 Carol Cleveland, a former cheerleader with stage training, was born January 13, 1943 East Sheen, London, though it's not polite to mention that really. She is dubbed by many as "the seventh Python" and definitely looks the best in a dress. Her parents met on a film set during the war and married ten days later, (mother Pat was a model and film extra who often cropped up in Python - once as a hospital patient with an axe in her head). Carol's father left home when she was three. Carol showed an early interest in dance, taking ballet lessons from the age of five, spending her teenage years in amateur dramatics and eventually playing the title role in "Cinderella." Her mother married an American airforce guy, Cleve and the family moved to America - first Texas, then California (where Carol appeared in "Swan Lake"). On a television show at the age of 12 Carol confidently predicted she would be a movie star and in 1961 she returned to London to attend RADA. Carol soon became a popular and familiar face on sixties British television with appearances in "The Saint," "The Avengers" and "Doctor at Large." She appeared with Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett before being put forward for "Monty Python." She first began appearing in the Flying Circus shows very early on as one of the various pretty females that floated around in naughty bits during the first season. Nicknamed Carol Cleavage on the set, she was the definitive blonde stereotype for deconstruction. But unlike the others she had comedic timing and became eventually the Pythons' (and later fans') favorite.  She eventually enjoyed more interesting character parts along the way although she was often unhappy at her range of often uninteresting parts, longing to grab the more meaty female roles usually bagged by Terry Jones or Graham Chapman. She appeared in many Flying Circus shows as well as in the Holy Grail, Life of Brian, And Now for Something Completely Different, and Live at the Hollywood Bowl. Much of her part was cut from the Meaning of Life, sadly, though hints of it appear in the CD-ROM game of same. In the Python live shows (like the Bowl, again) she played all the female parts, and her bit as an eccentric dancer in "I'm the Urban Spaceman" in the Bowl is memorable, as is her dual role as Zoot and Dingo, the love-starved leaders of the virgins at Castle Anthrax. She has been engaged to be married three times and only married once, briefly, to Peter Breet in the 1970s. This wedding was a real Python affair, with Cleese and the lads in attendance. The
union didn't last and Carol now lives in Brighton, occasionally doing stage work and performing "Pom-Poms Up!" a one-woman show about her life. She hasn't lost her charm and appeal, and is still Python fans' favorite female, a friend to Grail-seekers everywhere.
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Neil Innes, a talented singer and incredibly talented songwriter formerly of the Bonzo Dog (Doo Dah) Band, was born Dec 9, 1944 in Essex, England. After appearing on the prototypical Python show Do Not Adjust Your Set he wasn't involved with Python at all. But he did get to sing in one late episode, which wound up getting him parts in Holy Grail, Life Of Brian, and Live at the Hollywood Bowl. He composed also all the original music for the Grail and many other songs for Python shows and albums, and was one of only two non-Pythons to recieve writing credits in the Flying Circus, the other being Douglas Adams. Bald since a young age, he took to wearing toupees and hats. In the Python live shows (like the Hollywood Bowl) he was their only male extra and played in sketches as well as performing musical bits inbetween, like the "Protest Song," "I'm the Urban Spaceman" (with Carol Cleveland), and "How Sweet to Be an Idiot." He is best known for those songs (two of which are in the Bowl) as well as his role as Sir Robin's annoying minstrel in the Grail. He also plays a self-abusive monk and the owner of a duck. He later worked with Eric Idle on the low-budget and highly-underrated musical comedy program "Rutland Weekend Television" and wrote all the music for his and Eric's highly successful TV movie The Rutles: All You Need is Cash, giving a brilliant performance as the John Lennon character, Ron Nasty. Neil's dead-on soundtrack sounded just like the Beatles yet was completely original. In the 80s he had his own TV show, the Innes Book of Records, which ran three seasons, and from the 70s on he figured in GRIMMS and THE WORLD as well as releasing several solo albums. In 1997, he released what may be his best album, the "Rutles Archaeology" reunion album. (Eric did not participate, saying that Neil was "too old and bald and untalented to be in the Rutles" and that the project was "dumb.") Neil still tours and plays for fans in the UK and the United States. He has recently released three volumes of previously unreleased songs (mostly from The Innes Book of Records TV series) entitled "Neil Innes Recollections."
Also visit the official Neil Innes website, NeilInnes.org. |
Connie Booth began her Python career through a bit of unbridled nepotism. She was John Cleese's wife at the time, and thus got dragged into the Flying Circus thing for a few bit parts. (So did the then Mrs. Idle, Lyn Ashley.) Connie's most memorable role in the Flying Circus was as the Lumberjack's gal, reprised in the film And Now for Something Completely Different. But she worked with John in the writing department and was a guiding force in the two German Python TV specials. She played the witch in the Holy Grail. Even after her marriage to John ended she continued to work with him, and they co-created the classic sitcom "Fawlty Towers," in which Cleese starred and she handled the supporting role of Polly, the long-suffering femme-du-chambre who might be the only half-sensible member of the Fawlty Towers staff. Fawlty Towers is remembered as a high-water mark in British comedy, with the scripts written by John and Connie called (by "Blackadder" scribe Richard Curtis) "The greatest farce ever written in the English language." |
The Fred Tomlinson Singers were hired as the Pythons' resident chorus and appeared in most musical bits in the Flying Circus. They did such bits as the Lumberjack song mounties, Bing Tiddle Tiddle Bong, Summarizing Proust, and the Spam song vikings. Fred Tomlinson himself often had to think up the actual music for such songs, and usually did okay. Python just wouldn't be the same without them. Their mounties role is reprised in And Now for Something Completely Different, joined as always by a smattering of Pythons.
John Young was an odd old man who figured in two very memorable bit parts in the Holy Grail, as the dead body that claimed it wasn't ("I feel happy!"), and as the Very Famous Historian whose slaughter brings the film to an eventual halt. He also played Matthias in Life of Brian, the elderly man who is first sentenced to death by stoning ("Jehovah! Jehovah! Jehovah!") but who escapes to give Brian shelter. He is called a "weirdo" by John Cleese's Roman Centurion. He strikes us as a bit of a confused old duck, but all his Python parts were funny so we're glad to pay homage to him.
Bee Duffel played the old woman (credited as "Old Crone") to whom Arthur and Bedevere say "Ni!" in the quest for their shrubbery in the Holy Grail. Her odd, stagey performance is peculiar but memorable.
John Case was the immensely tall actor who appeared as Burt, the haggler's assistant, in Life of Brian. He had also a larger part as Pilate's less-than-dainty wife who kills all but a handful of the PFJ, but this was cut and is only briefly referred to in the film, in two scenes in the PFJ lair. In the first they discuss how they're going to kidnap her, and in the second they take down the names of all who died. 
Sally Kinghorn and Avril Stewart played Drs. Winston and Piglet, respectively. These are, of course, the teenage virgins who attempt to examine Sir Galahad in the Castle Anthrax scene in the Holy Grail.
Rita Davies was one of the Pythons' most frequently-appearing females, a classically-trained sort of actress who hung around in the background for much of the Python's early work, appearing in bit parts in many Flying Circus eps as well as as the Historian's Wife in the Holy Grail. Ian Davidson appeared in too many Flying Circus sketches to count, but mostly stood at the back. He was a writer and friend of Terry Jones and Michael Palin and as of 1990 was still writing for the BBC. He appeared in things like "The Silly Election" (as the fellow who's appearing on television for the first time) and "Killer Sheep" (in which he pops out of a cabinet in police uniform, waving). A slightly silly fellow, and easy to spot. John Hughman was chosen for his surprising height, and had worked previously with Terry Jones and Michael Palin in "The Complete and Utter History of Britain" for the same reason. He appeared in things like "Spot the Looney." Marjorie Wilde played the Dear Old Lady who is tormented with the Soft Cushions, and later the Comfy Chair, in the Spanish Inquisition sketch.
Famous Folks
This is not a full and complete list. Many wonderful people stepped in to help out in Python productions. If you have any additional information you would like to contribute to this page, please, please E-mail us at ocpmovie (at) lycos.com We are particularly interested in the current whereabouts of any of these people. |
