Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry (born 24 August, 1957) is a well known British comedian, author, actor and director. He is the son of Alan and Marianne Fry.
He was educated at Stout's Hill, Uppingham and Queens' College, Cambridge. He lives in Norfolk, London, and New York City. He is an erstwhile comedy collaborator of Hugh Laurie's. Rather tellingly, he was described as being "a man with a brain the size of Kent" in an interview with Michael Parkinson, a show on which he has made several appearances.
Career highlights
Highlights of Fry's career include:
- While still at boarding school, Fry absconded with a stolen credit card and, when apprehended, spent three months in prison for fraud.
- He made an early television appearance on University Challenge while an undergraduate at Cambridge.
- In 1984, he rewrote the script of the stage musical, Me and My Girl, which subsequently became a huge West End hit.
- Very early in his West End debut (Simon Gray's play Cell Mates), Fry suffered an attack of stage fright so serious that he ran away, leaving only an apology, and turning up some days later in Belgium.
- He famously declared that he practised a celibate lifestyle (which he has since abandoned for a life of lechery).
- He made his debut as a film director with Bright Young Things, an adaptation of the novel Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, in 2003.
List of works
- Other books
- Paperweight (collection of articles) (1992)
- 1997)
- TV scripts
- A Bit of Fry and Laurie (1989, 1990)
- A Bit More Fry and Laurie
- Fry & Laurie #3
- Three Bits of Fry and Laurie
- Fry & Laurie Bit No. 4
Performances
Stephen Fry also narrates the UK audio versions of the Harry Potter books (this is Jim Dale's job in the US).
Trivia
The Stars' Tennis Balls contains several major characters whose names are anagrams or other simple mutations of their counterparts in The Count of Monte Cristo. For example:
Mercedes
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Portia
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pun (Porsche)
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de Villefort
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Oliver Delft
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anagram
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the Abbe (Faria)
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the Babe (Fraser)
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anagram (partial)
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Fernand Mondego
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Gordon Fendeman
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anagram
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Noirtier
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Blackrow
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translated literally
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Capt. Leclere
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Paddy Leclare
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homonym
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Caderousse
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Cade, Rufus |
similar sound
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Danglars
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Garland
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anagram (mostly)
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Monte Cristo
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Simon Cotter
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anagram
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As well as having competed on University Challenge whilst at Cambridge, he also appeared in The Young Ones as "Lord Snot", one of the "Footlights College" team against whom The Young Ones are competing in a fictitious edition of University Challenge. He later appeared in a Comic Relief edition of University Challenge as part of the "Gownies" team of University-graduate comedians, against the (victorious) team of "Townies".
He used to be a regular panelist on Have I Got News For You, but now refuses to appear on the show as a protest against the sacking of Angus Deayton.
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