In alphabetical order:
- Graham Chapman
- John Cleese
- Terry Gilliam
- Eric Idle
- Terry Jones
- Michael Palin
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voters
IMO, it’s either Cleese or Idle but I’ll give a slight edge to Idle. He seems to have a little more range than Cleese.
I seem to recall the Pythons all thought Graham Chapman was perhaps the best actor of the group. Hence his playing King Arthur and Brian.
…no, no; Brian.
I can’t make myself pick one.
I’m tempted to ask questions about what criteria to use, but I don’t think that would help me.
They certainly had the right training:
I gave the nod to Chapman. He seemed the most at ease playing someone who wasn’t a cartoon character.
I feel like roles like Archibald Leech in Fish Call Wanda and of course Basil Fawlty give Cleese the edge.
Graham would be my 2nd choice.
A lot of votes for Palin, can I ask why of those that chose him?
I voted for Chapman. I suspect we didn’t get a chance to see just how good he really was, as a result of his tragic early death. Most of the reputation of the Pythons as actors (e.g. Palin in Death of Stalin or Cleese in Branagh’s Frankenstein) came years after the troupe’s heyday. Had Chapman been able to explore a similar career, I’m confident he’d have built an impressive roster of work.
He’s the most low key and approachable, in both real life and in his characters. At least, that’s my perception of him. But I’m now thinking Graham Chapman may actually have been the better actor. It’s a close match. The others are usually more exaggerated in their performances, which is fine in context, but harder to judge their acting ability. The only time I saw John Cleese do anything purely dramatic was in Silverado, and I was just waiting for him to say something funny.
Thanks, that makes sense to me.
How could I not vote for Cleese when he starred in Fawlty Towers, which I’ve long regarded as the best sitcom of all time! And I think he had some of the most impressive roles in the Monty Python series as well.
The one who played Bruce.
As I mentioned above, he plays a kind of mentor figure in the Frankenstein adaptation Kenneth Branagh made in the mid 90s. If you can’t get over his comic persona, you might find his presence a little distracting, but if you look at his performance simply as a performance, he’s genuinely excellent, one of the best elements of an otherwise mediocre and wildly overcooked movie.
There don’t seem to be any good clips on YouTube highlighting Cleese’s role, but here’s something that gives you a taste (apologies for the crappy quality).
Also, regarding Palin, he demonstrated himself quite capable as an actor outside of Python comedy a lot earlier than his troupemates. Terry Gilliam cast him in Brazil the year after the Pythons’ last proper movie came out, cannily exploiting his affable presence to create unsettling dissonance considering the things he’s saying and doing. And toward the end of the movie, when the shell of the character starts to crack, Palin absolutely delivers.
There doesn’t seem to be a good video clip of this either, but I cannot recommend the movie highly enough. Depending on the day, Brazil might be my all-time favorite film, and Palin is completely credible in it.
I stand by my vote for Chapman, though, for the reasons previously stated.
Palin seems like the most likable of the bunch. He also gets points for playing Dennis in the Holy Grail. The acting wasn’t necessarily Oscar-worthy but it’s one of the most memorable characters of them all. That should count for something.
I seem to be alone in my fondness for Idle.