Eric Idle

British member of the demented "Monty Python" group. During college, he wrote and acted in many comedy shows and skits, moving into TV and film as an actor, screenwriter and songwriter. He wrote for several TV series, and, later, was the only one of the five Pythons who wrote alone. As he went to Cambridge later than Cleese and Chapman, he met and joined the troupe later than the other members.

An only child whose RAF pilot dad was killed in a car crash when he was two years old, Idle was sent to boarding school at seven. It was a semi-orphanage where he had a miserable 12 years. At 19, he won admission to Cambridge, a change from a grim and unhappy world to a storybook existence. He considered the Monty Python crew his family and the five Pythons reached critical mass together as writers on David Frost's satirical weekly comedy show.

In 1973, after four-seasons, four-books, four-films and 11 albums with the Flying Circus, he began as writer and host of "Rutland Weekend Television," a BBC series. The theme carried over to a 1978 American special, "The Rutles: All You Need is Cash." Traveling back and forth from England to America and getting used to the perks and problems of fame, he indulged in the fad of the day, drug dabbling and promiscuity. His marriage to Lyn Ashley, from 1969, was breaking up in 1975; they had one son, Carey. Idle had to take some time off to regroup and get his priorities straight.

In 1977 he met American model Tania Kosevich at a party and they made an instant connection. They lived together until 1981when they married.

In 1989 he played in Terry Gilliam's epic, lunatic $40 million fantasy, "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen." He was also kept busy in a prime time TV series, "Nearly Departed."