Why Graham Chapman is the Unsung Hero of Monty Python
On what would have been his 75th birthday, it seems an appropriate time to remember the great talent of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman. If Michael Palin is the nicest Python, then Chapman must surely be the most underrated. While the others have all had relatively successful solo careers — including, most notably, John Cleese with Fawlty Towers and Terry Gilliam as a film director — Chapman never really reached his full potential. His death in 1989 at the tragically young age of 48 is probably partly to blame for this, and you can’t help but wonder what kind of work he would have gone on to do.
Chapman certainly led a very interesting life. Born in Leicester in 1941, his earliest memory was of accompanying his father, a policeman, to the scene of an air crash and witnessing body parts being collected in buckets — quite a morbid event, but somehow fitting for a future member of the Monty Python team. Like many others of his generation, his sense of humor was defined by a childhood spent listening to The Goon Show on the radio. Despite this, his original career path was medicine rather than comedy, following in the footsteps of his older brother.
It was at Cambridge University that Chapman turned towards comedy. He joined the Footlights, the famous theatrical club which launched the careers of so many British performers, and met two of his fellow Pythons, John Cleese and Eric Idle. Forming a writing partnership with Cleese — which would eventually generate material like the iconic Dead Parrot sketch — Chapman was subsequently faced with a choice between becoming a writer/performer, or a doctor. Although he did earn his medical qualifications, he opted for the former.
When it came to his Monty Python characters, Chapman was an expert at playing authority figures, but he was also equally at home indulging in the crazier side of things. As a writer, he had an eccentric style. John Cleese has often spoken in interviews of how Chapman would often remain silent for long periods of time during their writing sessions, before suddenly coming out with a simple idea which would turn a sketch from “good” to “brilliant.”
The other Pythons considered Chapman to be the best actor of the group. As a result, he was given the lead roles in both Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Life of Brian. His serious, uptight portrayal of King Arthur in Holy Grail particularly was a perfect complement to the madness going on around him.
Despite his talent, there were personal complications. A heavy drinker since his days as a medical student (partly to cover up his shyness), it eventually began to affect his performances, causing him to forget lines. It also fueled some of his more eccentric behavior, and influenced the kind of people he hung out with — Keith Moon was one of his closest friends. But unlike a lot of those people, Moon included, Chapman didn’t become a casualty. He eventually decided to give up alcohol and succeeded. By the time the Pythons began making Life of Brian in 1978, Chapman was sober and performing to the best of his ability.
For a man of such obvious talent, it’s a shame his solo career never really blossomed. Although he moved to Los Angeles for a while and made guest appearances on a number of TV shows, his own projects didn’t enjoy the level of success he deserved. His 1978 film The Odd Job, about a man who hires an “odd job” man to kill him after his wife leaves him, was not well received. Yellowbeard (1983) had a similar fate. It ran into financial difficulties and received poor reviews, despite a star-studded cast including John Cleese, Eric Idle, Marty Feldman, Spike Milligan, and Peter Cook.
When Chapman was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1988, he was busy working on a new American TV series called Jake’s Journey, as well as revisiting a film script he had written with Cleese some years earlier. Sadly, these projects never got off the ground, as the cancer soon spread to his spine and became incurable. He died on October 4, 1989, a day before the 20th anniversary of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which Terry Jones perfectly described as “the worst case of party-pooping I’ve ever seen.”
We can only speculate about how successful these projects would have been had Chapman lived and what other things he would have done, but it would be nice to think that he’d still be producing really good work today. It would also be nice to think that he’d have been part of the Pythons’ reunion shows in London in 2014.
One of his more successful endeavors was the fantastically entertaining book, A Liar’s Autobiography, published in 1980. As you might expect from the title, it’s not to be taken seriously. And that’s the beauty of Graham Chapman’s life and work. One of his most famous Python characters, the Colonel, often said things were getting “too silly.” In reality, Chapman himself embraced silliness, and that’s how we should remember him. Happy birthday, Graham.
