Eric Idle Biography

Eric Idle (Born March 29, 1943) is an English comedian, actor and film director, as well as an author and accomplished guitarist/songwriter. He wrote and performed as part of the Monty Python team.

One-sixth of the comic genius of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Eric Idle was the long-faced, bugged-out-eyed bloke who immortalized "nudge-nudge wink-wink" as a catchphrase of its time. He met future Python mates John Cleese and Graham Chapman at Cambridge where the three were members of the prestigious Footlights comedy troupe (for which he eventually served as president). Idle went on to make his professional stage debut in "One for the Pot" in 1965 and his TV acting debut in Ken Russell's "Isadora" the following year.
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The paths of Cleese, Chapman and Idle crossed those of Terry Jones and Michael Palin when they were all contributing writers to the British TV series "The Frost Report" (BBC, 1966-67), and Idle subsequently collaborated with Chapman on scripts for the comedy series "No--That's Me Over Here!" (Rediffusion, 1967-68) and with Palin and Jones for "Do Not Adjust Your Set" (Rediffusion, 1967-68; Thames Television 1968-69) before co-founding the celebrated Python comedy troupe with Cleese, Chapman, Palin, Jones and American animation specialist Terry Gilliam.

Lauded by critics and embraced by the public, the irreverent and often surreal humor of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" aired on BBC-1 from 1969-70 and 1972-74 and on BBC-2 without Cleese (under the title of "Monty Python") for the last few months of 1974. Rebroadcasts on PBS, two ABC late-night specials in 1975 and five feature films created and nurtured a large and appreciative American audience for their inspired lunacy. The first picture, "And Now for Something Completely Different" (1971), was just a series of television vignettes released for theaters, but for their next two big screen ventures, the troupe concocted conventional narratives transporting the gang back to the Middle Ages and to the Judea of Christ. Idle's roles in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1972) included Brave Sir Robin (who "bravely turned his tail and fled") and one of the dreaded knights who said "Nit". In "Monty Python's Life of Brian" (1979), he memorably played Stan Called Loretta, a confused member of the Peoples' Front of Judea, and philosophically sang "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" (which he also wrote) while being crucified. When they were unable to acquire backing for the blasphemously perceived "Brian", George Harrison saved the day with financing and provided a very Liverpudlian touch in his brief cameo.

After Python went off the air in England, Idle wrote and starred in "Rutland Weekend Television" (BBC-2, 1975-76), out of which gestated the brilliant Beatles spoof "All You Need Is Cash" (NBC, 1978). The original Rutles clip actually debuted on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" six weeks prior to its UK airing, and producer Lorne Michaels, loving the concept, commissioned Idle to write a full-length script (he would also co-direct and act) and "Rutland" pal Neil Innes to come up with the music, which included such gems as "All You Need Is Lunch" and "W.C. Fields Forever". The semi-legendary story of the "pre-Fab Four" brought together elements of "Python" (Palin), "SNL" (Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, John Belushi) and "Rutland" (Henry Woolf, Gwen Taylor); featured rock legends like Harrison, Mick Jagger and Ron Wood; and sparked a Rutles cult that survives to this day. Idle published his first novel ("Hello Sailor" 1975), saw his first stage play produced ("Pass the Butler" 1982) and that year also wrote and directed "The Frog Prince", the award-winning debut episode of Showtime's "Faerie Tale Theatre", starring Robin Williams and Terri Garr.

After participating in two more Python movies (reverting to sketch format), Idle appeared as the accident-prone bike rider in "National Lampoon's European Vacation" (1985) and played the fastest man on earth in Gilliam's lavish commercial flop "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (1988). He then starred in the short-lived NBC fantasy sitcom "Nearly Departed" (1989), took to the habit with Robbie Coltrane as "Nuns on the Run" (1990) and executive produced, wrote, and starred in "Splitting Heirs" (1993), a mistaken identity comedy reuniting him with Cleese, which unfortunately did not live up to the genius of Python. Terry Jones' live-action "The Wind in the Willows" (1996) was much better, creatively reteaming Python's four surviving Brits (Graham Chapman having died in 1989) in a delightful rendition of the Kenneth Grahame classic that captured its satire of British class pretensions alarmed at the Industrial Age's assault on the pastoral life. Columbia's refusal to promote its acquisition (Disney still retained the video rights) relegated the gem to a very limited US release.

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ERIC IDLE BIOGRAPHY