Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin (born May 5, 1943 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England) is an English comedian, actor and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python, as well as for his travel documentaries.
In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
Early career
Michael Palin was educated at Birkdale School, Sheffield, and Shrewsbury School. He went on to read History at Brasenose College at The University of Oxford.
While performing onstage at the ETC in Oxford, Palin met Terry Jones, and together, they wrote sketches for various BBC comedy shows. He married his wife, Helen Gibbins, in 1966, and they remain together to this day.
He worked with future Pythons on projects such as How to Irritate People with John Cleese, and Do Not Adjust Your Set with Eric Idle and Terry Jones and Twice a Fortnight with Terry Jones. It was during this time when John Cleese called up Michael Palin and wondered whether he was interested in doing a show with him, which would become Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Monty Python
In Monty Python, Palin generally played various roles, showing the range of his acting abilities. Roles go from manic enthusiasm, (such as the lumberjack of the Lumberjack Song), or unflappable calmness (such as the Dead Parrot vendor or Cheese Shop proprietor). As the latter, he was often the perfect foil to the rising ire of characters portrayed by John Cleese.
Palin frequently wrote with Terry Jones for the sketches, some of the most memorable the Lumberjack Song and Spam. But some sketches Palin wrote by himself, (or began the sketch by himself) such as the Spanish Inquisition, in which a fairly widespread catchphrase was created- "No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
Other Performances
After Python ended, Palin subsequently collaborated with Python writing partner Terry Jones on the television comedy series Ripping Yarns and the play Secrets. He also appeared in All You Need Is Cash as the lawyer and press agent for The Rutles.
He frequently appeared in Terry Gilliam's films, such as Time Bandits, Jabberwocky, and Brazil. His biggest international role in a movie besides Python might be, Ken Pile in A Fish Called Wanda. The movie was such a success that John Cleese reunited the main cast of A Fish Called Wanda to make Fierce Creatures. As Bugsy Malone, Michael once commented that Cleese had thought it amusing to give him a character that wouldn't shut up, when his character in A Fish Called Wanda hardly talked at all. Five days after, Michael went on another travel journey and returned a year later, only to find that the end of Fierce Creatures had been unsatisfactory and that the ending must be reshot.
Although this role in Fierce Creatures was his official last big role on screen, Palin had a small part in Wind in the Willows, or Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, a film directed and starring Pythonite Terry Jones. Palin also appeared with John Cleese in his documentary, The Human Face.
He has assisted Transport 2000 and others with campaigns on transport policy issues, particularly those relating to urban areas.
Palin has also appeared as a "straight" actor in serious drama. In 1991 Palin worked as producer and actor in the film American Friends based upon a real event in the life of his great grandfather, a fellow at St John's College, Oxford. In that same year he also played the part of a headmaster in the drama mini series G.B.H., broadcast on the Channel 4 network in the UK.
Documentaries
Palin's first travel documentary was part of the 1980 BBC Television series Great Railway Journeys of the World, in which humourously, reminiscing about his childhood hobby of train spotting, he travelled throughout the UK by train, from London to Kyle of Lochalsh, via Manchester, York, Edinburgh and Inverness. At the Kyle of Lochalsh, Palin bought the station's long metal platform sign and is seen lugging it back to London with him. A second journey for the same series of Michael's, in 1994, went through Ireland titled "Derry to Kerry". More recently, he has presented several series of travel programmes on television;
- Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days (1989), travelling as closely as possible the path described in the famous Jules Verne story of the same name without using aircraft.
- Pole to Pole (1992), travelling from the North Pole to the South Pole, following as closely as possible the 30 degree line of longitude, over as much land as possible, i.e., through Europe and Africa
- Irish Railway Journey: Derry to Kerry 1994 It is a quest for family roots, an attempt to trace his great grandmother – Brita Gallagher – who set sail from Ireland 150 years ago during the potato famine, bound for a new life in Burlington, New Jersey,USA. It is a trip along the Palin family line.
- Full Circle with Michael Palin (1997), in which he circumnavigated the lands around the Pacific Ocean counter-clockwise. A journey of 80,000 kilometres starting on Little Diomede Island in the Bering Straitand taking him through Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
- Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999), retracing the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway through the United States, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean
- Sahara (2002), in which he trekked through the world's largest desert.
- Himalaya (2004), in which he travels through the Himalaya region
Palin's travel programmes are responsible for a phenomenon termed the "Palin effect", in which areas of the world visited by Michael Palin suddenly become popular tourist attractions — for example, the significant increase in the number of British tourists interested in holidaying in the Sahara region in 2003.
In 2005, he presented Michael Palin and the Mystery of Hammershoi, about the Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi, whose work he collects.
All his travel books can be read at no charge, complete and unabridged, on his website.
Trivia
The Globe Theatre in London has a "Supporting Wall" which bears the names of individual donors to the Shakespeare's Globe Trust. John Cleese bought two "signatures" on the wall, one for himself and one for Michael, whose name he intentionally spelt incorrectly as "Michael Pallin".
Michael supports the football teams, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday.
Further reading
- From Fringe to Flying Circus - 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980' - Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980.
External links
- Michael Palin - BBC Guide to Comedy
- Palin's Travels - official website for the travel series
- Michael Palin at IMDb
- Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children