stephen fry

Stephen John Fry (born 24 August, 1957) is a 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, England and New York City. He is an erstwhile comedy collaborator of Hugh Laurie. Rather tellingly, he was described as being "a man with a brain the size of Kent" in an interview with Michael Parkinson. 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.

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).
He made his debut as a film director with Bright Young Things, an adaptation of the novel Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, in 2003.

Latin! (or Tobacco and Boys.) (1979, included in Paperweight). Winner of the Fringe First at the 1980 Edinburgh Festival.

Blackadder (Mostly Blackadder II and Blackadder Goes Forth, with a cameo in Blackadder The Third)
Whose Line Is It Anyway (the original UK version)
A Bit of Fry and Laurie (1986 pilot, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995)
Jeeves and Wooster (1990-93)
Common Pursuit (1992)
Gormenghast (2000)
QI (2003-onwards)
Absolute Power (2003)
Tom Brown's Schooldays (2005)

Saturday Night Fry (1998, BBC Radio Four, six episodes)
A Bit of Fry and Laurie (1994, BBC Radio Four, two half-hour programmes compiled from selected previously-seen sketches from the TV series)
Absolute Power, BBC Radio Four
Regular guest panelist on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, BBC Radio Four
Regular guest panelist on Just a Minute, BBC Radio Four
Has a regular slot, The Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music on Classic FM

Stephen Fry also narrates the UK audio versions of the Harry Potter books (this is Jim Dale's job in the US).

The Stars' Tennis Balls' major characters all have names that are anagrams or other simple mutations of their counterparts in The Count of Monte Cristo:

/dd>
Monte Cristo	Stars' Tennis Balls	Notes
Edmond Dantes	Ned Maddstone	anagram
Mercedes	Portia	pun: Mercedes-Benz → Porsche
de Villefort	Oliver Delft	anagram
the Abbe (Faria)	the Babe (Fraser)	partial anagram
Fernand Mondego	Gordon Fendeman	anagram
Noirtier	Blackrow	translated literally
Capt. Leclere	Paddy Leclare	homonym
Caderousse	Rufus Cade	translation: rousse = red = Rufus
Baron Danglars	Barson-Garland	anagram
Monte Cristo	Simon Cotter	anagram

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"; and in another Comic Relief special two years later as part of the South team who beat the North.

He used to be a regular panellist on Have I Got News For You, but now refuses to appear on the show as a protest against the sacking of Angus Deayton.

In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.