. He has a daughter, Cynthia, from his first marriage to Connie Booth. He has another daughter, Camilla, from his second marriage to Barbara Trentham. In 2012, he married jewelry designer Jennifer Wade.
Cleese has a great love for lemurs, a type of animal from Madagascar. After his movie Fierce Creatures, which featured a lemur, he hosted a documentary about protecting them. A species of lemur, the Bemaraha woolly lemur (Avahi cleesei), was even named after him in his honor.
Fun Facts About John Cleese
- An asteroid, 9618 Johncleese, is named in his honour.
- He was the rector of the University of St Andrews from 1970 to 1973. This was an important role that he helped modernize.
Images for kids
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Graffiti of Cleese in "The Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch in Monty Python—Leicester, 2007
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Cleese in 2008
