A Fish Called Wanda

Background:

Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award winning British comedian, actor and writer John Cleese began his comedy career with Cambridge's comedy troupe The Footlight Society before reaching fame as the founding member of the noted, ground-breaking comedy troupe Monty Python, along with Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam. With the group, he enjoyed success in “Monty Python's Flying Circus” (1969-1974). He evolved as an actor and writer in the Monty Python film projects “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (1975), “Monty Python's Life of Brian” (1979) and “Monty Python's The Meaning of Life” (1983). The comic is best recognized in England as the star and writer of the BBC popular sitcom “Fawlty Towers” (1975, 1979), from which he took home a BAFTA Award for his role as hotel manager Basil Fawlty.

Cleese tried his hand at other movies in the 1980s. He won an Evening Standard British Film Award for his performance in “Clockwise” (1986) and picked up an Emmy Award for his guest turn on an episode of America's TV series “Cheers” (1987). He scored his biggest box office hit with the movie “A Fish Called Wanda” (1988), which he also co-wrote and co-produced. Cleese was handed a BAFTA Award for his acting and a David di Donatello Award and an Oscar nomination for his writing. His more recent movie credits include “Fierce Creatures” (1997), “The Out-of-Towners” (1999), “Isn't She Great” (1999), the James Bond films “The World Is Not Enough” (1999, as R) and “Die Another Day” (2002, as Q), “Rat Race” (2001), the Harry Potter films “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” (2001) and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002), “Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle” (2003), “Around the World in 80 Days” (2004), “Charlotte's Web” (2006), “Shrek 2” (2004) and “Shrek the Third” (2007). Cleese earned an Emmy nomination for his recurring role as Finney on the well-liked TV series “Will & Grace” (2003-2004).

Cleese has been married three times. He has two daughters, Cynthia Cleese (mother: actress Connie Booth) and Camilla Cleese (mother: Barbara Trentham). He is now married to Alice Faye Eichelberger.

Law Degree

Childhood and Family:

John Marwood Cleese was born on October 27, 1939, in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, to Reginald Cleese, an insurance salesman, and Muriel. His family’s last name was originally “Cheese,” but was changed to “Cleese” after his father joined the army in 1915. As a child, John was educated at Clifton College in Bristol, but kicked out after defacing school grounds. Later he pursued a law degree at Downing College in Cambridge.

On February 20, 1968, John was married for the first time to actress Connie Booth, but the bond ended in 1978 after producing one child, daughter Cynthia Cleese (born in 1971). He next married Barbara Trentham on February 15, 1981, and they welcomed a daughter named Camilla Cleese in 1983. The couple divorced in 1990. John married his present wife, Alice Faye Eichelberger, on December 1992.

“When I was a child and I was upset about something, my mother was not capable of containing that emotion, of letting me be upset but reassuring me, of just being with me in a calming way. She always got in a flap, so I not only had my own baby panics, fears and terrors to deal with, but I had to cope with hers too. Eventually I taught myself to remain calm when I was panicked in order not to upset her. In a way, she had managed to put me in charge of her. At 18 months old, I was doing the parenting.” John Cleese

Fawlty Towers

Career:

John Cleese got his start in comedy with the celebrated performing society, Cambridge Footlights Revue, which he joined while he was studying for a career in law at Downing College, in Cambridge. There he began his partnership with Graham Chapman and Eric Idle. Other members David Frost, future National Lampoon editor Tony Hendra and future director of the Royal Shakespeare Company Trevor Nunn. In 1961, Cleese penned extra material for “Footlights Revue I Thought I Saw It Move,” and was Registrar for the Footlights Club during 1962, as well as enlisted as one of the cast members for the 1962 “Footlights Revue Double Take!” He acted in and contributed to the script of the 1963 “Footlights Revue A Clump of Plinths,” which enjoyed huge victory during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The name was then altered to “Cambridge Circus.” The show was brought to West End in London and then went on tour in New Zealand and New York where it was shown on and off-Broadway. It also appeared on CBS' “The Ed Sullivan Show” in September 1964. Lured by the success of “Cambridge Circus,” Cleese decided to remain in America. He continued to perform in on and off-Broadway productions, including the musical “Half a Sixpence.” It was during that period that he met Terry Gilliam and his future wife, American screen beauty Connie Booth.

When his popularity as a comedian increased, Cleese was recruited as a writing staff member for BBC Radio, with which he worked on several programs, most notably the “Dick Emery Show” (1963). With the Footlights Revue's success, the studio recorded a short series of half-hour radio programs called “I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again,” based on “Cambridge Circus.” It was so well-liked that the BBC ordered a regular series of the same name, which ran for several years from 1965 to 1974. Referred to as “John Otto Cleese” at the close of every episode, Cleese began performing on the radio show after his return to England from America.

Cleese took his first crack at the small screen in 1966 when he played various roles on the BBC sketch comedy series “The Frost Report” (1966-1967). He also joined the writing staff of the show, which included Chapman, Brooke-Taylor, Oddie, Marty Feldman, Frank Muir, Barry Cryer, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh and future Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Led by the popularity of “The Frost Report,” Cleese and Chapman were invited to work as writers and performers with Brooke-Taylor and Feldman on “At Last the 1948 Show” (1967). Cleese and Chapman also wrote for the pilot episode of the TV series “Doctor in the House” (1969) and “The Magic Christian” (1969) and “The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer.”

By the late 1960s, the two were eventually allowed to develop their own program, but due to Chapman's dependency on alcohol, Cleese found himself having the larger workload in the relationship and halfhearted about doing a series with just the two of them. He then invited Michael Palin, with Chapman himself bringing Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Terry Jones, to join them. They reunited to form the Monty Python comedy troupe “Monty Python's Flying Circus,” a TV ensemble program of sketch comedy, which ran from October 1969 to December 1974 on BBC. Feeling the show's scripts had declined in quality, probably due to Chapman's alcoholism, Cleese became restless and decided to move on. Although he stayed for the third season, he did not appear in the fourth and earned only minor writing credit. Cleese reunited with the group to write and co-star in the Monty Python motion pictures “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (1975), “Monty Python's Life of Brian” (1979) and “Monty Python's The Meaning of Life” (1983). He had previously done the same duty for the group's first film, “And Now for Something Completely Different” (1971).

After leaving Python, Cleese worked with the sitcom “Fawlty Towers,” which he co-penned with first wife Connie Booth. The show, which cast him as hotel manager Basil Fawlty, collected extensive critical raves and is still recognized as one of the best examples of British comedy. It also picked up three BAFTA awards with Cleese winning the Best Light Entertainment Performance category in 1980. “Fawlty Towers” was comprised of only twelve episodes, which were divided into two series. The first began on September 19, 1975, and the second returned on February 19, 1979.

During the 1980s, Cleese continued to act in numerous non-Python related British comedies, including “Privates on Parade” (1982), “Yellowbeard” (1983) and “Clockwise” (1986). The latter project, in which he starred as a sturdy British school headmaster, won him an Evening Standard British Film award. He also enjoyed some success in America with his appearances on TV commercials and his impressive small roles on Hollywood features such as “The Great Muppet Caper” (1981), Lawrence Kasdan's “Silverado” (1985) and “The Big Picture” (1989). In 1987, Cleese was honored with an Emmy for his memorable guest turn as Dr. Simon Finch-Royce in an episode of the American comedy series “Cheers,” starring Ted Danson. He doubled the prominence the following year with his work on the movie “A Fish Called Wanda” (1988), helmed by Charles Crichton. In the movie, he starred as Archie Leach, opposite Jamie Lee Curtis as a sexy con artist, Kevin Kline as her macho boyfriend and ex-Python Michael Palin as a tormented animal lover. The comedy film was a huge hit at the box office with the total earnings of more than $200 million. In addition to performing, Cleese also wrote the screenplay and served as executive producer. He won a BAFTA Film for his acting and a David di Donatello and an Oscar nomination for his writing.

Cleese maintained his hectic schedule during the next decade. He provided the voice of Cat R. Waul for the 1991 animated film “An American Tail: Fievel Goes West,” acted with former Python member Eric Idle and Rick Moranis in “Splitting Heirs” (1993), and played Professor Waldman in the Kenneth Branagh-directed “Mary Shelley's Frankenstein” (1994). He brought back the crew from “A Fish Called Wanda” for the less-appreciated “Fierce Creatures” (1997), which saw Cleese essentially recreate his “Fawlty Towers” role as the attack director of the Marwood Zoo. The same year, he could also be seen working with three of the original six Python members (Idle, Jones and Palin) for Terry Jones' little seen “The Wind in the Willows,” which was adapted from Kenneth Grahame's 1908 classic novel, as well as voicing Ape, the mentor and father figure of Brendan Fraser's “George of the Jungle.” Two years later, Cleese experienced a banner year with three high-profile projects under his belt. He first supported Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn as an offensive hotel clerk in the remake of “The Out-of-Towners” and was then seen as R in the James Bond film “The World Is Not Enough,” starring Pierce Brosnan as 007. He also portrayed Simon & Schuster head Dick Snyder (called Henry Marcus) on the Jacqueline Susann biopic “Isn't She Great” (released in the U.S. in 2000).

The early millennium saw roles in such projects as the large ensemble comedy “Rat Race” (2001), the Eddie Murphy sci-fi comedy flop “The Adventures of Pluto Nash” (2002), the James Bond action feature “Die Another Day” (2002, as Q), the Harry Potter massively popular films “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” (2001) and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002) and “Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle” (2003, as Lucy Liu's father). On television, he starred as the owner of a TV network in the short-lived sitcom “Wednesday at 9:30 (8:30 Central),” narrated episodes of “House of Moses” (2001-2002), and in 2003, joined the cast of the popular NBC sitcom “Will & Grace” in the pleasing recurring role of Lyle “Finney” Finster, the father of Minnie Driver's character and the love interest of Karen. The role brought Cleese a 2004 Emmy nomination for Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.

Cleese lent his voice for King Harold, Princess Fiona's Father, for the CGI sequel “Shrek 2” (2004), appeared as The Balloon Man in the Jackie Chan vehicle “Around the World in 80 Days” (2004), played Dr. Primkin on “Man About Town” (2006), had a feature role in “Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys” (2006) and returned to voice over work as Samuel the Sheep in “Charlotte's Web” (2006) and King Harold in “Shrek the Third” (2007). As for his upcoming projects, Cleese will play the voice role of Dr. Glickenstein in 2008's “Igor” and appear as Chief Inspector Dreyfus in the comedy film “Pink Panther 2” (2009), starring Andy Garcia.

“At my age, I want to wake up and see sunshine pouring in through the windows every day.” John Cleese

Awards:

• Banff Television Festival: Sir Peter Ustinov Award, 2002

• Aftonbladet TV Prize (Sweden): Best Foreign TV Personality – Male, 1991

• BAFTA Film: Best Actor, “A Fish Called Wanda,” 1989

• David di Donatello: Best Screenplay - Foreign Film (Autore della Migliore Sceneggiatura Straniero), “A Fish Called Wanda,“ 1989

• Emmy: Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series, “Cheers,” 1987

• Evening Standard British Film: Peter Sellers Award for Comedy, “Clockwise,” 1987

• BAFTA TV: Best Light Entertainment Performance, “Fawlty Towers,” 1980