Graham Chapman was a British actor, comedian and writer.
61 Facts About Graham Chapman
2.
Graham Chapman was one of the six members of the surreal comedy group Monty Python.
3.
Graham Chapman portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel and the lead role in two Python films, Holy Grail and Life of Brian.
4.
Graham Chapman enjoyed science, acting and comedy and, after graduating from Emmanuel College, Cambridge and St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, he turned down a career as a doctor to be a comedian.
5.
Graham Chapman eventually established a writing partnership with John Cleese, which reached its critical peak with Monty Python during the 1970s.
6.
Graham Chapman subsequently left Britain for Los Angeles, where he attempted to be a success on American television, speaking on the college circuit and producing the pirate film Yellowbeard, before returning to Britain in the early 1980s.
7.
Graham Chapman was an alcoholic during his time at Cambridge and the Python years; he quit drinking shortly before working on Life of Brian.
8.
Graham Chapman became an enthusiast and patron of the Dangerous Sports Club in his later years.
9.
Graham Chapman died in 1989, on the Pythons' 20th anniversary, of tonsil cancer which had spread to his spine.
10.
Graham Chapman was born on 8 January 1941 at the Stoneygate Nursing Home, Stoneygate, Leicester, Leicestershire, the son of policeman Walter Chapman and Edith Towers.
11.
Walter Chapman was a police constable at the time of Graham's birth; he ended his career as a chief inspector.
12.
Graham Chapman had been trained as a French polisher for a coffin-maker before entering the police force in the 1930s.
13.
Graham Chapman had an elder brother, John, who was born in 1936.
14.
Graham Chapman showed a strong affinity for science, sports and amateur dramatics and was singled out for attention when a local paper reviewed his performance of Mark Antony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
15.
In 1959, Graham Chapman began to study medicine at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
16.
Graham Chapman joined the Cambridge Footlights, where he first began writing with John Cleese.
17.
Graham Chapman contributed sketches to the radio series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and wrote material on his own and with Bill Oddie.
18.
Graham Chapman wrote for The Illustrated Weekly Hudd, Cilla Black, This Is Petula Clark and This Is Tom Jones.
19.
One of Cleese's and Graham Chapman's sketches, featuring a used car salesman refusing to believe a customer's model had broken down, became the inspiration for the Dead Parrot sketch.
20.
Graham Chapman co-wrote several episodes of Doctor in the House follow up, Doctor in Charge, with Bernard McKenna.
21.
The group's writing was split into well-defined teams, with Graham Chapman collaborating almost exclusively with Cleese.
22.
Graham Chapman was particularly keen to remove stereotypical punchlines in sketches and created The Colonel, who would stop them in mid-flow by saying they were "too silly".
23.
The other Pythons have said that Graham Chapman's biggest contribution in the writing room was an intuition for what was funny.
24.
Gilliam later recalled that "Graham Chapman would do the nudge that would push it into something extraordinary".
25.
The series was an immediate success, and Graham Chapman was delighted to learn that medical students at St Bartholomew's crowded round the television in the bar to watch it.
26.
Cleese later said he and Graham Chapman believed that "there was something very funny there, if we could find the right context for it".
27.
The group felt that Graham Chapman had the best acting skills among them.
28.
Cleese complimented Graham Chapman by saying that he was "particularly a wonderful actor".
29.
Graham Chapman played the lead role in two Python films, Holy Grail and Life of Brian.
30.
Graham Chapman was chosen to play the lead in Holy Grail because of the group's respect for his straight acting skills, and because the other members wanted to play lesser, funnier characters.
31.
Graham Chapman did not mind being filmed fully nude in front of a crowd in Life of Brian, but the scene, filmed in Tunisia, caused problems with the female Muslim extras.
32.
In 1978, Graham Chapman co-wrote the comedy film The Odd Job with McKenna and starred as one of the main characters.
33.
Graham Chapman wanted his friend Keith Moon to play a co-lead role alongside him, but Moon could not pass an acting test, so the part went to David Jason who had previously appeared on Do Not Adjust Your Set with Pythons Idle, Jones and Palin.
34.
Graham Chapman guest-starred on several television series including The Big Show.
35.
In 1976, Graham Chapman began writing a pirate film, Yellowbeard, which came out of conversations between Graham Chapman and Moon while in Los Angeles.
36.
Moon had always wanted to play Long John Silver, so Graham Chapman began to write a script for him.
37.
Graham Chapman published his memoirs, A Liar's Autobiography, in 1980, choosing the title because he said "it's almost impossible to tell the truth".
38.
Graham Chapman returned to Britain permanently after Yellowbeard was released.
39.
Graham Chapman became involved with the extreme sports club Dangerous Sports Club, which popularised bungee jumping.
40.
Graham Chapman was scheduled to perform a bungee jump himself, but it was cancelled due to safety concerns.
41.
In 1988, Graham Chapman appeared in the Iron Maiden video "Can I Play with Madness".
42.
Graham Chapman was intended to be cast in the Red Dwarf episode "Timeslides", but died before shooting could begin.
43.
Graham Chapman first met his long-term partner David Sherlock in Ibiza in 1966.
44.
Graham Chapman later described realising he was homosexual as "an important moment in my life".
45.
In 1972, on a television show hosted by British jazz musician George Melly, Graham Chapman first disclosed his homosexuality publicly, becoming one of the first celebrities to do so.
46.
Graham Chapman was a vocal spokesman for gay rights, supporting the Gay Liberation Front.
47.
In 1972, Graham Chapman supported the newspaper Gay News, which listed him as one of the publication's "special friends" in recognition.
48.
Graham Chapman met Tomiczek when Tomiczek was a 14-year-old run-away from Liverpool.
49.
Graham Chapman subsequently moved to Los Angeles to avoid British income tax.
50.
Graham Chapman took up pipe smoking aged 15, which became a lifelong habit.
51.
Graham Chapman began drinking heavily during his time at Cambridge and St Bartholomew's, favouring gin.
52.
Graham Chapman stopped drinking during Christmas 1977, concerned about being able to act in Life of Brian successfully, and remained sober for the rest of his life.
53.
In 1988, Graham Chapman made a routine visit to a dentist, who found a small, malignant tumour on one of his tonsils, leading to both being removed via a tonsillectomy.
54.
Graham Chapman had several chemotherapy treatments and surgeries during the final months of his life, but ultimately the cancer was declared inoperable.
55.
Shortly afterwards, Graham Chapman filmed scenes for the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Monty Python's Flying Circus, the final time he appeared on television.
56.
Graham Chapman died on 4 October 1989 in Maidstone Hospital from resulting complications, aged 48.
57.
Graham Chapman's death occurred on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the Pythons' collective debut on British television, and Jones called it "the worst case of party-pooping in all history".
58.
Palin delivered a eulogy to Graham Chapman, as did Idle, quipping that Graham Chapman had decided to die rather than listen to Palin again.
59.
The film, titled A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman, was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2012 and premiered in the UK the following month as part of the BFI London Film Festival.
60.
The voices of Cleese, Gilliam, Jones and Palin were spliced into commentary recorded by Graham Chapman reading from his memoir and taped shortly before his death.
61.
In September 2012, a British Comedy Society blue plaque commemorating Graham Chapman was unveiled at The Angel pub in Highgate by Jones, Palin, Barry Cryer, Ray Davies and Carol Cleveland.