Eric Idle is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle is a former member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical Spamalot (based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail).
Known for his elaborate wordplay and musical numbers, Idle performed many of Python’s songs, including “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” (from Life of Brian), and the “Galaxy Song” (from The Meaning of Life).
Idle’s initially successful solo career faltered in the 1990s with the failures of his 1993 film Splitting Heirs (which he wrote, produced, and starred in) and 1998’s An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (in which he starred).
He revived his career by returning to the source of his worldwide fame, adapting Monty Python material for other media. Following the success of the musical Spamalot (which won the Tony Award for Best Musical), he also wrote Not the Messiah, an oratorio derived from the Life of Brian.
Eric Idle Parents: Meet Ernest Idle And Nora Barron Idle
Idle was born in Harton Hospital, in South Shields, County Durham, to which his mother had been evacuated from northwest England.
His mother, Norah Barron Sanderson, was a health visitor and his father, Ernest Idle, served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, only to be killed in a road accident while hitchhiking home for Christmas in December 1945