Graham Chapman

At 48 years old, Graham Chapman has this physical status:

Graham Arthur Chapman (8 January 1941 – October 4, 1989) was an English comedian, writer, actor, and author, as well as one of Monty Python's six members.

In two Python films, Holy Grail (1975) and Life of Brian (1979), he played authority figures as both the Colonel and the lead. Chapman was born in Leicester and was raised in Melton Mowbray.

He loved science, acting, and comedy, and after graduating from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, he decided against a career as a doctor to become a comedian instead.

Chapman's writing relationship with John Cleese came to a climax with Monty Python in the 1970s.

He then moved to Los Angeles, where he tried to be a success on American television, appeared on the college circuit, and produced the pirate film Yellowbeard (1983), before returning to Britain in the early 1980s. Chapman was openly homosexual and a vocal promoter of gay rights, and he was in a long-term relationship with David Sherlock in his personal life.

During his time in Cambridge and the Python period, he was an alcoholic, but he stopped drinking heavily before starting on Life of Brian.

He later became a Dangerous Sports Club fan and patron.

On the eve of Monty Python's twentieth anniversary, Chapman died of tonsil cancer on October 4th, 1989.

With the other five Pythons, his life and legacy were commemorated.

Early life and education

Graham Chapman was born on January 8th, 1941 at the Stoneygate Nursing Home, Leicester, Leicestershire. The son of policeman Walter Chapman and Edith Towers was born in Leicestershire. Walter Chapman was a police constable at the time of Graham's birth; he left his career as a chief inspector. Before entering the service in the 1930s, he had been trained as a French polisher for a coffin-maker.

John, the chapman's older brother, was born in 1936. According to Chapman and his brother, they had a "very bad upbringing." One of Chapman's earliest memories was seeing the remains of Polish airmen who had suffered an aeroplane crash near Leicester, who later claimed that the sight remained in his memory.

Chapman was educated at Melton Mowbray Grammar School. He had a keen affinity for science, sport, and amateur dramas and was singled out for notice when a local newspaper reviewed Mark Antony's appearance in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Graham and his brother John were avid supporters of radio comedy, with The Goon Show and Robert Moreton's ability of telling jokes the wrong way round and reversing punchlines being two of the most popular show on record. "The radio shows didn't exactly make him laugh," biographer Jim Yoakum said.

Chapman began to study medicine at Emmanuel College in Cambridge, Cambridge, in 1959. He joined the Cambridge Footlights, where he first started writing with John Cleese. Chapman, a student at the University of Cambridge Circus and toured New Zealand, deferred his medical studies for a year. He continued his studies at St Bartholomew's Medical College after the tour, but he was torn between pursuing a career in medicine or acting. "He [Graham] was never encouraged to go into medicine, it wasn't his life's goal," his brother John later said.

Personal life

In 1966, Chapman first met his long-term partner David Sherlock in Ibiza. He later described discovering he was gay as "an exciting moment in my life."

He told his close friends, including Cleese and Feldman, about his friendship over the year. In 1968, Chapman and Sherlock moved to Belsize Park, and the pair loved visiting gay clubs in Central London. They moved to a house in Highgate, North London, in the early 1970s, after Chapman became popular with Monty Python.

Chapman first disclosed his homosexuality openly in 1972, becoming one of the first celebrities to do so. He was a vocal promoter of gay rights, favoring the Gay Liberation Front. Chapman wrote a letter of support for the newspaper Gay News in 1972, identifying him as one of the magazine's "unique friends" in honor. Chapman said during a college tour that a television audience member had written to the Pythons to report that they had a gay member, quoting a Bible passage that says that any man who lies with a man should be arrested and stoned. Idle jokingly that they had found the perpetrator and killed him.

Chapman and Sherlock adopted John Tomiczek as their son in 1971. When Tomiczek was a 14-year-old run-away from Liverpool, Chapman met him. Following in-depth discussions with Tomiczek's father, it was decided that Chapman would be Tomiczek's legal guardian. Both Sherlock and Tomiczek remained a regular presence in Chapman's life. Chapman became increasingly worried about the Pythons' success and finances in the 1970s and 1980s. He then migrated to Los Angeles to avoid British income tax. With Sherlock and Tomiczek, he returned to the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s and moved to Maidstone, Kent, England. Tomiczek became Chapman's company manager and got involved, but died of a heart attack in 1992 at the age of 35.

Chapman quit smoking pipe cigarettes at the age of 15, which became a lifelong habit. During his stay at Cambridge and St. Bartholomew's, he drank heavily, favoring gin. By the time Monty Python went out on tour in 1973, Chapman's alcoholism had started to influence his appearance, causing him to miss cues to go on stage. He was known to have delirium tremens. He stopped drinking during Christmas 1977, becoming worried about his potential to participate in Life of Brian safely, and stayed sober for the remainder of his life.

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Career

Following their success in Footlights, Chapman and Cleese began to write for the BBC, initially for David Frost but also for Marty Feldman. Frost had recruited Cleese, but Cleese decided he needed Chapman as a sounding board. Chapman has also contributed sketches to the radio show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, and he'll share his thoughts on his own and with Bill Oddie. He wrote for The Illustrated Weekly Hudddd (starring Roy Huddd), Cilla Black, This Is Petula Clark, and This Is Tom Jones. Tim Brooke-Taylor and Chapman Cleese also appeared in Feldman's television comedy film At Last the 1948 Show. It was Chapman's first significant role as both a writer and a writer, and he displayed a talent for deadpan comedy (such as in the sketch "The Minister Who Falls to Pieces") and imitating various British dialects. Chapman's sketch of wrestling with himself was the first to feature Chapman's sketch of wrestling with himself in the series.

Despite the series' success, Chapman was still worried about ending his medical career. He completed his studies at St Bartholomew's and became officially registered as a doctor in between the two shows. Chapman and Cleese also wrote for the long-running television comedy series Doctor in the House of Commons, and they appeared on a one-off television special, How to Irritate People with Brooke-Taylor and future Python actor Michael Palin. The Dead Parrot sketch was inspired by one of Clee's and Chapman's sketches, which featured a homeless car salesman who refuses to believe a customer's model had broken down. In addition, Chapman co-wrote several episodes of Doctor in the House's sequel to Doctor in Charge, which also stars Bernard McKenna.

Chapman and Cleese appeared alongside Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Terry Gilliam in 1969 for Monty Python's Flying Circus. Chapman and Cleese were effectively split into well-defined teams, with Chapman and Cleese collaborating almost exclusively with Cleese. Chapman was keen to eliminate stereotypical punchlines in sketches and created The Colonel, who would keep them in mid-flow by saying they were "too silly."

Though the two were officially equal partners, Cleese later found that Chapman contributed little in the way of direct writing, saying, "He would arrive, say something marvellous, and then wander off into his own mind." Chapman's best contribution in the writing room, according to the other Pythons, was an intuition for what was funny. "Graham will do the nudge that will make it into something magical," Gilliam said later. The series was an immediate success, and Chapman was delighted to learn that medical students at St Bartholomew's crowded round the television in the bar were eager to watch it. Chapman was often late for rehearsing or recording, prompting the other Pythons to nickname him "the late Graham Chapman."

"How can we make this madder?" Chapman's main contribution to the "Dead Parrot sketch," derived from the article "How to Irritate People" and involving a customer's return of a defective toaster, was "How can we make this madder?" "The toaster has been turned into a dead Norwegian Blue parrot." Cleese later reported that "there was something very funny there if we could find the right context for it." Cleese was particularly worried that the Cheese Shop sketch was not amusing, considering that it was just a man presenting various types of cheese. "I trust me, it's funny," Chapman told his partner to keep doing it. Cleese found that the others, especially Palin, thought it was amusing when it was announced at the next script meeting. Chapman had the most natural acting skills among them, according to the company. By pleading for Chapman, the Cleese felicitated him by saying he was "particularly a wonderful actor."

Chapman appeared in two Python films, Holy Grail and Life of Brian, as the lead character. He was chosen to lead Holy Grail due to the group's esteem for his straight acting abilities, as well as because some of the other members wanted to play smaller, funnier characters. Chapman did not mind being fully nude in front of a crowd in Life of Brian, but the scene, which was shot in Tunisia, caused problems with the female Muslim extras.

Chapman and Douglas Adams wrote a pilot for a television series titled Out of the Trees in 1975, but it received poor reviews after being broadcast at the same time as Match of the Day, and only the first episode was published. Chapman co-wrote The Odd Job with McKenna and starred as one of the main characters in 1978. Chapman wanted Keith Moon to act alongside him but Moon refused to attend an acting audition, so that was handled to David Jason, who had appeared on Python's Idle, Jones, and Palin. The film was moderately successful. Chapman appeared on several television shows, including The Big Show.

Chapman started writing Yellowbeard (1983), which came out of Chapman and Moon's discussions while in Los Angeles. Moon had always wanted to be a Long John Silver, so Chapman started writing a script for him. Moon died in 1978 and the process stalled, eventually being rewritten by McKenna, then Peter Cook. The film, which starred Chapman as the eponymous pirate, also featured performances by Cook, Marty Feldman, Cleese, Idle, Spike Milligan, and Cheech & Chong. It was the last time Feldman, who suffered a fatal heart attack in December 1982, appeared at the festival. The project was fraught with financial difficulties, and at times there were not enough funds to pay the crew. It was received with mixed reactions when it was announced. "The Monty Python style of anarchy necessitates more than scatology, rude words, and funny faces," wrote David Robinson, who was filming the film in The Times.

Chapman published his memoirs in 1980, A Liar's Autobiography, choosing the word because he said, "it's almost impossible to tell the truth." Since being released, he returned to the United Kingdom permanently. He joined Dangerous Sports Club, which popularized bungee jumping. Chapman had intended to do a bungee jump himself but it was postponed due to safety issues.

Chapman began a long line of US college tours after reuniting with the other Pythons in the film The Meaning of Life (1983), among other topics. Lorne Michaels, a creator and Python enthusiast, begged Chapman to appear in The New Show on Saturday Night Live.

Chapman appeared in the Iron Maiden film "Can I Play with Madness" in 1988. He appeared in a pilot of a new television series, Jake's Journey, last year, but financial constraints prevented a complete series from being produced. Monty Python received the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema in 1988, and he appeared on stage with three other Pythons (Gilliam, Jones, and Palin).

Parrot Sketch Not Included, the 20th anniversary television special on television, was broadcast in November 1989, Chapman's last onscreen appearance with the other five Python characters. Chapman had been supposed to be cast in the Red Dwarf episode "Timeslides" but died before shooting could begin.

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