Jonathan Lynn

1960s

While studying at his first year in Cambridge, he met Eric Idle. Idle asked Lynn to join the Cambridge University Footlights Club.^[7] In 1965, he was in the Footlights revue Cambridge Circus. With Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor and David Hatch, he appeared on Broadway and on The Ed Sullivan Show.^[8][9][10] Lynn then took acting lessons from actress Mira Rostova.^[7]

Lynn's first West End appearance was in a stage production of Green Julia, for which he was nominated for the 1965 Plays and Players Award as Most Promising New Actor.^[11] In 1967, he played Motel the tailor in the original West End production of Fiddler on the Roof (production recorded by CBS Records).^[12] In 1968, he was in the film Prudence and the Pill. From the late 1960s, Lynn was appearing in and writing television sitcoms, including the television comedy series Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Tony Buffery.^[13]

1970s

Lynn played the Irish medical student Danny Hooley in the second series of the television comedy Doctor in the House in 1970, replacing Martin Shaw, who played Welsh man Huw Evans. He wrote some episodes for future series in the Doctor in the House franchises including Doctor at Large, Doctor in Charge, Doctor at Sea and Doctor on the Go.^[6][14] He also wrote episodes of On the Buses and wrote for Harry Worth and George Layton. In the 1970s, his most memorable roles included Beryl's boyfriend Robert in early series of The Liver Birds;^[15] Harold in Jack Rosenthal's 1976 television film Bar Mitzvah Boy,;^[16] and Ted Margolis in Rosenthal's The Knowledge (1979).^[17]

His film appearances included roles in The House That Dripped Blood (1971), and Romance with a Double Bass (1974) He had a bit-part as a window cleaner in the BBC television series The Good Life. Lynn's first (co-written) screenplay was for The Internecine Project, which was released in 1974.^[18]

1980s & 1990s

After forming a partnership with Antony Jay, they would begin working with one another, eventually writing Yes Minister, which aired from 1980 to 1988.^[19] His directoral debut came in 1985, with Clue.^[20]

On 20 October 1984, he was the subject of an episode of the radio series Desert Island Discs, in which he picked a collection of Jeeves & Wooster novels by P G Wodehouse as his book of choice, a pen and paper as his luxury items, and songs written and/or composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Jimmy Durante and Paul Simon.^[21][22]

Lynn co-authored the books The Complete Yes Minister, as well as The Complete Yes Prime Minister, which spent 106 weeks on the Sunday Times top 10 fiction list. Both were ranked number one on the Sunday Times list, including in December 1986 when the books were ranked number one and number two respectively.^[23] He also wrote the 1993 novel Mayday.^[24]

In the 1990s, Lynn directed some of his most well-known films, including Nuns on the Run (1990), My Cousin Vinny (1992), The Distinguished Gentleman (1992), Greedy (1994), Sgt. Bilko (1996), and Trial and Error (1997). Lynn also served as a producer for Trial and Error,^[9] which received an exclusive production agreement with Columbia Pictures Television in 1992.^[25] Lynn's last acting credit came in 1994 when he appeared as a butler in Greedy.^[26]

2000s to present

He was executive producer of Vanity Fair in 2004, and He's Such a Girl in 2008.

Lynn won praise for his direction of the 2010 London stage version of Yes, Prime Minister, which he co-wrote as well.^[27]

In 2011 Lynn wrote a non-fiction work entitled Comedy Rules. The Independent called the book "a charming memoir, full of amusing and insightful anecdotes about the many entertainers Lynn has worked with" and described it as a combination of autobiography and how-to manual for comedy. The paper wrote further: "By dovetailing different types of book, Lynn cleverly avoids the pitfalls of both genres. Because it's ostensibly a sort of how-to book, there are no boring childhood reminiscences. Because it's also a kind of autobiography, his no-nonsense dos and don'ts are springboards for entertaining yarns, rather than academic discourse."^[28]

Lynn co-wrote, co-produced, and co-directed the Yes, Minister revival series Yes, Prime Minister series produced by the BBC on Gold in 2013.^[29]

In 2016 Lynn's play The Patriotic Traitor was published. Its subject is the relationship of Philippe Pétain to Charles de Gaulle. In the words of the blurb, ‘Two giants of the twentieth century who loved each other like father and son until they found themselves on opposing sides in World War II. In 1945 de Gaulle had his oldest friend tried for treason. Their complex relationship – noble, comic and absurd – changed history.’ ^[30][31]

Lynn also co-wrote the stage play of "Clue", together with Hunter Foster, Eric Price and Sandy Rustin.

Film

Television

Acting roles (film)

Acting roles (television)

Additional credits