Short and Uninformed Biography
Well, here is a very short and uninformed biography of our favourite Idle. If I've left anything major out, let me know.
Life began good for Eric, he was born in South Shields on March 29th, 1943. However, when Eric was three his RAF rear-gunning father was killed coming home from World War II. (Ironic, eh? Survives the war but dies in a traffic accident coming home on Christmas leave.) Eric was sent to Royal School Wolverhampton, which he describes as a semi-orphanage for fatherless boys, at the age of seven until age nineteen. He's foggy about the details, but makes it clear that the boys were beaten quite a bit there.
Idle went to Pembroke college, then Cambridge University, majoring in English. He graduated Valedictorian.
After college, Idle joined Footlights comedy club and only a year later is elected president of Footlights. His first official act was to allow women to join the formerly sexist comedy club.
In the following years, Idle was very busy, acting in "One For the Pot" and "Oh, What a Lovely War", and writing for "No That's Me Over There" "The Frost Report" and "I'm Sorry I'll Read that Again".
In 1967-1969 he wrote and appeared in "Do Not Adjust Your Set" with future Pythons Michael Palin and Terry Jones.
Eric was introduced via Palin and Jones to Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and American Terry Gilliam. Thus, in 1969 "Monty Python's Flying Circus" was born.
An instant hit unlike anything Idle had experienced before, "Monty Python" quickly took up most of his time. He edited "Monty Python's Big Red Book" and filmed "And Now For Something Completely Different".
Now a star from Python, Idle was very busy in the seventies. There was a Python tour of the UK and Canada, the first Python film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", Python Live at Drury Lane, a second Python film "Monty Python's Life of Brian" in 1978, he co-produced the Monty Python's Life of Brian soundtrack (With Graham Chapman), and edited the Monty Python scrapbook.
But also in the 70's, a lot of non-Python things happened for Eric. He wrote and starred in the amazingly popular Tv series "Rutland Weekend Television", wrote his first novel "Hello Sailor", wrote and starred in "Radio 5", wrote and published "The Rutland Dirty Weekend Guide", directed two short films (Crackerbox Palace and True Love) for George Harrison's album, hosted Saturday Night Live twice, wrote co-directed and performed in "All You Need is Cash", and directed the short film "Ging Gang Gooley" for Ringo Records. He was, as you can see, very busy.
In 1980 The Pythons reunited with "Monty Python Live At the Hollywood Bowl". He wrote for and appeared in the NBC special "Steve Martin's Best Ever Show". In 1982 Eric wrote his first play, "Pass the Butler" which opened at the Globe Theatre in London, then directed and wrote a screenplay of "The Frog Prince" starring Robin Williams and Teri Garr for cable Tv.
Monty Python came back for one last film with "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life" which won a Special Film Jury award at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1989, Graham Chapman died and Monty Python was laid to rest with him.
Eric's been doing quite a bit since, including several really awful films and one very lackluster but sexy one called "Splitting Heirs". He wrote a fantastic and profound novel called "The Road to Mars", made a guest appearance on The Simpsons, and just released a new comedy CD called "The Rutland Isles".
He currently lives in L.A with his supermodel wife and daughter Lilly. Times are good for the loner Python. 
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