Graham Chapman (January 8, 1941 – October 4, 1989) was a British comedian and writer. He was one of a half a dozen Monty Python members and lead actor in their ii narrative films swimming King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Brian in Life of Brian).

Chapman was educated at Melton Mowbray Grammar School and deliberate medicine at Emmanuel College at the University of Cambridge, where he began writing comedy sustaining fellow College student John Cleese. He experienced enough as a medical doctor at the Barts Hospital Medical College, but seldom ever practiced medicine.

When at Cambridge, Graham Chapman joined a ill-famed Cambridge University Footlights Club. Fellow members were John Cleese, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie, David Hatch, Jonathan Lynn, Humphrey Barclay and Jo Kendall. Their review The Clump of Pedestal was therefore successful at a Edinburgh Fringe Festival that they renamed a review Cambridge Circus, and took a review to the West End in London, and then took a review to New Zealand and Broadway. A review appeared around October of 1964 on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Graham Chapman & John Cleese wrote professionally for the BBC during the 1960s, primarily for the ubiquitous David Frost but also for Marty Feldman. Chapman as well contributed sketches to the BBC radio series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and television programmes such as The Illustrated Weekly Hudd (starring Roy Hudd), Cilla Black, This is Petula Clark and This is Tom Jones. Graham Chapman, John Cleese & Tim Brooke-Taylor so joined Marty Feldman in the television comedy series At Last the 1948 Show. Chapman (& John Cleese now and then) besides wrote for the long-running off television comedy series Doctor in the House. Chapman besides co-wrote many episodes by using Bernard McKenna and David Sherlock.

Inside 1969 Graham Chapman and John Cleese joined Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and American creative person Terry Gilliam for ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''. Cleese & Chapman's classic Python sketches include "The Ministry of Silly Walks" and "Dead Parrot". One of Chapman's best known characters was "The Colonel", the stuffy army officer world health organization once in a while appeared away from nowhere extirpate the prevent of a sketch for existence as well silly. When Cleese left a series within 1973, Chapman wrote alone, as well as a bit sustaining Neil Innes and Douglas Adams for the final fourth year. He so developed the total of television & motion picture projects, virtually all notably Out of the Trees (TV), The Odd Job and Yellowbeard (both films). Inside "Yellowbeard" he starred along side Cleese, Peter Cook, Cheech and Chong and Feldman (who died when you took a finals times of production).

In the late 1970s Chapman moved to Los Angeles where he guested on numbers of Usa tv program, including The Hollywood Squares, Still Crazy Like a Fox and the NBC sketch series The Big Show (TV show). Upon giving to England he became involved sustaining a Dangerous Sports Club (an extreme sportsclub which introduced bungee jumping to the wide audience), & he began a 1st of a prolonged series of United states of america college lecture tours in the 1980s. His memoir, "A Liar's Autobiography", was published in 1980 and, unusually for an autobiography, had five authors: Chapman, his partner David Sherlock, editor Alex Martin, David Yallop and Douglas Adams. At a instance Adams became taking part 1977 he was a virtually unknown writer, new from either Cambridge, whom Chapman took under his wing. It late experienced a great falling-out & did non speak to every more for many years.

Chapman was inside numerous ways the dotty Python member world health organization in essence lived a kind of life that virtually all humans believed a Monty Python lived. His right friends were fellow crazy Keith Moon of The Who, singer Harry Nilsson and Beatle Ringo Starr. Chapman drank alcohol excessively in the 1970s, and he besides saved his homosexuality a secret, at least from a public, for very much of his grown life although he did out himself on a British talk show in the mid-1970s (one of the number 1 celebrities to do sol) & was the vocal spokesman in Gay rights afterwards. Chapman's gayness was saved secret for the total of years, ab initio known sole by his Monty Python co-stars. He revealed his homoeroticism number one to John Cleese (whom Graham Chapman experienced known the longest of the Monty Python class action), so, many times late, he come intent on the class action of friends at a person held at his range in Belsize Park where he officially introduced them to David Sherlock when his swain. One of Michael Palin's favourite stories all about Graham included Palin's trips to collect him each morning for Python related business, he would call for as much as Chapman's window & exist as greeted by the collection of young men prior to Graham finally surfaced pipe within mouth. When Chapman processed his homoeroticism public (in the tv program hosted by British jazz musician George Melly) a member of the public wrote to the Pythons webmaster that she got heard the member of the team was a gay & involved quotes from either the Bible saying that 'should the human get laid an additional, he should become taken out & flushed.' Eric Idle sent a reply- "We've found out who he was and we've taken him out and killed him."

Chapman died at a age of 48 in October 4, 1989, of throat cancer which had metastasised to his spine. His demise was 1 day prior to a Twentieth day of remembrance of the number one broadcast of Flying Circus - within Terry Jones' words, "the worst case of party-pooping in all history". John Cleese delivered the eulogy for Chapman, during which he deliberately utilized a word "fuck", and had away sustaining it on the BBC. Cleese's eulogy was and so funny that it was noted that a bit of population at a funeral "almost died laughing". Cleese has said that Chapman would keep close at hand liked that.

A odd Python members st& acknowledged that, patch brilliant, Chapman was exasperating to act by having, and hard to understand. Fallowing his demise, speculation of the Python revival inevitably faded. When Idle said, "we would only do a reunion if Graham came back from the dead. So we're negotiating with his agent" (subsequent gatherings of the Pythons use within fact involved an urn, said to contain Chapman's ashes).