160 Facts About Stephen Fry

Sir Stephen John Fry was born on 24 August 1957 and is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer.

Stephen Fry starred in the sketch series Alfresco with Laurie, Emma Thompson, and Robbie Coltrane and in Blackadder alongside Rowan Atkinson.

Stephen Fry has had roles in the films Chariots of Fire, A Fish Called Wanda, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, V for Vendetta, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

Stephen Fry portrays the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland and its 2016 sequel, and the Master of Lake-town in the film series adaptation of The Hobbit.

Stephen Fry was the longtime host of the BBC television quiz show QI, with his tenure lasting from 2003 to 2016, during which he was nominated for six British Academy Television Awards.

Stephen Fry appears frequently on other panel games, such as the radio programmes Just a Minute and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

Stephen Fry is a prolific writer, contributing to newspapers and magazines, and has written four novels and three autobiographies.

Stephen Fry has lent his voice to numerous projects including the audiobooks for all seven of the Harry Potter novels and Paddington Bear novels.

Stephen John Fry was born on 24 August 1957 in the Hampstead area of London, the son of Marianne Eve Fry and physicist and inventor Alan John Fry.

Stephen Fry has an older brother, Roger, and a younger sister, Joanna.

Stephen Fry's mother is Jewish, but he was not brought up in a religious family.

Stephen Fry grew up in the village of Booton, Norfolk, having moved at an early age from Chesham, Buckinghamshire, where he had attended Chesham Preparatory School.

Stephen Fry briefly attended Cawston Primary School in Cawston, Norfolk, before going on to Stouts Hill Preparatory School in Uley, Gloucestershire, at the age of seven, and then to Uppingham School in Rutland, where he joined Fircroft house and was described as a "near-asthmatic genius".

Stephen Fry took his O-levels in 1972 at the early age of 14 and passed all except physics, but was expelled from Uppingham half a term into the sixth form.

Stephen Fry described himself as a "monstrous" child and wrote that he was expelled for "various misdemeanours".

Stephen Fry moved to Norfolk College of Arts and Technology, where, after two years in the sixth form studying English, French, and History of Art, he ultimately failed his A-Levels, not turning up for his English and French papers.

Stephen Fry had taken a coat when leaving a pub, planning to spend the night sleeping rough, but had then discovered the card in a pocket.

Stephen Fry was arrested in Swindon and, as a result, spent three months in Pucklechurch Remand Centre on remand.

Stephen Fry met his future comedy collaborator Hugh Laurie at Cambridge and starred alongside him in the Footlights.

In 1984, Stephen Fry adapted the hugely successful 1930s musical Me and My Girl for the West End, where it ran for eight years and received two Laurence Olivier Awards.

Stephen Fry filmed a 2016 advertisement where he explains the essence of British culture to foreigners arriving at London's Heathrow Airport.

Between 1990 and 1993, Fry starred as Jeeves in Jeeves and Wooster, 23-hour-long adaptations of P G Wodehouse's novels and short stories.

Stephen Fry has appeared in a number of BBC adaptations of plays and books, including a 1992 adaptation of the Simon Gray play The Common Pursuit.

Stephen Fry came to the attention of radio listeners with the 1986 creation of his alter-ego, Donald Trefusis, whose "wireless essays" were broadcast on the BBC Radio 4 programme Loose Ends.

In 1988, Stephen Fry wrote and presented a six-part comedy series entitled Saturday Night Stephen Fry.

Stephen Fry was cast in Simon Gray's The Common Pursuit for its first staging in the West End on 7 April 1988, with Rik Mayall, John Sessions, Sarah Berger, Paul Mooney and John Gordon Sinclair, directed by Simon Gray.

Stephen Fry is a long-standing fan of the anarchic British musical comedy group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and particularly of its eccentric front man, the late Vivian Stanshall.

Stephen Fry helped to fund a 1988 London re-staging of Stanshall's Stinkfoot, a Comic Opera, written by Vivian and Ki Longfellow-Stanshall for the Bristol-based Old Profanity Showboat.

Stephen Fry has since written three further novels, several non-fiction works and three volumes of autobiography.

Stephen Fry's book The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within is a guide to writing poetry.

When writing a book review for Tatler, Stephen Fry wrote under a pen name, Williver Hendry, editor of A Most Peculiar Friendship: The Correspondence of Lord Alfred Douglas and Jack Dempsey, a field close to his heart as an Oscar Wilde enthusiast.

Stephen Fry's blog attracted more than 300,000 visitors in its first two weeks.

Stephen Fry was cast in a lead role in Simon Gray's 1995 play Cell Mates, which he left three days into the West End run, pleading stage fright.

Stephen Fry later recalled the incident as a hypomanic episode in his documentary about bipolar disorder, The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive.

Stephen Fry acted in a 1998 Malcolm Bradbury adaptation of the Mark Tavener novel In the Red, taking the part of the Controller of BBC Radio 2; and in 2000 in the role of Professor Bellgrove in the BBC serial Gormenghast, which was adapted from the first two novels of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast series.

Stephen Fry presented a 20-part, two-hour series, The Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music, a "witty guide" to the genre over the past 1,000 years, on Classic FM.

Stephen Fry has been the reader for the British versions of all of JK Rowling's Harry Potter series of audiobooks.

Stephen Fry discussed this project in an interview with Rowling in 2005.

In 2003, Stephen Fry began hosting QI, a comedy panel game television quiz show.

In 2006, Stephen Fry won the Rose d'Or award for "Best Game Show Host" for his work on the series.

In October 2015, it was announced that Stephen Fry would retire as the host of QI after the "M" series, and he was replaced by Sandi Toksvig.

Towards the end of 2003, Stephen Fry starred alongside John Bird in the television adaptation of Absolute Power, previously a radio series on BBC Radio 4.

In 2003, Stephen Fry made his directorial debut with Bright Young Things, adapted by him from Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies.

Stephen Fry continued to make regular film appearances, notably in treatments of literary cult classics.

Stephen Fry portrayed the clairvoyant Maurice Woodruff in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and served as narrator in the 2005 film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Stephen Fry performed several of Stanshall's numbers as part of the Bonzos' 2006 reunion concert at the London Astoria.

In 2007, Stephen Fry wrote, for director Peter Jackson, a script for a remake of The Dam Busters.

In 2007, Stephen Fry wrote a Christmas pantomime, Cinderella, which ran at London's Old Vic Theatre.

Stephen Fry interviewed the Prime Minister Tony Blair as part of a series of podcasts released by 10 Downing Street.

Stephen Fry narrated the first four Harry Potter games: Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Goblet of Fire.

From 2007 to 2009, Stephen Fry played the lead role in the legal drama Kingdom, which ran for three series on ITV1.

On 7 May 2008, Stephen Fry gave a speech as part of a series of BBC lectures on the future of public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, which he later recorded for a podcast.

Stephen Fry's voice has been featured in a number of video games, including an appearance as Reaver, an amoral supporting character in Lionhead Studios games Fable II and Fable III, and as the narrator of the LittleBigPlanet series.

Stephen Fry narrates a section of Bungie's Destiny 2 expansion Warmind as the "Concierge"; an AI that, when interacted with at certain points, will give the player background information on Bray Exoscience.

Stephen Fry was offered a role in Valkyrie, but was unable to participate.

In May 2009, Stephen Fry unveiled The Dongle of Donald Trefusis, an audiobook series following Donald Trefusis, set over 12 episodes.

Stephen Fry was, at one time, slated to adapt A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole for the big screen.

In 2009, Stephen Fry provided the voice of St Peter for Liberace, Live From Heaven by Julian Woolford at London's Leicester Square Theatre.

In 2010, Stephen Fry became an investor in Pushnote, a UK tech startup.

In 2010, Stephen Fry took part in a Christmas series of short films called Little Crackers.

Stephen Fry's short was based on a story from his childhood at school.

Stephen Fry appeared as the Christian God in 2011's Holy Flying Circus.

Stephen Fry starred in the Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland, as the voice of the Cheshire Cat.

Stephen Fry played Mycroft Holmes in the 2011 film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, directed by Guy Ritchie.

Stephen Fry portrayed the Master of Lake-town in two of Peter Jackson's three film adaptation of JR R Tolkien's The Hobbit: the second The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and the third The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

In 2011, Stephen Fry appeared on Kate Bush's album 50 Words for Snow, featuring on the title track where he recites a list of surreal words to describe snow.

In September 2012, Stephen Fry made a return to the stage at Shakespeare's Globe, appearing as Malvolio in a production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, which transferred to the West End in November 2012.

Stephen Fry was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his work in the Broadway revival.

In November 2012, Stephen Fry hosted a gadgets show called Gadget Man, exploring the usefulness of various gadgets in different daily situations to improve the livelihoods of everyone.

On Christmas Day 2013, Stephen Fry featured with adventurer Bear Grylls in an episode of Channel 4's Bear's Wild Weekends.

In June 2015, Stephen Fry was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

Stephen Fry narrated the first two seasons of the English-language version of the Spanish children's animated series Pocoyo.

In July 2014, Stephen Fry appeared on stage with Monty Python on the opening night of their live show Monty Python Live.

On 17 September 2015, Stephen Fry shared the role of the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show which was staged at London's Playhouse Theatre and broadcast as the Rocky Horror Show Live.

In June 2015, Stephen Fry backed children's fairy tale app GivingTales in aid of UNICEF together with other British celebrities Sir Roger Moore, Ewan McGregor, Joanna Lumley, Michael Caine, David Walliams, Dame Joan Collins, Charlotte Rampling, Paul McKenna and Michael Ball.

In February 2017, Audible released Sherlock Holmes: The Definitive Collection, a complete collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, all read by Stephen Fry, who narrated an introduction for each novel or collection of stories.

In 2017, Stephen Fry released his own audiobook on Audible, titled Mythos, which he both wrote and narrated.

In 2018, Stephen Fry released a follow-up to Mythos, titled Heroes.

In June 2020, it was announced that Stephen Fry would read JK Rowling's children's book, The Ickabog.

Stephen Fry is the patron of the audiobook charity Listening Books.

In January 2016, it was announced that Stephen Fry would be appearing as the character "Cuddly Dick" in Series 3 of the Sky One family comedy Yonderland.

In 2016, Stephen Fry had a lead role in the American sitcom The Great Indoors.

Stephen Fry portrayed an outdoor magazine publisher helping to ease his best worldly reporter into a desk job.

Stephen Fry starred in the 2018 heist comedy film The Con Is On, previously titled The Brits Are Coming.

From May to July 2018, Stephen Fry appeared in Mythos: A Trilogy, a stage version of his book Mythos, in the Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

In September 2020, Stephen Fry was among the stars to mark the 100th anniversary of Sir Noel Coward's West End debut with a stage celebration titled "A Marvellous Party".

Stephen Fry reprised his role as Lord Melchett for The Big Night In, a 20 April 2020 telethon held during the COVID-19 pandemic, for a skit in which he held a video call with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who made a surprise appearance.

In 2022, Stephen Fry had a recurring role as biochemist Ian Gibbons in the Hulu miniseries The Dropout, which dramatizes the scandal involving biotechnology company Theranos.

In May 2024, Stephen Fry was among the members of the previously all-male Garrick Club who spoke in favour of the admission of women members for the first time in the club's 193-year history.

Stephen Fry won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture along with the ensemble of the Robert Altman directed murder mystery Gosford Park.

In 2003 Stephen Fry was the last person to be named Pipe Smoker of the Year before the award was discontinued.

Stephen Fry was awarded the AoC Gold Award in 2004, and was entered into their Hall of Fame.

Stephen Fry was nominated in "Best Entertainment Performance" for QI and "Best Factual Series" for Secret Life of the Manic Depressive at the British Academy Television Awards 2007.

Stephen Fry was granted a lifetime achievement award at the British Comedy Awards on 5 December 2007, In 2009, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Stephen Fry was made honorary president of the Cambridge University Quiz Society and honorary fellow of his alma mater Queens' College, Cambridge.

Stephen Fry is a Patron of the Norwich Playhouse theatre and a Vice-President of The Noel Coward Society.

In February 2011, Stephen Fry was awarded the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University, the Harvard Secular Society and the American Humanist Association.

In 2012, Stephen Fry wrote the foreword to the Union of UEA Students report on the student experience for LGBT+ members.

In March 2014, Stephen Fry beat David Attenborough and Davina McCall to win the Best Presenter award at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards.

In 2019, Stephen Fry was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Stephen Fry was the Honorary President of the Classical Association between 2021 and 2022.

Stephen Fry was awarded as Honorary Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 2024.

Stephen Fry married comedian Elliott Spencer, 30 years his junior, in January 2015 in Dereham, Norfolk.

Stephen Fry became friends with King Charles III while Charles was Prince of Wales, through his work with The Prince's Trust.

Stephen Fry attended the then-Prince's wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005.

Stephen Fry is a friend of Rowan Atkinson and was best man at Atkinson's wedding to Sunetra Sastry at the Russian Tea Room in New York City.

Stephen Fry was best man at Laurie's wedding and is godfather to all three of his children.

Stephen Fry started using cocaine in his twenties, and continued until 2001.

Stephen Fry wrote about his drug use in the memoir More Fool Me.

Stephen Fry has been described as "deeply dippy for all things digital" and claims to have bought the third Macintosh computer sold in the UK.

Stephen Fry has a long-standing interest in Internet production, including having his own website since 1997.

The website content is created by Stephen Fry and produced by Andrew Sampson.

Stephen Fry is a supporter of GNU and the Free Software Foundation.

Stephen Fry was in a 15-year relationship with Daniel Cohen that ended in 2010.

Stephen Fry was listed number 2 in 2016 and number 12 in 2017 on the Pride Power list.

On 6 January 2015, British tabloid The Sun reported that Stephen Fry would marry his partner, comedian Elliott Spencer.

Stephen Fry was an active supporter of the Labour Party for many years and appeared in a party political broadcast on its behalf with Hugh Laurie and Michelle Collins in November 1993.

Stephen Fry did not vote in the 2005 general election because of the stance of both the Labour and Conservative parties with regard to the Iraq War.

Stephen Fry appeared in campaign literature to support changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote for electing members of parliament to the House of Commons in the Alternative Vote referendum of 2011.

On 30 April 2008, Stephen Fry signed an open letter, published in The Guardian newspaper by a number of Jewish personalities, stating their opposition to celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel.

Stephen Fry was among over 100 signatories to a statement published by Sense about Science on 4 June 2009, condemning British libel laws and their use to "severely curtail the right to free speech on a matter of public interest".

Stephen Fry said in 2015 that the Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre "has done more to damage the Britain I love than any single person".

In March 2014, Stephen Fry publicly backed "Hacked Off" and its campaign towards press self-regulation by "safeguarding the press from political interference while giving vital protection to the vulnerable".

On 1 February 2021, Stephen Fry supported the petition of two Holocaust survivors, Dorit Oliver-Wolff and Ruth Barnett who were asking to meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson regarding the 'genocide amendment' to the trade bill; this amendment would allow an independent parliamentary judicial committee to examine evidence of genocide.

On 6 October 2009, Stephen Fry was interviewed by Jon Snow on Channel 4 News as a signatory of a letter to British Conservative Party leader David Cameron expressing concern about the party forming a political alliance with the right-wing Polish Law and Justice party in the European Parliament.

Stephen Fry has cyclothymia, a form of bipolar disorder.

Stephen Fry interviewed Robbie Williams, who suffers with unipolar depression, and they discussed the differences and similarities of their mental health experiences and diagnoses.

Stephen Fry is involved with the mental health charity Stand to Reason and is president of Mind.

In 2018, alongside Nadiya Hussain and Olly Alexander, Stephen Fry was part of Sport Relief's attempt to raise awareness of mental health.

In 1995, while appearing in the West End play Cell Mates, Stephen Fry had a nervous breakdown and walked out of the production, causing its early closure and incurring the displeasure of co-star Rik Mayall and playwright Simon Gray.

Stephen Fry later said that he would have killed himself if he had not had "the option of disappearing".

Stephen Fry abandoned the idea and left the United Kingdom by ferry, eventually resurfacing in Belgium.

Stephen Fry has attempted suicide on a number of occasions, most recently in 2012.

Stephen Fry said that he took a "huge number of pills and a huge [amount] of vodka" and had to be brought back to the UK to be "looked after".

In January 2008, Stephen Fry broke his arm while filming Last Chance to See in Brazil.

Stephen Fry attributed the weight loss to walking while listening to audiobooks.

In February 2018, Stephen Fry announced that he was recovering from an operation to treat prostate cancer, involving the removal of the prostate and 11 adjacent lymph nodes.

Stephen Fry described the cancer as aggressive and said that early intervention had saved his life.

In December 2020, Stephen Fry said he was having some radiotherapy, as is sometimes required after removal of the prostate to mop up remaining prostate cancer cells.

Stephen Fry has repeatedly expressed opposition to organised religion, and has identified himself as an atheist and humanist, while declaring some sympathy for the ancient Greek belief in gods.

In 2009, The Guardian published a letter from Stephen Fry addressing his younger self, explaining how his future is soon to unfold, reflecting on the positive progression towards gay acceptance and openness around him, and yet not everywhere, while warning on how "the cruel, hypocritical and loveless hand of religion and absolutism has fallen on the world once more".

On 22 February 2011, Stephen Fry was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University.

Stephen Fry is known for his extensive voice-over work; he read all seven of the Harry Potter novels for the UK audiobook recordings, narrated Paddington Bear audiobooks, narrated the video game series LittleBigPlanet and Birds of Steel, narrated an animated series of explanations of the laws of cricket and narrated a series of animations about humanism for Humanists UK.

Stephen Fry wielded a considerable amount of influence through his use of Twitter.

Stephen Fry commemorated the million-followers milestone with a humorous video blog in which a 'Step Hen Fry' clone speaks from the year 2034, where MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have combined to form 'Twit on MyFace'.

Stephen Fry had a history of temporarily distancing himself from the social networking site which began when he received criticism in October 2009.

In October 2010, Stephen Fry left Twitter for a few days, with a farewell message of "Bye bye", following press criticism of a quote taken from an interview he had given.

On 15 February 2016, Stephen Fry deleted his Twitter account after receiving criticism for a tweet commenting on Jenny Beavan's outfit choice at that year's BAFTAs where she received an award for costume design.

Stephen Fry alluded to this on an April 2016 episode of The Rubin Report in which he criticised groupthink mentality and stated that his return to Twitter was a "maybe".

Stephen Fry left Twitter again in November 2022, joining Mastodon that same month.

Stephen Fry succeeded Clare Connor to become president of Marylebone Cricket Club on 1 October 2022, relinquishing the role after one year to his successor Mark Nicholas in 2023.

In 2008, Stephen Fry formed SamStephen Fry Ltd, with long-term collaborator Andrew Sampson to produce and fund new material and to manage his official website.

Stephen Fry is the co-owner, with Gina Carter and Sandi Toksvig, of Sprout Pictures, an independent film and television company.

In 2016, Stephen Fry launched Pindex, "a self-funded online platform that creates and curates educational videos and infographics for teachers and students," founded and run by a four-person team.

In 2008, Stephen Fry appeared in a film made by the Free Software Foundation to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the GNU Project to create a completely free operating system.

In 2014, Stephen Fry designed a Paddington Bear statue, one of fifty located around London prior to the release of the film Paddington, which was auctioned to raise funds for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Stephen Fry has been the president of the Great Fen Project since 2006 and vice-president of international NGO Fauna and Flora International since 2009.

Stephen Fry has expressed support for action on climate change and activist group Extinction Rebellion, and has criticized climate change denial.

In March 2021, Stephen Fry narrated a short film for Cambridge Children's Hospital.

Stephen Fry has been the patron of UK audiobook charity Listening Books since 2005.