The Only Major Actors Still Alive From Monty Python And The Holy Grail

I think it's fair to say that Monty Python movies, much like the TV show from which they sprung, are all great. The absurdist brilliance of "Monty Python's Flying Circus," which ran on the BBC from 1969 to 1974, saw comedians John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam rewrite the rules of comedy. Alongside regular collaborators Carol Cleveland and Connie Booth, the Monty Python troupe established themselves as true comedic geniuses, leading to a run of feature films that remain just as beloved to this day as the "Flying Circus" itself.

Chief among those films is 1975's "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," a deconstruction of the British national identity by way of an irreverent retelling of Arthurian legend. The film was and is much more than its oft-quoted catchphrases would suggest, with the Python boys turning their subversive eye towards British history and sending up the very foundation of the country whose mid-century customs they'd so successfully skewered with their TV show.

So enduring is "The Holy Grail" that it remains just as beloved almost a half-century since it debuted. Yes, it's been nearly 50 years since the Python lads delivered this classic, which immediately raises the question, for anyone who hasn't checked in a while, whether any of them have been cast into the Gorge of Eternal Peril in the interim. Well, we've got a lovely list below of "Holy Grail" actors who haven't yet kicked the bucket — which could easily be the basis of a terrible Python sketch in and of itself. Either way, we hope there's enough absurdity in such a thing for the boys to allow it, and so, much like King Arthur, we embark on this most sacred quest.

For most of his career, John Cleese was unanimously seen as a British national treasure. His comedic genius was undeniable, and on full display in "Holy Grail," in which he played Sir Lancelot the Brave, The Black Knight, Tim the Enchanter, and various other roles. Since then, the comedian has had a diverse and prolific show business career. He began by co-writing and performing in the now-classic "Fawlty Towers," before threatening a reboot of the British sitcom in 2023. But he also found success stateside. Cleese had a cameo on "Cheers," and built an enviable Hollywood career with roles in "A Fish Called Wanda," "Rat Race," and two "Harry Potter" films. He also played Q in two James Bond outings.

These days, Cleese is very much in his "Dinosaur Hour," which isn't a reference to his octogenarian status but to his GB News show, "The Dinosaur Hour" in which he chats to various guests in a 12th-century castle, presumably as some sort of nod to "The Holy Grail." Unfortunately, the absurdist humor of it all often falls away when Cleese uses his Middle-aged setting to earnestly discuss how "Woke people want to be right even if they don't know why!"

Still, while late-stage Cleese might not be all we'd hoped for from the comedy legend, he remains as such. The 84-year-old is now touring his "Last Chance to See Me Before I Die" show, which may or may not be a chance you want to take.

Alongside playing Sir Robin the-not-quite-so-brave-as-Sir-Lancelot, the great Eric Idle also portrayed Lancelot's squire Concorde, the Collector of the Dead, Roger the Shrubber, Brother Maynard, and numerous other roles in "The Holy Grail." But his post-Python career was just as varied and prolific.

Idle has continued to act, appearing in numerous films from 1995's "Casper" to 2007's "Shrek the Third." However, perhaps his biggest success came when he repurposed "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" into a musical, "Spamalot," which ran for 1,575 performances following its 2005 Broadway premiere. Idle, also a talented songwriter, wrote the book, music, and lyrics, alongside John Du Prez who helped out with the score. The show was a huge success critically and commercially, and won a Tony Award for Best Musical alongside a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. "Spamalot" then galloped back onto Broadway in 2023, with our good selves at /Film dubbing it "a silly old time."

In 2022, Idle confirmed that he had survived pancreatic cancer, having received an early diagnosis that allowed for effective treatment. Now 81, Idle continues to work for, as he revealed on Twitter/X (via the BBC), "financial reasons." He will release "The Spamalot Diaries" later this year, which is set to chronicle his efforts to bring "Spamalot" to the stage.

Originally joining Monty Python as an animator, by the time "Holy Grail" came along Gilliam had been acting with the troupe for some time. He played Patsy, servant to Graham Chapman's Arthur, as well as the famous Bridgekeeper who asks the knights "these questions three." But he also co-directed "Holy Grail" alongside fellow Python Terry Jones (who passed away in 2020), demonstrating a talent for direction early in his career.

After "Holy Grail," Gilliam would, of course, go on to become an esteemed filmmaker in his own right, starting out with "Time Bandits" in 1981 and "Brazil" in 1985. After this came his more well-known work, including 1995's "12 Monkeys" and 1998's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," which is surely one of the finest Terry Gilliam movies. More recently Gilliam helmed 2009's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" and 2018's "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote."

The former Python also embraced his adopted homeland of England by becoming a fully-fledged British citizen in 1968. So, Monty Python was not only responsible for exposing the Minneapolis native's animation talents to the world but for gifting Britain itself yet another national treasure. The U.S. transplant is now said to be working on his film "Carnival at the End of Days," which he summarized to Variety as a film in which "God wipes out humanity and the only character who wants to save them is Satan, and Johnny Depp plays Satan."

If, like me, you grew up in '90s-era England, your initial introduction to Michael Palin was likely via your parents watching him traipse around the world as part of some boring BBC Two documentary — the kind that now you're older actually sounds like a decent watch. But as we all know, there's much more to the man than that.

According to John Cleese, it was Palin who came up with the idea of using coconuts instead of horses in "The Holy Grail," thereby establishing the entire film as being set in medieval times. Beyond propelling the greatest Python film, though, Palin lent his comedic talents to several other productions in subsequent decades, appearing alongside Cleese in "A Fish Called Wanda" and showing up sporadically in various films and stage shows.

But throughout all of this, Palin increasingly indulged his fondness for fronting factual entertainment programs with titles that couldn't sound any duller. It began with his appearance on a 1980 episode of "Great Railway Journeys of the World," entitled "Confessions of a Trainspotter." Since then, Palin has presented numerous travel documentaries, including the one I remember my parents nodding off to, "Full Circle with Michael Palin." Thankfully, the man remained just as charming and funny as he had ever been, which made all these projects, dull though they seemed prima facie, quite delightful.

Now 81, Palin continues to charm with his Channel 5 series of travel docs, which sees him visit such unlikely locales as North Korea and Iraq.

In "The Holy Grail," Carol Cleveland played both Zoot and Dingo, twin sisters and handmaidens at Castle Anthrax. It was Zoot who lit the beacon that brought Sir Galahad (Michael Palin) to the castle in the first place after he mistook the beacon for the Holy Grail itself. Unlike the rest of the Python troupe, however, Cleveland didn't have any other roles in the movie, after which she played Mrs. Gregory in "Monty Python's Life of Brian." She then took on multiple roles in the group's 1983 film "The Meaning of Life."

Following her Python tenure, Cleveland had the odd role in a handful of films, including the 1986 erotic thriller "Half Moon Street" and 1995's "Annie: A Royal Adventure!" in which she played Miss Hannigan. But aside from these film roles and some TV appearances, Cleveland didn't act much in her post-Python years. Her most recent credits are from a 2021 production named "Alice, Through the Looking" in which she played Queen Elizabeth II, and an episode of Channel 4's "First Dates" in the UK. In 2022, she also narrated something called "Agatha, Mistress of Swords," according to the CV on her website.

Still, Cleveland maintains that she has had a fairly steady career thanks to the Python boys, writing on her website:

"In 1969 I was cast to be 'the girl' in a few episodes of a new BBC TV series called, 'Monty Pythons Flying Circus'. The rest is history and largely thanks to those six guys, I haven't stopped working."

Prior to her career as a frequent Python collaborator, Connie Booth met and married John Cleese, assuring her eventual assimilation into the comedy troupe. The pair married on February 20, 1968, and worked together before "Flying Circus" in the film "How to Irritate People." But as Monty Python took off, Booth remained an on-screen presence, eventually playing the witch who isn't actually a witch in "The Holy Grail." At the same time, Booth could be seen as hotel maid Polly Sherman in the classic British sitcom "Fawlty Towers," which she co-wrote with Cleese. The first season of the show aired in the UK on BBC Two in 1975, the same year as "Holy Grail" debuted, before a second season arrived in 1979.

After she and Cleese divorced in 1978, Booth continued to work, landing roles in multiple British films and performing on-stage in productions of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "The Manchurian Candidate." But as The Independent reported back in 2007, Booth left acting behind in the mid-90s and began working as a psychotherapist in 2000. Her last role, according to the report was in 1995, and since then the actress has been "involved with a project helping single mothers."

As The Mail reported, in 2024 the now 83-year-old Booth appeared at a performance of "Fawlty Towers: The Play," where she interacted with the cast and reminisced on her time as Polly Sherman.