Graham Chapman
Birthday: Born in 1941-01-08 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England
Deathday: 1989-10-04
Graham Arthur Chapman (January 8, 1941 – October 4, 1989) was an English comedian, physician, writer, and actor and one of the six members of the Monty Python comedy troupe. He was also the lead actor in their two narrative films, playing King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Brian in Monty Python's Life of Brian. He co-authored and starred in the film Yellowbeard. Chapman was born in Leicester but was raised in nearby Melton Mowbray. After graduating from Emmanuel College, Cambridge and St Bartholomew's Medical College, he turned down a career as a doctor to be a comedian.
TV Credits
At Last the 1948 Show
Character:
A groundbreaking, splendidly silly, surreal sketch comedy series written by and starring The Goodies' Tim Brooke-Taylor, Monty Python's Graham Chapman and John Cleese, and comedy legend Marty Feldman....
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Character: Various
A British sketch comedy series with the shows being composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines....
Monty Python's Personal Best
Character:
A series of six outrageous one-hour specials showcasing the groundbreaking comedians....
The Secret Policeman's Ball
Character: Self
A series of benefit shows staged initially in the United Kingdom to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. The shows started in 1976 featuring popular British comedians but later included leading musicians and actors. The Secret Policeman's Ball shows are credited by many prominent entertainers with having galvanised them to become involved with Amnesty and other social and political causes in succeeding years....
Omnibus Presents Comic Relief
Character:
The comedy event of the year took place in April 1986 at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London. All those taking part gave their services free in order to support the famine relief camp in Umbala in the west of Sudan. Tonight Omnibus, in collaboration with Charity Projects, presents the best comic talents in Britain today. Among those appearing: Rowan Atkinson, Frank Bruno, Kate Bush, Graham Chapman, Billy Connolly, Ronnie Corbett, Paul Eddington, Ben Elton, French and Saunders, Stephen Fry, Bob Ge...
The Big Show
Character: Self
The Big Show is an American comedy-variety-musical television series produced and broadcast by NBC for several months in 1980. The series aimed to revitalize the moribund variety television genre, which had been in a downward spiral since the cancellations of The Ed Sullivan Show and The Carol Burnett Show a few years earlier. The Big Show took its title seriously, using a huge stage set and filling a 90-minute time-slot, with at least one two-hour installment broadcast. Although the first bro...
Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)
Character: Self (archive footage)
A 2009 television documentary series in six parts that covers 40 years of the surreal comedy group Monty Python, from Flying Circus to present day projects such as the musical Spamalot. The series highlights their childhood, schooling and university life, and pre-Python work. The series featured new interviews with surviving members John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, alongside archive interview footage of Graham Chapman and interviews with several associates of...
Saturday Night Live
Character: The Colonel / Self (uncredited)
A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest....
The Mind of David Berglas
Character:
David Berglas is psychological illusionist and mentalist. In the UK he caused a sensation with his Channel 4 series The Mind of David Berglas, aired in 1986, where he interviewed and entertained celebrity guests including Omar Sharif, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Peter Cook and Max Bygraves....
Cilla
Character: Self
A mostly live weekly entertainment show starring Cilla Black and her special guests....
Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus
Character: Various Characters
Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus consisted of two 45-minute Monty Python German television comedy specials produced by WDR for West German television. The two episodes were first broadcast in January and December 1972 and were shot entirely on film and mostly on location in Bavaria, with the first episode recorded in German and the second recorded in English and then dubbed into German....
Wogan
Character: Self
Chat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities....
Monty Python's Best Bits (Mostly)
Character: Self (archive footage)
This series is presented by self-confessed Python nut Hugh Bonneville, each show with a group of five famous comedians remembering their favourite Python moments. Each guest chooses a sketch (or two) and it's played with their comments.....
Movie Credits
Life of Brian
Character: Wise Man #2 / Brian Cohen / Biggus Dickus
Brian Cohen is an average young Jewish man, but through a series of ridiculous events, he gains a reputation as the Messiah. When he's not dodging his followers or being scolded by his shrill mother, the hapless Brian has to contend with the pompous Pontius Pilate and acronym-obsessed members of a separatist movement. Rife with Monty Python's signature absurdity, the tale finds Brian's life paralleling Biblical lore, albeit with many more laughs....
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Character: King Arthur / Voice of God / Middle Head / Hiccoughing Guard
King Arthur, accompanied by his squire, recruits his Knights of the Round Table, including Sir Bedevere the Wise, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot and Sir Galahad the Pure. On the way, Arthur battles the Black Knight who, despite having had all his limbs chopped off, insists he can still fight. They reach Camelot, but Arthur decides not to enter, as "it is a silly place"....
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Character: Various Roles
Life's questions are 'answered' in a series of outrageous vignettes, beginning with a staid London insurance company which transforms before our eyes into a pirate ship. Then there's the National Health doctors who try to claim a healthy liver from a still-living donor. The world's most voracious glutton brings the art of vomiting to new heights before his spectacular demise....
Monty Python & the Holy Grail Location Report
Character: Self
An documentarian from the BBC visits the set of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). This documentary shouldn't be viewed as a making of the film, but rather a goof-off session that is simply there to conjure up laughter....
Yellowbeard
Character: Captain Yellowbeard
For years Yellowbeard had looted the Spanish Main, making men eat their lips and swallow their hearts. Caught and convicted for tax evasion, he's sentenced to 20 years in St. Victim's Prison for the Extremely Naughty. In a scheme to confiscate his fabulous treasure, the Royal Navy allows him to escape and follows him, where saucy tarts, lisping demigods and some awful puns and punishments await....
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Character: Various Roles
Monty Python perform many of their greatest sketches at the Hollywood Bowl, including several from pre-Python days....
And Now for Something Completely Different
Character: Brother / Policeman / Defence attorney / British pedestrian / Mr. Harrison (Apricot) / The Colonel / 'Hell's Grannies' policeman / Jimmy Blankensop / Sir Edward Ross / Restaurant patron #1 / Letter Writer / Oliver St. John Mollusk / Mountie / Town Guild Lady
A collection of Monty Python's Flying Circus skits from the first two seasons of their British TV series....
Monty Python's Flying Circus - Graham Chapman's Personal Best
Character: Various Characters
The LORDS of LAUGHTER--The SAINTS of SATIRE--The HIGH PRIESTS of LOW COMEDY--have sold out once again. Some say you can't take it with you. Others just refuse to go. Graham Chapman--doctor, tall actor, self-wrestler and really famous dead guy--is the latter. Chapman has a least 8 movie and TV appearances to his credit since he passed away in 1989 making him the most prolific corpse since Elvis. This DVD GRAHAM CHAPMAN'S PERSONAL BEST makes 9. In a comprehensive tribute written by the remaining m...
Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball?
Character: Self
The Secret Policeman benefit shows for Amnesty International brought together comedy grand masters - from Python and Beyond the Fringe - and performers then relatively unknown, like Rowan Atkinson. Narrated by Dawn French, the programme includes interviews with many of the comedians and musicians who took part: John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Michael Palin, Sting, Lenny Henry and many more. The shows and their stars had a huge effect on modern British comedy. There are few comics today whose careers h...
Hitler: The Comedy Years
Character: Joachim von Ribbentrop (archive footage) (uncredited)
A documentary about the portrayal of Adolf Hitler in popular culture....
How to Irritate People
Character: Various
A pre-Monty Python mockumentary, written by and presented by John Cleese, that provides tips on learning how to irritate people....
The Secret Life of Brian
Character: Self / Brian (archive footage) (uncredited)
A documentary about the making of the controversial Life of Brian and the surrounding accusations of blasphemy....
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
Character: Self - Various Roles
Following the success of the 1979 show and the financial benefits accruing to Amnesty from the spin-off movie, TV special and record albums – Cleese, Lewis and Walker planned the next show to be a more spectacular event. Cleese focused on broadening the comedic talent to be presented at the show. In addition to the Amnesty show stalwarts drawn from the Oxbridge/Monty Python/Beyond The Fringe orbit, he invited newcomers such as Rowan Atkinson’s colleagues from the BBC TV show Not the Nine O'Clock...
Pleasure at Her Majesty's
Character: Self
The first of the Amnesty International comedy benefit galas. The title is a play on the phrase at Her Majesty's pleasure (the show was performed at Her Majesty's Theatre, London). This show came to be considered part of the Secret Policeman's Ball series of shows that it inspired, although it pre-dated the first show in the series by three years. The event was organized by a team of three: Monty Python member John Cleese, Amnesty's Assistant Director Peter Luff and Transatlantic Records executiv...
The Pythons: Somewhere in Tunisia, Circa A.D. 1979
Character: Self
Ten years ago exactly, more or less, give or take a day or two, six young men sat down, or maybe stood, or perhaps some of them just lounged, and wrote the first episode of a new series called Owl Stretching Time. They were called Graham Chapman , John Cleese, Terry Gilliam , Eric Idle,Terry Jones and Michael Palin and later both they and the series became known as Monty Python 's Flying Circus . Today they are the best known British comedy group in the world, famous from Cathay to Kathmandu, f...
Life of Python
Character: Various Roles (archive footage) (uncredited)
This BBC documentary tells the history of the Python group, allowing a few glimpses at the works of its predecessors (At Last the 1948 Show, Do Not Adjust Your Sets etc.) and various interviews with the group's members and other associated artists....
A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman
Character: Self (voice)
John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam pay tribute to their late Monty Python colleague Graham Chapman in this hilarious, 3-D animated adaptation of Chapman's brazenly fictionalized life story....
The Odd Job
Character: Arthur Harris
Arthur Harris is a happily married man who returns from his job to discover that his wife, Fiona, is leaving him. Devastated he gets really drunk and tries to commit suicide. After a few setbacks and while he is trying to electrocute himself with a lamp, the door bell rings. An odd man in a leather coat asks if there are any odd jobs that he can perform. Arthur hires the man to kill him. The next day his wife returns, but the man he hired is still trying to kill him......
Anatomy of a Liar
Character: Self
A documentary about A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman....
Out of the Trees
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Sketch comedy pilot from Douglas Adams and Graham Chapman....
Parrot Sketch Not Included: Twenty Years of Monty Python
Character: Self / Various Characters
Steve Martin presents selected sketches from "Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969)". It's the well known sketches, though the parrot sketch is not included. Steve Martin has some funny comments on the Pythons....
The Crimson Permanent Assurance
Character: Chairman (uncredited)
A group of down-and-out accountants mutiny against their bosses and sail their office building onto the high seas in search of a pirate's life....
Euroshow '71: May Day Special
Character: Various (as Montypython Flyingcircus)
German made-for-TV musical extravaganza starring Monty Python....
Monty Python: Who's There?
Character: Ian
An instructional film about canvassing, for the Labour Party and starring the Python team, showing Labour Party workers how to canvass for votes. Filmed April 1970. Narrated by Michael Parkinson....
The Meaning of Making 'The Meaning of Life'
Character: Self (archive footage)
The behind-the-scenes production documentary of Monty Python's 'Meaning Of Life.' This documentary is featured on the 2-disc Special Edition DVD for Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, released in September 2003....
Jake's Journey
Character: Sir George / Queen
A normal teenager is transported to a Monty Pythonesque medieval fantasy land where an odd, adamant knight takes him on a quest....
The Magic Christian
Character: Oxford Crew
Sir Guy Grand, the richest man in the world, adopts a homeless man, Youngman. Together, they set out to prove that anyone--and anything--can be bought....
The Movie Life of George
Character: Self
When EMI refused to produce Monty Python's Life of Brian, George Harrison founded Handmade Pictures so that he could see the film. This is the story of him and Handmade Films....
The Roots of Monty Python
Character: Self (archive footage)
A look back at the origins of the ground breaking BBC comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus....
Monty Python In The Netherlands
Character:
Monty Python sketch created for Dutch television in 1973....
What the Pythons Did Next...
Character: Self (archive footage)
A look at the careers of John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam in the years after Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969)....
Doctor in Trouble
Character: Roddy
Dr. Burke is in love with Ophelia but doesn't have time to propose to her as she leaves for a cruise to the Mediterranean. Also on board the cruise ship is an old school chum of Burke's who plays 'Dr.Dare' in a very popular TV series and who women flock to. Burke decides to join the cruise, but is first apprehended as a stowaway, and then becomes the captain's steward. For Burke, trying to talk to Ophelia is a hard enough task, but he meets some funny characters on board, such as a pools winner ...
Iron Maiden: Visions of the Beast
Character: Madman - in video 'Can I Play With Madness' (uncredited)
Visions of the Beast was released by Iron Maiden on June 2, 2003 and contains every promotional video through 2001's Rock in Rio. It is basically an updated version of The First Ten Years: The Videos and From There to Eternity. It also includes never-before-seen Camp Chaos animated versions of six definitive Iron Maiden songs, interactive menus and discographies, and some special hidden extras....
The Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus Volume 1
Character: Self (archive footage)
Compilation of the best Sketches of the first series of Monty Python's Flying Circus, which ran from 5 October 1969 to 11 January 1970. Memorable moments include: 'The 127th Upperclass Twit of the Year Competition from Hurlingham Park'; 'Bicycle Repair Man'; 'Vicious Gangs of Old Ladies - the Layabouts in Lace'; 'The Man with Three Buttocks'; 'The Lumberjack Song'; 'Vocational Guidance Councillor'; and 'The Joke That Kills People'. Oh, and a sketch about a dead parrot....
The Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus Volume 3
Character: Self (archive footage)
All the best sketches from the third and fourth series of the ground-breaking comedy. Memorable moments include: 'The Finals of the All-England Summarise Proust Competition'; 'Stand and Deliver! It's That Highwayman Dennis Moore'; 'Thrust: A Quite Controversial Look at the World Around Us'; 'Whicker's Island'; and 'The Fifteenth Ideal Loon Competition'. Originally broadcast from 19 October 1972 to 18 January 1973, and 31 October to 5 December 1974....
The Best of Monty Python's Flying Circus Volume 2
Character: Self (archive footage)
All the best sketches from the second series of the ground-breaking comedy. Memorable moments include: 'It's in the Mind'; 'The New Cooker Sketch'; 'Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition'; and 'The Ministry for Silly Walks'. Originally Broadcast from 15 September to 22 December 1970...
The Monty Python Story
Character: Self
The story behind how the comedy sketch group Monty Python formed in 1969, and lead to four very series, and four very funny films that are still has funny today as when they were released....
Monty Python: From Spam to Sperm
Character: Self
Meatloaf introduces a look back at Python's use of music. Included interviews with the team, André Jacquemin and other conspirators....
The Statue
Character: News reader
Bolt, a British linguist, develops a universal language, so he's a sudden sensation and receives a Nobel prize. An ambitious diplomat, capitalizing on Bolt's celebrity, arranges for the U.S. to commission a statue for a London square to honor Bolt's achievement. Bolt's Italian wife, a renowned artist, sculpts an 18-foot nude of Bolt. In a pique, because he's neglected her for years to do his work, she gives the statue a spectacular phallus, telling Bolt that he wasn't its model. Thinking he's a ...
Monty Python: Before the Flying Circus
Character: Self (archive footage)
Discover how six seemingly ordinary but supremely talented men became Monty Python, sketch comedy's inspired group of lunatics who turned such unlikely sources of inspiration as Spam, dead parrots and the Inquisition into enduring punch lines. This entertaining documentary includes interviews with members of the troupe, as well as home movies, photos and rare recordings from Monty Python's early years....
Monty Python Conquers America
Character: Self (archive footage)
This documentary follows the evolution of the British sketch comedy troupe that redefined humor and shaped an entire generation of American comics, focusing especially on their conquest of the American comedy scene,...
Group Madness
Character: Self
A behind-the-scenes documentary of the making of 1983's Yellowbeard...
The Life of Python
Character: Self
Celebrating their 30th anniversary, Monty Python presents exclusive new material and so-called classic bits. Disc : 1 Contains 1:It's The Monty Python Story 2:Pythonland 3:The Last Python Mayday Special 4:From Spam to Sperm:Monty Pythons Greatest Hits An Animated South Park Tribute Disc:2 1 The Last German Episode Fliegender Zirkus #2: Schnapps with Everything...
Python at 50: Silly Talks and Holy Grails
Character: Self (archive footage)
From ‘something completely different’ to icons of comedy and national treasures, this is a collection of rarely-seen Monty Python moments from the BBC archives, following the group’s encounters with ‘Auntie’ over the past 50 years....
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer
Character: Fromage
Fresh-faced young Michael Rimmer worms his way into an opinion poll company and is soon running the place. He uses this as a springboard to get into politics and in the mini-skirted flared-trousered world of 1970 Britain starts to rise through the Tory ranks....
The Great Birds Eye Peas Relaunch 1971
Character:
One of the least-known Monty Python rarities is “The Great Birds Eye Peas Relaunch of 1971,” a short advertising film that was made for the Birds Eye company’s internal use....
Monty Python: Live at Aspen
Character: Self / Various (archive footage)
In March 1998 in Aspen, Colorado, the surviving members of the Monty Python team – John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin – shared a stage together for the first time in 18 years. Even more remarkably, Graham Chapman was there too....in an urn! The occasion for this reunion was the US Comedy Arts Festival Tribute to Monty Python, hosted by Robert Klein in front of a live audience....
Monty Python's Best Bits Celebrated
Character: Self (archive footage)(uncredited)
Monty Python’s influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles’ influence on music, a pivotal moment in the evolution of television humor. Celebrating the cultural legacy and influence of the troupe, this special pairs their original material with new and entertaining commentary from celebrities who consider Monty Python hugely significant, both personally and to the history of screen satire. Celebrity humorists discuss, laugh, and reminisce about various Python segments and bring a fresh ...