STEPHEN JOHN FRY
is an English comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist born on
this date. With Hugh Laurie, he is half of the comic double act Fry and
Laurie, who starred in Jeeves and Wooster.
Fry's acting roles include a Golden Globe–nominated lead performance in the film Wilde, portraying Oscar Wilde, Melchett in the BBC series Blackadder, the title character in the television series Kingdom, a recurring guest role as Dr Gordon Wyatt on the crime series Bones, and as Gordon Deitrich in the dystopian thriller V for Vendetta. He has also written and presented several documentary series, including the Emmy Award–winning Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive, which saw him explore his bipolar disorder, and the travel series Stephen Fry in America. He was also the long-time host of the BBC television quiz show OI, with his tenure lasting from 2003 to 2016.
Besides working
in television, Fry has contributed columns and articles for newspapers
and magazines and written four novels and three volumes of
autobiography, Moab is My Washpot, The Fry Chronicles and More Fool Me. He also appears frequently on BBC Radio4, starring in the comedy series Absolute Power, being a frequent guest on panel games such as Just A Minute, and acting as chairman during one series of I'm Sorry I haven't A Clue,
where he was one of a trio of possible hosts who were tried out to
succeed the late Humphrey Lyttelton, Jack Dee getting the post
permanently.
Fry is also known for his voice-overs, reading all seven of the Harry Potter novels for the UK audiobook recordings, narrating the LittleBigPlanet and Birds of Steel series of video games, as well as an animated series of explanations of the laws of cricket, of which he is a particular fan, and a series of animations about Humanism for Humanists UK.
Fry married comedian Elliott Spencer in January 2015. Fry
is on cordial terms with Prince Charles, through his work with the
Prince's Trust. He attended the Prince's wedding to Camilla
Parker-Bowles in 2005. Fry is a friend of comedian and actor (and Blackadder co-star) Rowan Atkinson and was best man at Atkinson's wedding to Sunetra Sastry at the Russian Tea Room in New York City.
Fry struggled to
keep his homosexuality secret during his teenage years at public school,
and by his own account did not engage in sexual activity for 16 years
from 1979 until 1995. When
asked when he first acknowledged his sexuality, Fry quipped: "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 going up one of
those'." Fry was in a 15-year relationship with Daniel Cohen, which ended in 2010. Fry was listed #2 in 2016 and #12 in 2017 on the World Pride Power list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3ZBeX9uC8s
