He became a script-writer in the early 1960's on "That Was The Week That Was" and by the end of the decade, he had met a group of writers, with whom he wrote sketches for "The Frost Report" - Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Soon afterwards, they formed the Monty Python comedy group with Gilliam, who by now was working in England as a cartoonist. After they had devised the series, they decided that no other actors would want to appear in it, as their humour was too strange, and therefore starred in the series themselves. As the show progressed, the group toured America with a stage show, on the strength of which the Python's TV show became a cult hit in the US.

Their first feature film, "Monty Python and The Holy Grail" was released in 1975 and became an instant hit in the UK and US. Their television series - "Monty Python's Flying Circus" - ended the same year, but Cleese had already left to pursue a new project: "Fawlty Towers".

In 1981, John Cleese appeared in the successful Muppet Movie Caper, which started a gradual move into movies. In 1987, he appeared in a single episode of the US sitcom "Cheers" and won an Emmy award. The following year he wrote and appeared in the hit comedy "A Fish Called Wanda" with Palin and Jamie Lee Curtis; the film screenplay won him an Oscar® nomination. He also set up a company in the 1980's which makes comedy-based commercial training films.

In addition to appearing in several films during the 1980's, Cleese busied himself with television work and made numerous commercials. His voice-over work has been much sought after in cartoon films, providing the voices for "Fievel Goes West", "George of The Jungle" and "The Princess Bride". By the 1990's he was providing narration for some of British television,s most highly regarded documentaries, but he was also about to hit the big time in films. In 1994, he appeared in the latest big-budget adaptation of "Frankenstein" and by 1999, his comic skills were required for an unlikely project for Cleese - the latest Bond adventure, "The World Is not Enough". He was to play the role of "R", "Q"s assistant - although he would not know it at the time, this would be the last film for Desmond Llewelyn, and "R" is likely to take over his role.

After his success with Bond, albeit in a relatively small role, Cleese gained the prized role of "Nearly Headless Nick" in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" - the film has been an enormous world-wide success and Cleese is already signed up to reprise the role in the next instalment in the series, due in 2002. He has also signed up for a second Bond film, again due in 2002 and as yet untitled. It remains to be seen whether his longevity in the role of "R" matches that of his predecessor.

As an footnote to Cleese's impressive and varied list of credits, he was also appointed Rector of St Andrew's University between 1973 to 1976. He is also an Andrew D. White Professor-at-large at Cornell University. His Who's Who entry lists his recreations as "Gluttony, Sloth" - typical of the man's on-screen humour. In reality, however, Cleese is a private man who has regularly suffered bouts of depression - with psychiatrist Robin Skynner he has also co-written the non-humorous "Families and how To Survive Them"