Biography for
Michael Palin More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

5 May 1943, Ranmoor, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, UK

Birth Name

Michael Edward Palin

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Spouse

Helen Gibbins

(1966 - present) 3 children

Trivia

He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2000 Queen's Millennium Honors List for his services to television drama and travel documentaries.

He is a graduate of Oxford with a degree in History.

Member of the comedy group "Monty Python"

Children: Thomas (b. 1969), William (b. 1971) and Rachel (b. 1975)

Left the Reform Club in London on September 25 1988 for a journey "Around the World in 80 Days" (1989/II), accompanied by a BBC TV team.

Attended Brasenose College, Oxford University.

Is a supporter of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.

Whilst filming "Full Circle with Michael Palin" (1997), Palin helped to hatch a baby crocodile and asked the crew to get a shot of himself with a crocodile in his hand.

He is an old boy of the ultra-exclusive and expensive English Public school, Shrewsbury School. The section of "Monty Python's meaning of life" set in the school of "Sudbury" is a reference to his time there.

The Virgin Super Voyager train number 221 130 named after him.

He was voted by the public as the best looking Monty Python out of the entire group.

His father had a rather serious stutter. This came in handy when he played Ken (the stuttering thief) in A Fish Called Wanda (1988).

In a quest for a "Peter Jonesy sort of voice", the casting crew for the original radio series, "The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy" approached Palin to play the part of The Book (he turned the part down). The part was eventually given to the very "Peter Jonesy" Peter Jones.

The Pythons had little idea how fanatical their American audience had become when they performed the live shows that were immortalized in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982). According to Carol Cleveland, as the group were exiting backstage one night, a young (20-ish) girl ran up to Palin, screamed "Oh, Michael!", and promptly fainted in his arms. Palin had to pass the girl to others to help, as he was literally speechless in shock.

His wide travels are so well known that he now has his own travel website called "Palin's Travels.".

In addition to attending the exclusive Shrewsbury School, and later, the University of Oxford; as a lad, he also attended Brikdale School in Sheffield.

Was born the son of an engineer in the industrial city of Sheffield.

Member of Monty Python along with John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam.

Personal Quotes

[From an interview about the late Graham Chapman]: "He always regarded death as highly overrated and could never understand why anybody made such a fuss about it."

I was an enormous fan of The Beatles. When Terry Jones and I were writing together during the 60s, whenever a new Beatles album came out we were at the shop first thing to get our copy. We put off a day's writing to get to grips with the White Album. It influenced us very much, not just the music but what The Beatles stood for, a quality they had in their music and their writing that was so different to the pop we'd grown up with in the 50s and early 60s. We loved the lyrics and the poetry, as well as the humour in it. The Beatles represented something sort of young and fresh that we hoped we were also a part of.

We've had disagreements over the years about lifestyle and business and money, and all the things peripheral to what we do best of all, which is produce comedy. The one thing that hasn't changed is our enjoyment of each other's sense of humour. I've always been wary of a Python reunion because we don't have Graham Chapman, who was such an important part of Python. He had his problems - he was a self-confessed alcoholic - but, God, he was a good actor and an odd, eccentric writer, too. We'd miss him if we got back together.

The freedom to do what I wanted to do was much more important to me than the shackles of stardom. The more money you earn, the higher your status, the more people are around you. I don't know how people like Johnny Depp operate. He's got about 40 or 50 people who look after his life. My people are my wife and my kids and my grandsons.

I'm not that ambitious. I didn't have a goal. I wanted to write well, act well and bring up my family well and sometimes you couldn't do one and the other at the same time.

People tend to think that those in showbiz are awful, apart from a couple of us like Gary Lineker and myself, who are nice. I think Gary is married to a younger woman now so he's lost a few points and doesn't have to be nice anymore. Lucky him!

I thought the A Fish Called Wanda (1988) script was awful when John (John Cleese) first showed it to me ... and it's the most successful film I've ever done.

Where Are They Now

(June 2008) London NW5, England

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