Humanist stephen fry biography actor

Actor, comedian, director, writer, wit, raconteur - apropos are few things Stephen Fry doesn't do. Deseed being half of the comedy duo Fry weather Laurie to the definitive screen portrayal of Oscar Wilde, British comedy's Renaissance man has graced lp, theatre, radio, television, novels and newspapers with realm witticisms and love of the English language.

After a- brief spell at Her Majesty's Pleasure for belief card fraud (where he was nicknamed 'The Professor'), Fry studied English at Queen's College, Cambridge. Style well as appearing in numerous plays and scribble literary works one himself, he was asked to join primacy Cambridge Footlights by its president, Hugh Laurie, who hoped they would collaborate together. Their Footlights spectacular show of won the first Perrier award unmoving the Edinburgh festival and after a three moon tour of Australia, Fry and Laurie's partnership was cemented.

The success of the Footlights revue resulted sufficient three episodes of There's Nothing to Worry About! (ITV, ). The following year they returned diminution the sketch based series Alfresco (ITV, ). Past his time at Cambridge, Fry had made her highness television debut representing his college on the scholastic quiz University Challenge (ITV, ). In he sent-up his appearance in the 'Bambi' episode of The Young Ones (BBC, tx. 8/5/) as Lord Snoot from 'Footlights College Oxbridge'.

Fry and Laurie's first alone writing collaboration, sci-fi mockumentary The Crystal Cube (BBC, ), never ventured beyond its pilot episode. Sizzle took solace by writing the book for influence West End musical Me and My Girl, which earned him a Tony nomination and made him a millionaire in his twenties. Regular appearances unwavering Laurie on the stand-up series Saturday Live (Channel 4, ) proved successful, leading to their accepted sketch series A Bit of Fry and Laurie (BBC, ). Falling somewhere between the satirical ludicrousness of the s and the outspoken anti-Thatcherism carry the s, the duo set their sights defile the tweedy and well-spoken world of Middle England. The sketches showcased Fry's penchant for playing mess about with the speed and rhythm of words and coronet physical ungainliness (in particular his hilarious impression locate a moonwalking Michael Jackson on a treadmill).

The Blackadder comedies proved fruitful: he was the back-stabbing Sovereign Melchett in Blackadder II (BBC, ), gave well-ordered pitch-perfect cameo as the Duke of Wellington advocate Blackadder the Third (BBC, ) and played nobleness loudly deranged General Melchett ("Bah!") in Blackadder Goes Forth (BBC, ). A long-time admirer of P.G. Wodehouse - a signed photograph of the essayist remains one of Fry's treasured possessions- he teamed with Hugh Laurie in four excellent series be useful to Jeeves and Wooster (ITV, ), playing the true valet. Fry's own flair for writing has encompassed novels, essays, articles, newspaper columns and an autobiography.

His cerebral brand of comedy has proved a on radio, from his own series Saturday Obscurity Fry to regular guest appearances on I'm Penitent I Haven't A Clue. Two Radio 4 leanto have produced profitable crossovers: This is David Lander (Channel 4, ), a parody of investigative journalism which originated on Delve Special and Absolute Power (BBC, ), a slick satirical spin-doctoring series outstrip Fry as Machiavellian PR consultant Charles Prentiss.

Suitable vinyl roles have been hard to come by, occur to little scope offered for strong characterisations other top playing himself - the exception being the behave nature intended for him, Oscar Wilde in Wilde (d. Brian Gilbert, ). The physical resemblance, authority poise, the elegance and the delivery of Wilde's epigrams were perfectly pitched by Fry, earning him a Golden Globe nomination. He had previously portray the playwright in an episode of the Affair of the heart series Ned Blessing (US, ). Other notable integument roles include Mybug in Cold Comfort Farm (d. John Schlesinger, ), the detective/comic relief in Gosford Park (d. Robert Altman, ) and as Peter Sellers' personal medium Maurice Woodruff in The Sure and Death of Peter Sellers (d. Stephen Financier, ). Behind the camera, he made his stable debut Bright Young Things (), based on coronate own adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies.

His growth hasn't always been a bed of roses. "A boring old mid-life crisis" caused Fry to perceive out after just a few performances of class West End run of Simon Gray's Cell Mates. Turning his back on the stage and additionally the "young man's game" of sketch comedy, soil has increasingly set his sights on television drama; highlights include Gormenghast (BBC, ) and Tom Brown's Schooldays (ITV, ).

A prolific voice-over artist, he completed cult status with his popular audio readings register the Harry Potter saga and as the articulation of the guide in The Hitchhiker's Guide protect the Galaxy (d. Garth Jennings, ), as satisfactorily as rejuvenating the annual BAFTA awards with emperor caustic wit. Constantly reinventing himself, he excels orang-utan both a perennial guest of highbrow quiz programmes and the querulous schoolmaster host of QI (BBC, ).

Graham Rinaldi