Eric Idle

Eric Idle, born on 29 March 1943 at Harton Hospital in South Shields, England, is an actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter, and playwright. He is best known as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and as a founding member of the parody rock band the Rutles.

Idle's father, Ernest Idle, served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and was killed in a road accident while hitchhiking home for Christmas in December 1945. His mother, Norah Barron Sanderson, worked as a nurse and struggled with depression following her husband's death, leading Idle to be raised for a time by his grandmother in Swinton, Lancashire. He spent part of his childhood in Wallasey, Cheshire, and attended St George's Primary School. At age seven, he was enrolled as a boarder at the Royal Wolverhampton School, a charitable institution dedicated to educating children who had lost one or both parents. He eventually became head boy there, though he was stripped of his prefecture after being caught attending a film rated for audiences sixteen and older. He had also refused the role of senior boy in the school cadet force, citing his support for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and his participation in the Aldermaston March.

Idle went on to study English at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he was invited to join the Cambridge University Footlights Club by Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie. He became Footlights President in 1965 and was the first to allow women to join the club. He had begun Cambridge only a year after future fellow Pythons Graham Chapman and John Cleese. Before Monty Python formed, Idle appeared in the television comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Set alongside Terry Jones and Michael Palin, with Terry Gilliam contributing animations. He also made guest appearances on At Last the 1948 Show, which featured Cleese and Chapman.

Monty Python's Flying Circus ran from 1969 to 1974, and Idle co-created and performed in all four series. Unlike the other Pythons, who typically wrote in pairs, Idle worked largely alone, which meant his material received only a single vote when the group decided which sketches to include. His contributions were frequently characterized by elaborate wordplay, verbal peculiarities, and musical numbers. He composed several of the group's most recognized songs, including "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," which served as the closing number of Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) and became a signature tune for the group, as well as the "Galaxy Song" from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) and "Eric the Half-a-Bee," which first appeared on the Previous Record album. The Python films also included Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).

Following the end of Flying Circus, Idle created the BBC sketch series Rutland Weekend Television, which ran from 1975 to 1976 with music by Neil Innes. He hosted Saturday Night Live four times between 1976 and 1979. His film appearances outside of Python include National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), The Transformers: The Movie (1986), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Nuns on the Run (1990), Splitting Heirs (1993), Casper (1995), The Wind in the Willows (1996), An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997), Ella Enchanted (2004), and Shrek the Third (2007). He also wrote Not the Messiah in 2009 and performed at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Idle made his Broadway debut as book writer with Spamalot (2005), a musical adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The production won the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Idle received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics in 2005 for his work on the show, and earned two Tony Award nominations. He has also received a Grammy Award over the course of his career.