STEPHEN FRY
Name: Stephen John Fry
Born: 24 August 1957 London, England
Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English comedian, writer, actor,
humourist, novelist, columnist, filmmaker, television personality and
technophile. As one half of the Fry and Laurie double act with his comedy
partner, Hugh Laurie, he has appeared in A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and
Wooster; famous also for his roles in Blackadder and Wilde, and as the host of
QI. In addition to writing for stage, screen, television and radio he has
contributed columns and articles for numerous newspapers and magazines, also
having written four successful novels and an autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot.
Fry was born in Hampstead, London, the son of Alan Fry, an English physicist,
and Marianne Newman, who is of Austrian-Jewish parentage. His mother's aunt and
cousins were killed in Auschwitz concentration camp. Fry grew up in the
village of Booton near Reepham, Norfolk, having moved from Chesham,
Buckinghamshire when very young.
Fry briefly attended Cawston Primary School, Cawston, Norfolk, described later
in his 1997 book Moab Is My Washpot before going on to Stouts Hill
Preparatory School, and then to Uppingham School, Rutland, where he joined
Fircroft house. He was expelled from Uppingham when he was fifteen, and
subsequently from the Paston School. At seventeen, following his failure at
Norfolk College of Arts and Technology, Fry absconded with a credit card stolen
from a family friend, and as a result spent three months in Pucklechurch Prison
for fraud. Following his release he resumed education at Norwich City College,
promising administrators that he would study rigorously to sit the Cambridge
entrance exams. He passed well enough to gain a scholarship to Queens' College,
Cambridge. At Cambridge, Fry gained a degree in English literature, joined the
Cambridge Footlights, and appeared on University Challenge. As a member of
the Footlights he also met his future comedy collaborator, Hugh Laurie.
Fry struggled to keep his homosexuality secret during his teenage years at
public school, and was celibate for 16 years. When asked about when he knew he
was homosexual he quotes an old friend and says, "I suppose it all began when I
came out of the womb. I looked back up at my mother and thought to myself, 'That's
the last time I'm coming out of one of those'". Fry currently lives in London
with his partner, Daniel Cohen, whom he met in 1995. He famously drives a former
1988 London black cab. He also has a second home in West Bilney, near King's
Lynn, Norfolk.
Fry has been diagnosed with cyclothymia. He suffered a nervous breakdown in
1995 while appearing in a West End play called Cell Mates and subsequently
walked out of the production, prompting its early closure and incurring the
displeasure of co-star Rik Mayall and playwright Simon Gray. Mayall's comedy
partner Adrian Edmondson made light of the subject in his and Mayall's second
Bottom live show. Fry went missing for several days while contemplating suicide.
He abandoned the idea and left the United Kingdom by ferry, eventually
resurfacing in Belgium.
Fry has spoken publicly about his experience with bipolar disorder and has
presented his documentary about it, Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic-Depressive.
In the programme he interviewed sufferers of the illness including celebrities
Carrie Fisher, Richard Dreyfuss, and Tony Slattery. Also featured were chef Rick
Stein, whose father committed suicide, Robbie Williams, who talks of his
experience with unipolar depression, and comedienne/former psychiatric nurse Jo
Brand. The two-part series was broadcast on BBC Two in September 2006, repeated
in March 2007 as part of the BBC's programming in aid of Comic Relief, and
repeated in August 2007 as a celebration of Fry's 50th birthday.
Fry was an active supporter of the British Labour Party for many years, and
appeared in a party political broadcast on its behalf with Hugh Laurie and
Michelle Collins in November 1993. Despite this, he did not vote in the 2005
General Election because of the stance of both the Labour and Conservative
parties with regard to the Iraq War. Despite his praising of the current
government for social reform, Fry has been critical of the Labour Party's "Third
Way" concept. He is on cordial terms with Prince Charles (despite satirising him
heavily as King Charles I in the comedy programme Blackadder: The Cavalier Years),
through his work with the Prince's Trust. He attended the wedding of the Prince
of Wales to Camilla Parker-Bowles in 2005.
Fry is a friend of British comedian and actor Rowan Atkinson and was best man at
Atkinson's wedding to Sunetra Sastry at the Russian Tea Room in New York City.
He was also a friend of British actor John Mills. He was best man at the
wedding of Hugh Laurie and is godfather to all three of Laurie's children.
A great fan of cricket (he is related to legendary England cricketer and
polymath C.B. Fry), he was recently interviewed for the Ashes Fever DVD,
reporting on England's victory against Australia in the 2005 Ashes series. In
football he is a supporter of Norwich City (as mentioned in Ashes Fever).
He has been described as "deeply dippy for all things digital", claims to have
owned the second Macintosh sold in the UK and to have never encountered a
smartphone that he has not bought.
Name: Stephen John Fry
Born: 24 August 1957 London, England
Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English comedian, writer, actor,
humourist, novelist, columnist, filmmaker, television personality and
technophile. As one half of the Fry and Laurie double act with his comedy
partner, Hugh Laurie, he has appeared in A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and
Wooster; famous also for his roles in Blackadder and Wilde, and as the host of
QI. In addition to writing for stage, screen, television and radio he has
contributed columns and articles for numerous newspapers and magazines, also
having written four successful novels and an autobiography, Moab Is My Washpot.
Fry was born in Hampstead, London, the son of Alan Fry, an English physicist,
and Marianne Newman, who is of Austrian-Jewish parentage. His mother's aunt and
cousins were killed in Auschwitz concentration camp. Fry grew up in the
village of Booton near Reepham, Norfolk, having moved from Chesham,
Buckinghamshire when very young.
Fry briefly attended Cawston Primary School, Cawston, Norfolk, described later
in his 1997 book Moab Is My Washpot before going on to Stouts Hill
Preparatory School, and then to Uppingham School, Rutland, where he joined
Fircroft house. He was expelled from Uppingham when he was fifteen, and
subsequently from the Paston School. At seventeen, following his failure at
Norfolk College of Arts and Technology, Fry absconded with a credit card stolen
from a family friend, and as a result spent three months in Pucklechurch Prison
for fraud. Following his release he resumed education at Norwich City College,
promising administrators that he would study rigorously to sit the Cambridge
entrance exams. He passed well enough to gain a scholarship to Queens' College,
Cambridge. At Cambridge, Fry gained a degree in English literature, joined the
Cambridge Footlights, and appeared on University Challenge. As a member of
the Footlights he also met his future comedy collaborator, Hugh Laurie.
Fry struggled to keep his homosexuality secret during his teenage years at
public school, and was celibate for 16 years. When asked about when he knew he
was homosexual he quotes an old friend and says, "I suppose it all began when I
came out of the womb. I looked back up at my mother and thought to myself, 'That's
the last time I'm coming out of one of those'". Fry currently lives in London
with his partner, Daniel Cohen, whom he met in 1995. He famously drives a former
1988 London black cab. He also has a second home in West Bilney, near King's
Lynn, Norfolk.
Fry has been diagnosed with cyclothymia. He suffered a nervous breakdown in
1995 while appearing in a West End play called Cell Mates and subsequently
walked out of the production, prompting its early closure and incurring the
displeasure of co-star Rik Mayall and playwright Simon Gray. Mayall's comedy
partner Adrian Edmondson made light of the subject in his and Mayall's second
Bottom live show. Fry went missing for several days while contemplating suicide.
He abandoned the idea and left the United Kingdom by ferry, eventually
resurfacing in Belgium.
Fry has spoken publicly about his experience with bipolar disorder and has
presented his documentary about it, Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic-Depressive.
In the programme he interviewed sufferers of the illness including celebrities
Carrie Fisher, Richard Dreyfuss, and Tony Slattery. Also featured were chef Rick
Stein, whose father committed suicide, Robbie Williams, who talks of his
experience with unipolar depression, and comedienne/former psychiatric nurse Jo
Brand. The two-part series was broadcast on BBC Two in September 2006, repeated
in March 2007 as part of the BBC's programming in aid of Comic Relief, and
repeated in August 2007 as a celebration of Fry's 50th birthday.
Fry was an active supporter of the British Labour Party for many years, and
appeared in a party political broadcast on its behalf with Hugh Laurie and
Michelle Collins in November 1993. Despite this, he did not vote in the 2005
General Election because of the stance of both the Labour and Conservative
parties with regard to the Iraq War. Despite his praising of the current
government for social reform, Fry has been critical of the Labour Party's "Third
Way" concept. He is on cordial terms with Prince Charles (despite satirising him
heavily as King Charles I in the comedy programme Blackadder: The Cavalier Years),
through his work with the Prince's Trust. He attended the wedding of the Prince
of Wales to Camilla Parker-Bowles in 2005.
Fry is a friend of British comedian and actor Rowan Atkinson and was best man at
Atkinson's wedding to Sunetra Sastry at the Russian Tea Room in New York City.
He was also a friend of British actor John Mills. He was best man at the
wedding of Hugh Laurie and is godfather to all three of Laurie's children.
A great fan of cricket (he is related to legendary England cricketer and
polymath C.B. Fry), he was recently interviewed for the Ashes Fever DVD,
reporting on England's victory against Australia in the 2005 Ashes series. In
football he is a supporter of Norwich City (as mentioned in Ashes Fever).
He has been described as "deeply dippy for all things digital", claims to have
owned the second Macintosh sold in the UK and to have never encountered a
smartphone that he has not bought.