Spike Milligan
Birthday: Born in 1918-04-16 in Ahmed Nagar, India
Deathday: 2002-02-27
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan KBE (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier, and actor. Milligan's early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the British government declared him stateless. He was the co-creator, main writer and a principal cast member of The Goon Show, performing a range of roles including the popular Eccles. Milligan wrote and edited many books, including Puckoon and his seven-volume autobiographical account of his time serving during the Second World War, beginning with Adolf Hitler: My part in his downfall. He is also noted as a popular writer of comical verse, much of his poetry was written for children, including Silly Verse for Kids (1959). After success with the ground-breaking British radio programme, The Goon Show, Milligan translated this success to television with Q5, a surreal sketch show which is credited as a major influence on the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Description above from the Wikipedia article Spike Milligan,licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
TV Credits
Till Death Us Do Part
Character:
Following the chronicles of the East End working-class Garnett family, headed by patriarch Alf Garnett, a reactionary working-class man who holds racist and anti-socialist views....
Q...
Character:
Q... was a surreal television comedy sketch show from Spike Milligan which ran from 1969 to 1982 on BBC2. There were six series in all, the first five numbered from Q5 to Q9, and a final series titled There's a Lot of It About. The first and third series ran for seven episodes, and the others for six episodes, each of which was 30 minutes long. Various reasons have been suggested for the title. One possibility is that it was inspired by the project to construct the Cunard liner QE2, launched in...
Room 101
Character: Self
Fast-moving game show meets talk show, which sees Frank Skinner refereeing three celebrities each week as they compete to banish their top peeve or worst nightmare to the depths of Room 101....
You Bet!
Character:
You Bet! is a British game show based around the format of the German show Wetten, dass..? developed by Frank Elstner. You Bet! ran on ITV, mostly on Saturday nights but sometimes on Fridays, between 20 February 1988 and 12 April 1997, initially hosted by Bruce Forsyth from 1988 to 1990, then by Matthew Kelly from 1991 to 1995 and finally by Darren Day from 1996 to 1997. It was replaced the following year by Don't Try This At Home!, which emulated the challenges of You Bet!, but were considerabl...
The Telegoons
Character:
The Telegoons is a comedy puppet show, adapted from the highly successful BBC radio comedy show of the 1950s....
The Muppet Show
Character: Self - Special Guest Star
Go behind the curtains as Kermit the Frog and his muppet friends struggle to put on a weekly variety show....
Gormenghast
Character:
At the Castle of Gormenghast, the Groan family has ruled with dusty ceremony for more than seventy generations. A clever and ambitious new kitchen boy, Steerpike, begins to insinuate himself into the affections of Lady Fuchsia Groan and to murder his way to power....
Curry and Chips
Character:
Curry and Chips is a British sitcom broadcast in 1969 which was produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network. Set on a factory floor of 'Lillicrap Ltd', it starred a blacked up Spike Milligan as an Asian immigrant who went by the name of Kevin O'Grady. It also featured Eric Sykes as the foreman, Norman Rossington as the shop steward, and other regulars were Kenny Lynch, and Sam Kydd. The series was written by Till Death Us Do Part writer Johnny Speight, but based on idea by Milliga...
Wogan
Character: Self
Chat show hosted by Terry Wogan, featuring live studio interviews with famous and notable personalities....
Wolves, Witches and Giants
Character: Narrator
Wolves, Withches and Giants gives a twisted and humorous take on classic fairy tales, narrated by Spike Milligan and adapted by Ed Welch....
The Kenny Everett Television Show
Character: The Ghost of Marley
Sketch comedy show starring Kenny Everett....
Blankety Blank
Character:
Blankety Blank is a British comedy game show based on the 1977–1979 Australian game show Blankety Blanks. The British version ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC One, hosted first by Terry Wogan and later by Les Dawson. Regular members of the celebrity panel on this version included Kenny Everett, Lorraine Chase, Gareth Hunt, Gary Davies, and Cheryl Baker. A revival fronted by Lily Savage was produced by the BBC from 26 December 1997 to 28 December 1999, followed by ITV from 7 Jan...
The Kenny Everett Television Show
Character: Jacob Marley
Sketch comedy show starring Kenny Everett....
Gormenghast
Character: De'Ath
At the Castle of Gormenghast, the Groan family has ruled with dusty ceremony for more than seventy generations. A clever and ambitious new kitchen boy, Steerpike, begins to insinuate himself into the affections of Lady Fuchsia Groan and to murder his way to power....
Super Gran
Character: Zoo Keeper
Adapted from Forrest Wilson's books, the children's programme revolves around a grandmother with super powers and her arch nemesis, The Scunner Campbell....
The Sooty Show
Character: Himself
The Sooty Show is a British children's Puppet series which aired on the BBC from 1955 to 1967 and ITV from 1968 to 1992. It follows the adventures and comedic day to day life of puppets Sooty, Sweep and Soo with their owner Harry Corbett, and in later years, his son Matthew....
The Marti Caine Show
Character:
Marti Caine presents a star studded variety show in which she performs comedy material, sings and dances alongside special guests....
Till Death Us Do Part
Character: Paki-Paddy
Following the chronicles of the East End working-class Garnett family, headed by patriarch Alf Garnett, a reactionary working-class man who holds racist and anti-socialist views....
Takin' Over the Asylum
Character: Himself
A salesman starts to run a hospital radio station inside a facility for people with mental heath needs....
The Dick Cavett Show
Character: Self - Guest
The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks....
The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything
Character:
Comedic British History...
Hancock's Half Hour
Character:
Hancock's Half Hour is a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy, series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James; the radio version also co-starred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams. The final television series, renamed simply Hancock, starred Hancock alone. Comedian Tony Hancock starred in the show, playing an exaggerated and much poorer version of his own char...
Tell Me Another
Character: Himself
Personal anecdotes as told to Dick Hills....
Movie Credits
The Three Musketeers
Character: M. Bonancieux
The young D'Artagnan arrives in Paris with dreams of becoming a King's musketeer. He meets and quarrels with three men, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, each of whom challenges him to a duel. D'Artagnan finds out they are musketeers and is invited to join them in their efforts to oppose Cardinal Richelieu, who wishes to increase his already considerable power over the King. D'Artagnan must also juggle affairs with the charming Constance Bonancieux and the passionate Lady De Winter, a secret agent for...
Adolf Hitler - My Part in His Downfall
Character: Leo Milligan
London, 1940. Aspiring jazz musician and future comedy legend Terence "Spike" Milligan reluctantly obeys his call-up and joins the Royal Artillery regiment at Bexhill, where he begins training to take part in the War. But along the way Spike and his friends get involved in many amusing - and some not-so amusing - scrapes. A film adaptation of the first volume of Spike Milligan's war diaries....
Yellowbeard
Character: Flunkie
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....
The Magic Christian
Character: Traffic Warden
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 Case of the Mukkinese Battle-Horn
Character: Assorted
Supposedly filmed in 'Schizophrenoscope', it concerns Inspector Quilt of Scotland Yard's attempts to retrieve a 'Mukkinese Battlehorn' stolen from a London museum. Along the way he meets characters not dissimilar to Eccles, Henry Crun and Minnie Bannister from The Goon Show. This attempt to adapt Goon humour to the big screen was written by Harry Booth, Jon Penington and regular Goon show co-writer Larry Stephens. It was then heavily rewritten on the filmset by Sellers and Milligan....
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Character: Gryphon
An all-star cast highlights this vibrant musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll's immortal tale. One day, plucky young Alice follows a white rabbit down a hole and discovers a world of bizarre characters....
Labour's Old Romantic
Character: Self
A profile of Michael Foot, the former leader of the Labour Party, which included footage of him on the night of Tony Blair’s historic 1997 victory, and interviews with his wife, the filmmaker Jill Cragie, and some of his old colleagues and friends, including Barbara Castle, Spike Milligan and Salman Rushdie....
Penny Points to Paradise
Character: Spike Donnelly
When Harry and Spike visit Bristol to spend the winnings from Harry's latest Pools win, the boys are soon targeted by a gang of local counterfeiters....
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Character: Policeman
The death of Sir Charles Baskerville is blamed on a curse that has followed the Baskerville family for two hundred years. Sherlock Holmes is out to uncover the truth about a hound who roams the moors, waiting to attack the heir to the Baskerville estate....
Hitler: The Comedy Years
Character: Adolf Hitler / Pakistani Dalek (archive footage) (uncredited)
A documentary about the portrayal of Adolf Hitler in popular culture....
Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World
Character: Dr. Harz
Digby consumes a bowl of Project X, a liquid growth formula. Soon, he becomes a sheepdog of gigantic size!...
Let's Go Crazy
Character: Multiple Roles
Let's Go Crazy is a 1951 comedy film marking an early appearance of Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers playing multiple roles....
The Great McGonagall
Character: William Topaz McGonagall
In this high-camp farce, Goons legend Spike Milligan stars as William Topaz McGonagall, an unemployed Scottish weaver and aspiring poet laureate who falls in love with Queen Victoria - a brilliant cameo by Peter Sellers - and thereafter devotes his banal poetry to her. Though McGonagall's solicitations are rejected by the Queen, it doesn't stop the turgid prose, and pathos, from overflowing as McGonagall hilariously attempts to become the greatest poet in the land. The image of the bad poet, tra...
Watch Your Stern
Character: Ranjid - Civilian electrician #1
When the details of a secret torpedo are destroyed by an incompetent seaman, the crew of the ship rally round, when the Admiral needs the plans to show to a visiting scientist....
Down Among the Z Men
Character: Pvt. Eccles
The Goon Show hits the big screen. Professor Pure Heart absent-mindedly loses the top secret formula in Harry Jones' Grocery Shop. "Bats of the Yard", as Harry calls himself, finds it and attempts to return it to the Professor....
The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film
Character:
A short film without any direct action designed more as an experiment, with disjointed comic scenes with no common thread....
Postman's Knock
Character: Harold Petts
Likeable country postman Harold Petts gets transferred from his village to London, where on his arrival he unwittingly foils a mail train robbery. Innocent in the ways of the big city, he is thought to be a member of another gang by both the train robbers and the police, who all suspect him of trying to rob the post office where he works....
Sellers' Best
Character: Self
One of the all-time greatest comedians, Peter Sellers’ mimicry, timing, instinct and ability to decimate an audience with laughter made him absolutely unforgettable. Combining comedy and acting like no one before, or since, Sellers starred in legendary cult films such as Dr Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and The Return of the Pink Panther. Sellers’ Best explores not only his comedic talent but goes beneath to examine the man himself and features interviews wit...
Rentadick
Character: a Customs officer
Armitage runs a chemical company that is on the verge of producing a gas that causes temporary disability. Clearly the military want it but it is also sought by a group of Japanese. Both Armitage and Madam Greenfly hire different people in the same detective agency to guard the gas and steal it respectively... confusion, double crosses and hilarity ensue......
The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins
Character: Tramp (segment "Sloth")
The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins is a 1971 British comedy film directed and produced by Graham Stark. Its title is a conflation of The Magnificent Seven and the seven deadly sins. It comprises a sequence of seven sketches, each representing a sin and written by an array of British comedy-writing talent. The sketches are linked by animation sequences. The music score is by British jazz musician Roy Budd, cinematography by Harvey Harrison and editing by Rod Nelson-Keys and Roy Piper. It was produ...
Suspect
Character: Arthur, lab orderly
A government team researching cures for plague find their results put on the Official Secrets list. One of their number is so incensed by this that he lets the maimed and jealous companion of a female colleague draw him into what, technically, could be a treasonable act....
The Last Goon Show of All
Character:
Sellers, Secombe and Milligan reunite for one last show....
The Big Freeze
Character: Der Schauspieler
A silent comedy. Two accident-prone plumbers go to fix the plumbing at a home for retired gentle-folk on the coldest day of the year in Finland. Everything that can go wrong for these plumbers goes wrong....
Spike Milligan: The Unseen Archive
Character:
Delve into a treasure trove of recently unearthed archives to tell a brand new story of Spike Milligan as film, scripts, letters, objects, photographs, recordings, and art all come together to paint a portrait of a comic genius....
Ghost in the Noonday Sun
Character: Bill Bombay
A pirate crewman kills his captain after learning where he has hidden his buried treasure. However, as he begins to lose his memory, he relies more and more on the ghost of the man he just murdered to help him find the loot....
Wilton's: The Handsomest Hall in Town
Character: E.W. Mackney
An evening at Wilton's Music-Hall, Grace's Alley, Wellclose Square, London, 1860 starring Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Keith Michell, Pat Kirkwood, Warren Mitchell, Ronnie Barker, Bill Fraser, Gina Astralita, Eric Robinson. Introduced by Billy Russell. Tonight, 90 years after it closed, this famous Music-Hall opens again to bring you a picture of the stars, the singers, the dancers, and the people who once went there....
Invasion Quartet
Character:
This British men-on-a-mission spoof set during World War II finds intrepid officer Bill Travers leading three colorful compatriots into Nazi-occupied France to destroy an obnoxiously large, loud, and destructive enemy gun. See if this fearless foursome can stomp their Fascist foes and get back to their game of cricket! Spike Milligan, Gregoire Aslan, and Thorley Walters co-star....
Mr. H Is Late
Character:
A team of inept undertakers attempt to get a coffin to a funeral on time. An undertaker is in charge of moving a coffin from a home to the church. The home is on the 26th floor of a skyscraper; the stairs are narrow; the lift is small and prone to stop working. Chaos ensues....
Eric Sykes: One of the Great Troupers
Character: Self (archive material)
With film clips and photos, Eric Sykes gives a tongue-in-cheek account of his follies and fortunes as an actor, gag writer, and comedian in a long and successful career in the theatre, on radio and television. He pays tribute to his friends in showbusiness and in particular to Hattie Jacques, Richard Wattis and the team of his long-running Sykes series....
Cucumber Castle
Character: The Court Jester
On his death bed, The King orders his kingdom divided into two halves, the Kingdom of Jelly and the Kingdom of Cucumbers. Before the king even dies, Prince Frederick declares himself "King of Cucumbers" and Prince Marmaduke becomes the “King of Jelly”....
Just Like That!
Character: Self
Just Like That! is a celebration of the comic genius of Tommy Cooper] - just like that! But nobody could do it just like that apart from the unique Mr Cooper himself, and despite his claim never to have used those words. Was Tommy really Henry Coper's brother? Can Tommy's performance as Hamlet, clown prince, compare with the greats? Was Tommy a ventriloquist at heart? Rare and classic routines and contributions from famous fans help solve the mystery. The friends and fans who take part (many of...
The Very Best of Spike Milligan
Character: Self/Various
Extensive extracts from the finest comedy moments of the late, great and sadly missed Spike Milligan, including hilarious highlights from the unforgettable show that bought him to the world; The Goon Show. Featuring rare archive interviews with the man himself and archive footage from throughout his career, we get the benefit of the insights of a leading team of comedians and critics, including Alexei Sayle, Tom Binns, Ian Stone and Neil Innes....
The Paranormal Peter Sellers
Character: Self (Archive footage)
This documentary revealed Peter Sellers obsession with the occult. Sellers was a highly superstitious man who consulted fortune tellers, clairvoyants and mediums to help him make key decisions in his life and work. Many of Sellers important decisions were influenced by Maurice Woodruff - a clairvoyant and astrologer based in London. Advice from the other side was taken on his marriage to Britt Ekland, accepting film roles such as Inspector Clouseau and dealing with his near fatal heart attack....
Fantastic Animation Festival
Character: Narrator: "Moonshadow"
A collection of fourteen award winning animated short films including "Moonshadow," "The Last Cartoon Man," "Closed Mondays," and "Cosmic Cartoon"....
Calling All Cars
Character: Freddie The Taxi (voice)
Comedy documentary centring on the Dover Harbour car terminal....
Spike Milligan: Love, Light and Peace
Character: Himself (archive footage)
A very personal portrait of the truly unique comedy genius of Spike Milligan, as told in his own words and featuring exclusive home movie footage. With contributions from those who worked with him, lived with him and were inspired by him....
What a Whopper
Character: Tramp
A writer attempts to raise some cash by writing a book about the Loch Ness Monster. No publisher will take it because they all think there isn't really a monster. The writer and some of his friends make a fake monster and take photographs and then travel to Scotland to see if they can convince the locals....
Kenny Everett's Christmas Carol
Character: the Ghost of Marley
Kenny gives us his rendition of Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol, "with apologies to C. Dickens, Esquire"...
The Bed Sitting Room
Character: Mate
In the hazy aftermath of World War III, the fallout from a 'nuclear misunderstanding' is producing strange mutations amongst the survivors, and the noble Lord Fortnum finds himself transforming into a bed sitting room....
Alice Through the Looking Box
Character: The White Rabbit
A Christmas TV special in which Alice does not go through a looking glass, but through a TV set....
The Cherry Picker
Character:
American V.I.P James Burn II finds his son James Burn III (Bob Sherman) leading a giant "sleep-in" that has taken over Windsor Castle. He hires Nancy (Lulu) to get him out of the castle and into work. With the help of her crazy eccentric father, (Wilfred Hyde-White) who believes in working day and night and producing nothing and uses a fantastic astro-telescope for casual bird watching, she does just that !...
I Told You I Was Ill: The Life and Legacy of Spike Milligan
Character: Self - (Archival)
A mixture of remembrances from friends and family, home movies, clips from Spikes work, and several interviews with Spike this tries to set the record straight and portray Spike as a person and not the "Godfather of Comedy"....
Comic Roots: Michael Palin
Character:
Short biographical documentary about comedian Michael Palin and his early interest in acting and comedy. Includes his education at the Shrewsbury School and Oxford....
Man About the House
Character: Himself
An unscrupulous property developer wants to flatten the street to make way for new buildings. Householder George Roper is happy to take the offered money and run but his wife Mildred and their lodgers join with other residents to take a stand and keep things as they are....
Right to Work March
Character:
They're young, unemployed and on the march - from Glasgow, Liverpool and Swansea to London....
History of the World: Part I
Character: Monsieur Rimbaud - The French Revolution
An uproarious version of history that proves nothing is sacred – not even the Roman Empire, the French Revolution and the Spanish Inquisition....
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...
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie
Character: Landlord
Barry McKenzie sets off for England with his aunt, Edna Everage, to advance his cultural education. Bazza is an innocent abroad, fond of beer, Bondi and beautiful sheilas, but he soon settles into the Australian ghetto in Earls Court, where his old mate Curly has a flat....
Group Madness
Character: Self
A behind-the-scenes documentary of the making of 1983's Yellowbeard...
The Unknown Peter Sellers
Character: Himself
Documentary about the life and career of a comic genius, Peter Sellers....
Life of Brian
Character: Spike
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....
The Ghost of Peter Sellers
Character: Himself (Archive)
A documentary about Peter Medak's unreleased film 'Ghost in the Noonday Sun', starring Peter Sellers and filmed in Cyprus in 1973....
Spike Milligan: Return of a Legend
Character:
Filmed in Australia 1984, this rare previously unreleased live performance shows comic genius Spike Milligan at his best. Bizarre, surreal, inspired....
The Last Remake of Beau Geste
Character: Crumble
Digby Geste joins his brother, Beau, in the Foreign Legion following the theft of a priceless family heirloom....
Portrait of a Goon
Character: Himself
Portrait of Spike Milligan, then part of The Goon Show examining his views on comedy,...
Barney
Character: Hawker
A twelve year old boy and a common criminal are being transported in the same ship from England to Australia in the last century. When the ship wrecked they happen to be the only survivors of the catastrophe. Now they have to get along with each other and finally become friends....
A Kid for Two Farthings
Character: Indian with Grey Beard (uncredited)
Joe is a young boy who lives with his mother, Joanna, in working-class London. The two reside above the tailor shop of Mr. Kandinsky, who likes to tell Joe stories. When Kandinsky informs Joe that a unicorn can grant wishes, the hopeful lad ends up buying a baby goat with one tiny horn, believing it to be a real unicorn. Undaunted by his rough surroundings, Joe sets about to prove that wishes can come true....
Dot and the Kangaroo
Character: Mr. Platypus (voice)
An Australian girl gets lost in the Outback, but she's befriended by a kangaroo who gives her a ride in her pouch as they search for the girl's home. Aiding the pair are musically gifted koalas, platypuses, and kookaburras in this film based on Ethel Pedley's 1899 children's book, with animated humans and animals superimposed upon a live-action background....
Spike Milligan on Treasure Island WC2
Character: Self
Treasure Island WC2 is Tin Pan Alley where pop songs are launched on their brief but glorious careers....