FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Mary Anthony

mary.anthony@trinity.edu

April 1, 2009

Actor and Comic Writer John Cleese to Speak During Trinity University’s 2008-2009 Distinguished Lecture Series

SAN ANTONIO – John Cleese, a celebrated British comedic actor, will discuss “The Importance of Creativity” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, in Laurie Auditorium. The lecture, a part of Trinity University’s Distinguished Lecture Series for 2008-2009, is free and open to the public. No tickets or reservations are required. The doors to Laurie Auditorium open to the public at 6:45 p.m.

Mr. Cleese, one of the most influential comic writers and actors of the past 40 years, believes that an element of creativity is essential to the success of any enterprise. His comic genius first manifested itself while he was studying law at Cambridge University in England, where he wrote and performed highly successful comedy reviews for the university’s legendary Footlights group.  He achieved international fame for his work in BBC’s Fawlty Towers series and as co-creator of the highly influential Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which displayed a strange and absorbing blend of low farce and high-concept absurdist humor. 

In addition, Mr. Cleese helped establish Video Arts, one of the most successful business training video production companies in the English-speaking world.  He has also co-authored two books on psychology, Families and How to Survive Them and Life and How to Survive It. 

He continues to act prolifically in movies, supplies his voice to numerous animated and video projects, and frequently does commercials.  Mr. Cleese acknowledges education and learning as important elements of his life, and currently serves as a professor at large at Cornell University in New York.

The Distinguished Lecture Series is made possible by an endowment gift from Mr. and Mrs. Walter F. Brown of San Antonio.

For more information, contact Mary Anthony at 210-999-8441.

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