# Jonathan Miller, R.I.P

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-miller-r-i-p/844192>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** celebrity-death\
**Created:** [November 30, 2019, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-miller-r-i-p/844192 "2019-11-30T06:50:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2019, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-miller-r-i-p/844192/1 "2019-11-30T06:50:04Z")

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> **[Sir Jonathan Miller, writer and director, dies aged 85](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/nov/27/jonathan-miller-writer-and-director-dies-aged-85)**
>
> Theatre director also had career in medicine and was member of Beyond the Fringe

> [@](#):
>
> 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.

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**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2019, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-miller-r-i-p/844192/2 "2019-11-30T10:06:35Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2019, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-miller-r-i-p/844192/3 "2019-11-30T16:10:28Z")

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