| John Cleese  AKA John Marwood Cleese
Born: 27-Oct-1939
Birthplace: Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Comic Nationality: England
Executive summary: Monty Python John Cleese was an outsider in school, and generally sat back and observed, developing his knack for subversive mockery. His mother was an acrobat, and his father sold insurance. As an alleged grown-up, Cleese worked as a math teacher, then studied law at Cambridge, but quit his studies to join the Footlights comedy troupe, where he first met Graham Chapman. Cleese wrote for the original British That Was the Week That Was (not the less-inspired American copy), and worked with Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin on David Frost's satirical Frost Report. In 1968 Cleese pioneered the mockumentary with How to Irritate People, and he later wrote for Doctor in the House and The Two Ronnies.
Cleese was a founding member of Monty Python's Flying Circus in 1969, along with Chapman, Idle, Jones, Palin, and Terry Gilliam. Cleese stayed with the show for three of its five seasons before feeling that the comedy had declined, and cordially drifting away. He did, of course, return for all of the group's subsequent films and TV specials, and appeared in many of his fellow Pythons' projects.
Cleese has said that Fawlty Towers, his classic sitcom about a poorly-run hotel, was inspired by his stay at a hotel in Torquay, Devon, managed by an remarkably ill-tempered man. Written by Cleese and his wife, the series was actually comprised of two separate mini-series, six episodes made in 1975, and six more made in 1979 due to popular demand. After that, as with the Monty Python series, Cleese again felt the concept had peaked and that future episodes couldn't measure up.
He has since evolved into a character actor, equally adept at dry delivery or comedic roles. In the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, Cleese played "R", the assistant to Desmond Llewelyn's "Q", the gadgetmeister. With Llewellyn's death, Cleese's character was promoted, and has been "Q" in the Bond films since. To a younger audience, sadly, Cleese is perhaps best known as Nearly Headless Nick from the early Harry Potter movies. Outside of these franchises, he has starred in farcical caper comedy, A Fish Called Wanda.
In 1971, Cleese founded Video Arts, a company that produces serious (albeit humorous) business training and orientation films. He is co-author of Libel Suits and How to Win Them, and Life and How to Survive It. In 1996, Cleese quietly declined nomination for knighthood.
Father: Reginald Cleese (insurance salesman)
Mother: Muriel Cross (not an acrobat)
Wife: Connie Booth (actress/writer, m. 20-Feb-1968, div. 1978, one daughter)
Daughter: Cynthia Cleese (b. 1971)
Wife: Barbara Trentham (actress, m. 15-Feb-1981, div. 1990, one daughter)
Daughter: Camilla Cleese (b. 1983)
Wife: Alyce Faye Eichelberger (therapist, m. 28-Dec-1992. sep. 2008)
High School: Clifton College, Bristol
University: MA, Cambridge University (1963)
Administrator: Rector, St. Andrews University (1973-75)
Professor: Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large, Cornell University (-2006)
Amnesty International
Obama for America
Asteroid Namesake 9618 Johncleese
Endorsement of Intel Centrino (2005)
Risk Factors: Vegetarian
TELEVISION
Will & Grace Lyle Finster (2003-04)
House of Mouse Narrator (2001-02)
Third Rock from the Sun Dr. Liam Neesam (1998-2001)
Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-74)
Fawlty Towers Basil Fawlty (1975-79)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Shrek the Third (17-May-2007) [VOICE]
Charlotte's Web (7-Dec-2006) [VOICE]
Complete Guide to Guys (30-May-2006)
Man About Town (7-Feb-2006)
Valiant (20-Mar-2005) [VOICE]
Around the World in 80 Days (13-Jun-2004)
Shrek 2 (15-May-2004) [VOICE]
George of the Jungle 2 (18-Aug-2003) [VOICE]
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (18-Jun-2003)
Die Another Day (18-Nov-2002)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (3-Nov-2002)
Mickey's House of Villains (3-Sep-2002) [VOICE]
The Adventures of Pluto Nash (16-Aug-2002)
Scorched (17-May-2002)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (4-Nov-2001)
Rat Race (30-Jul-2001)
Isn't She Great (28-Jan-2000)
The World Is Not Enough (8-Nov-1999)
The Out-of-Towners (02-Apr-1999)
Parting Shots (18-Mar-1999)
Monty Python's Flying Circus: Live at Aspen (21-Mar-1998) Himself
George of the Jungle (16-Jul-1997) [VOICE]
Fierce Creatures (23-Jan-1997)
The Wind in the Willows (18-Oct-1996)
The Jungle Book (25-Dec-1994)
The Swan Princess (18-Nov-1994) [VOICE]
Frankenstein (4-Nov-1994)
Splitting Heirs (30-Apr-1993)
It's the Monty Python Story (1993) Himself
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (21-Nov-1991) [VOICE]
Bullseye! (28-Aug-1991)
Parrot Sketch Not Included: Twenty Years of Monty Python (18-Nov-1989) Himself
The Big Picture (15-Sep-1989)
Erik the Viking (01-Sep-1989)
A Fish Called Wanda (15-Jul-1988)
Clockwise (11-Jul-1986)
Silverado (10-Jul-1985)
Yellowbeard (24-Jun-1983)
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1-Apr-1983)
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (25-Jun-1982)
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1982) Himself
Privates on Parade (1982)
Time Bandits (13-Jul-1981)
The Great Muppet Caper (26-Jun-1981)
The Secret Policeman's Ball (1981)
Life of Brian (17-Aug-1979)
The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (18-Sep-1977)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Apr-1975)
Romance with a Double Bass (1974)
And Now for Something Completely Different (22-Aug-1972)
The Magic Christian (12-Dec-1969)
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (11-Sep-1968)
How To Irritate People (1968)
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