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Famous
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Peter
Cook
Peter Edward Cook (November 17, 1937 - January 9,
1995) was a British satirist, writer and comedian who is widely regarded
as the father of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He is closely
associated with an anti-establishment style of comedy that emerged
in the late 1950s in the depths of the Cold War.
Cook was himself 'establishment' educated, at Radley and Pembroke
College, Cambridge, and it was at the latter that he first performed
and wrote comedy sketches.
On graduation, he wrote professionally for, amongst others, Kenneth
Williams, before finding fame in his own right as a star of the satirical
stage show, Beyond the Fringe, with Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett
and Dudley Moore. |
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Working with others
such as Eleanor Bron, John Bird, and John Fortune, he broadened the
scope of television comedy and pushed out the hitherto restricted
boundaries of the BBC.
Peter Cook's first regular television spot was on Granada_Television's
Braden Beat with Bernard Braden, where he featured perhaps his most
enduring comic character, the static, dour, and monotone E. L. Wisty.
His comedy partnership with Dudley Moore, led to the popular and critically
feted television show Not Only... But Also. Using few props, and with
musical interludes performed by Moore, they created a new style of
dry absurdist televison which found a place in the mainstream. Here
Cook showcased characters like Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling and Pete
and Dud. Other memorable sketches include '"Superthunderstingcar",
a send-up of the popular Gerry Anderson marionette TV shows and Cook's
parody of silent star Greta Garbo.
Although now recognised as one of the classics of TV comedy, the BBC
erased most of the videotapes of the first two series. Only fragments
of these programs remain, although much of the soundtracks (which
were released on record) have survived. Only the final series, most
of which was shot on colour film, has survived largely intact.
With his star firmly in the ascendant he opened The Establishment
Club in Soho which allowed him to associate with the big stars of
the day. He became a friend and supporter of Australian comedian and
actor Barry Humphries, who began his British career at the Establishment
Club, and Dudley Moore's acclaimed jazz trio (which included Australian-born
drummer Chris Karan) played there regularly for many years in the
Sixties.
Both Peter Cook and Dudley Moore acted in films, and Cook worked with
Moore in such films as The Wrong Box (1966). Their best work on film
was probably the cult comedy Bedazzled (1967), now widely regarded
as a classic. Directed by Stanley Donen, it was co-written by Cook
and Moore and starred Cook as George Spigot (The Devil) who tempts
frustrated short-order cook Stanley Moon (Moore) with the promise
of gaining his heart's desire -- the love of the unattainable Margaret
Spencer (Eleanor Bron) -- in exchange for his soul, but repeatedly
tricks him in a variety of ways. The film features cameo appearances
by Barry Humphries ('Envy') and Raquel Welch ('Lust'). Moore's trio
backed Cook on the theme, a parodic anti-love song, which Cook delivers
in a monotonous, deadpan voice, and which includes his classic putdown
"You fill me with inertia". Moore went on to Hollywood stardom
in the 1970s and 1980s, which was a cause of some bitterness to Cook.
In 1970 Cook took over a project initiated by David Frost for a satirical
film about an opinion pollster who rises to become President of Great
Britain. Under Cook's guidance the character became modelled on Frost
himself; the resulting film, The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer was
not a great commercial success but is notable for the cast containing
many notable names of the period.
Peter Cook also provided financial backing for the satirical magazine,
Private Eye, supporting the publication through a number of difficult
periods, particularly when the magazine was punished financially in
the wake of a number of high-profile libel trials. Cook both invested
his own money and solicited for investment from his show business
friends and colleagues.
Later, the more risque humour of the Pete and Dud characters was taken
to excess on long-playing records whereon the names "Derek and
Clive" were used. One of these audio recordings was also filmed
and the long running tensions between the duo are seen to rise to
the surface.
One of Cook's best (but least known) comedy projects in the Seventies
was his tour-de-force performance (playing multiple roles) on the
cult 1976 Godley & Creme concept album Consequences.
A mixture of spoken-word comedy and progressive rock music with an
environmental subtext, Consequences began with a single that Godley
and Creme made to demonstrate their new invention (an electric guitar
effect called The Gizmo) but it gradually grew into a triple LP boxed
set. The comdey sections of the album were originally intended to
be performed by an all-star cast including Spike Milligan and Peter
Ustinov, but after meeting Peter Cook, Godley and Creme realised that
he could perform most of the parts himself.
The storyline centres on the impending divorce of the tremulous Walter
Stapleton (Cook) and his French wife Lulu (Judy Huxtable), whose meeting
with their respective lawyers, the bibulous Mr Haig and overbearing
Mr Pepperman (both played by Cook), is interrupted by a series of
bizarre and mysterious happenings that are somehow connected to Mr
Blint (also played by Cook), a musician living in the apartment below
Haig's office, and which is connected to it by a large hole in the
floor.
The hugely ambitious triple album was a total commercial failure and
was savaged by the critics, but it gathered (and retains) a small
but dedicated cult following. Interestingly, the script and storyline
include many elements that appear to be drawn from Cook's own life,
including Beyond The Fringe (Walter sounds like Cook's former colleague
Alan Bennett), Cook's alcoholism (Mr Haig's constant drinking) and
the clear parallel between the fictional divorce of Walter and Lulu
and Cook's messy real-life divorce from his first wife Wendy.
In 1978 Cook was invited to perform at the Secret Policeman's Ball
a charity event for Amnesty International. On the second night Cook
largely improvised a parody of the biased summing up by the Judge
in the case of Jeremy Thorpe which continues to be hailed as a comedy
classic by critics.
Cook was an avid media follower, reading nearly all the British newspapers
every day and following TV and radio programmes with vigour. He even
gained a regular slot on a night-time London radio programme, where
he would phone in using a pseudonym (Sven from Swiss Cottage) and
entertain listeners with his complaints and musings.
Cook is an acknowledged influence on a long stream of comedians who
have followed him from the amateur dramatic clubs of British universities
to the Edinburgh festival and from thence to the radio and television
studios of the BBC. Notable fans include the members of Monty Python's
Flying Circus, and, more recently, the controversial satirist Chris
Morris with whom Cook worked briefly in his final years.
Together with Spike Milligan, Cook broke so much new ground in the
1950 to 1965 period, that some feel that later comics had relatively
little ground left to break. Some have seen Cook's life as tragic,
insofar as the brilliance he exhibited in his youth did not lead to
the recognition many thought he deserved.
His death in 1995 was as a result of internal haemhorraging caused
by alcoholism.
UK chart singles:-
"The Ballad Of Spotty Muldoon"
(1965)
"Goobye-ee" (1965) with Dudley Moore
Filmography
The Wrong Box (1966)
Alice in Wonderland (1966)
Bedazzled (1967)
Monte Carlo Or Bust, also called Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty
Jalopies (1969)
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970)
Find the Lady (1976)
The Secret Policeman's Private Parts (1981)
Yellowbeard (1983)
The Princess Bride (1987): The Impwessive Clergyman
Whoops Apocalypse (1988)
Getting It Right (1989)
The Best of Amnesty: Featuring the Stars of Monty Python (1999) |
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