Jonathan Miller, R.I.P

[rowrrbazzle]

Sir Jonathan Miller, writer and director, dies aged 85

Sir Jonathan Miller, the writer, theatre and opera director, and member of the Beyond the Fringe comedy team, has died at the age of 85.

In a statement his family said Miller died “peacefully at home following a long battle with Alzheimer’s”.

Although he hated the term “polymath” his contribution to British culture was wide and praised in many fields. Miller rose to prominence in the 1960s as part of the irreverent satirical show Beyond the Fringe, alongside Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Alan Bennett.

For starters, I’m going to watch my DVD of Beyond The Fringe over the weekend. It’s out of print, but the whole thing is on YouTube anyway.

[Banksiaman]

Somewhat overshadowed (at least in these parts) by the death of Clive James on the same day.

Between them they were [from Wikipedia] - ‘English theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humourist and medical doctor’ and ‘Australian critic, broadcaster and writer’ of poetry, novels and non-fiction, and the sort of guy who learned Russian just so he could read Tolstoy, then Italian so he could read and publish a translation of Dante. Despite that, Clive’s enduring legacy was to be the person who invented the description of Pumping Iron-period Arnold Schwarzenegger as ‘looking like a brown condom filled with walnuts’.

Truly not a good day for octagenarian multi-talented wits.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

Miller hated being called a Renaissance Man, but heck, he was. An amazing talent in a variety of fields.