John Cleese
1939-|
Biography
Born in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England John Cleese Quotes
“But then acting is all about faking. We’re all very good at faking things that we have no competence with.”“I find it rather easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes naturally to me.” “I tend to have an odd split in my mind: I tend to look at it as a writer and when the writing thing is OK and I’m happy with it, then I put on my actor’s hat.” “I was very sad to hear of the death of Ronnie Barker, who was such a warm, friendly and encouraging presence to have when I started in television. He was also a great comic actor to learn from.” “When the target audience is American teenage kids, you can have problems. My generation prized really fine acting and writing. Sometimes you have to go back to the basic principles which underpin great visual comedy.” “I’ve spent two years of my life in America and I’ve married Americans twice. But I still feel insecure about making jokes there.” “Comedy always works best when it is mean-spirited.” “I think that sometimes you do something that makes a small group of people laugh, which is all we were trying to do; we were just trying to make each other laugh.” “Tension is wonderful for making people laugh.” “The thrill I got discovering Buster Keaton when I was growing up was so exciting. He was one of the greats.” “If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.” “I’m getting very curious about what I’m going to be doing after I’m dead.” “I used to desire many, many things, but now I have just one desire, and that’s to get rid of all my other desires.” “For me, the great problem growing up in England was that I had a very narrow concept of what God can be, and it was damn close to an old man with a beard.” “The English contribution to world cuisine - the chip.” “God was treated like this powerful, erratic, rather punitive father who has to be pacified and praised. You know, flattered.” “I can’t tell you how scary it can be walking onto a movie and suddenly joining this family, it’s like going to somebody else’s Christmas dinner, everyone knows everyone, and you’re there and you’re not quite sure what you’re supposed to be doing.” “It seems astounding to me now that the video games are perhaps as important as the movie themselves. And people will spend 2 or 3 years obsessing about the video game in exactly the same way that they’d be obsessing about the movie if they were working on that.” “There’s no question that the Woody Allen character that appears on the screen is a Greek god version of what he’s like in real life. I met him once and he tried to hide behind Mia Farrow.” “Who’s ever going to write a film in which I get the girl? Me!” “If God did not intend for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?” “I hate two towns: Edmonton and Aswan. I’ve enjoyed all the rest. Even New Zealand.” “I want to write a book which is the history of comedy.” “He who laughs most, learns best.” “If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you more open to my ideas. And if I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make, by laughing at it you acknowledge its truth.” “I get bored easily. I’ve been bored most of my life.” “If life were fair, Dan Quayle would be making a living asking ‘Do you want fries with that?’” “People try to change the world - instead of themselves.” “You don’t have to be the Dalai Lama to tell people that life’s about change.” “The assumption being that you should get married and live with someone for 30 years. If I finish being married five times for seven years each time, that for me will probably be more interesting than one for 35 years. I know you’re not supposed to say it, but why not?” “The Pythons are all dead. Apart from me. And except for Terry Jones. And he’s suffering from a terminal illness and has lost control of his bodily functions. So, if you go to see him, wear protective clothing.” “A man will give up almost anything except his suffering.” “I can never do better than Fawlty Towers whatever I do. Now I very much want to teach young talent some rules of the game.” “I’m the worst singer in Western Europe. I mean, horrendous. I was in Half a Sixpence on Broadway in 1965 on condition that I mime.” “Don’t let anyone tell you what you ought to like... Some wines that some experts think are absolutely exquisite don’t appeal to me at all.” “The really good idea is always traceable back quite a long way, often to a not very good idea which sparked off another idea that was only slightly better, which somebody else misunderstood in such a way that they then said something which was really rather interesting.” “Wine is wonderful stuff. But so many people are put off by the snobbery of it.” |
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The Actor
John Cleese has appeared in the following films:Interlude (1968) The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (1968) The Best House in London (1969) The Magic Christian (1969) The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970) The Statue (1971) And Now for Something Completely Different (1971) The Love Ban (1973) Golf Etiquette (1973) Romance with a Double Bass (1974) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) It’s Alright, It’s Only a Customer (1975) The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977) Away from It All (1979) Life of Brian (1979) The Great Muppet Caper (1981) Time Bandits (1981) Privates on Parade (1982) Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982) The Meaning of Life (1983) Yellowbeard (1983) Silverado (1985) Clockwise (1986) Quark and the Highway Robber (1987) A Fish Called Wanda (1988) Erik the Viking (1989) The Big Picture (1989) Bullseye! (1990) An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) Splitting Heirs (1993) Frankenstein (1994) The Swan Princess (1994) The Jungle Book (1994) The Wind in the Willows (1996) Fierce Creatures (1997) George of the Jungle (1997) Parting Shots (1998) The Out-of-Towners (1999) The BFI London Imax Signature Film (1999) How to Haunt a House (1999) The World Is Not Enough (1999) Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big (2000) Rockstar (2000) Isn’t She Great (2000) Quantum Project (2000) The Magic Pudding (2000) Rat Race (2001) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) Taking the Wheel (2002) The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) Pinocchio (2002) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) Die Another Day (2002) Scorched (2003) Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003) Shrek 2 (2004) Around the World in 80 Days (2004) Valiant (2005) Complete Guide to Guys (2005) Man About Town (2006) L’Entente cordiale (2006) Charlotte’s Web (2006) Shrek the Third (2007) Igor (2008) The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) The Pink Panther 2 (2009) Planet 51 (2009) |
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