Jonathan Lynn

Jonathan Lynn
Born	3 April 1943 (1943-04-03) (age 68) Bath, Somerset, England
Occupation	Actor, writer, comedian, film director
Known for	1967 Twice a Fortnight 1969–1978 The Liver Birds 1969–1970 Doctor in the House 1980–1984 Yes Minister (co-writer) 1986–1988 Yes, Prime Minister (co-writer)

Jonathan Lynn (born 3 April 1943 in Bath, Somerset, England) is an English actor, comedy writer and director. He is best known for being the co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Personal life 1.2 Career 2 As a writer 3 As a director 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links

Career

Personal life

Lynn was educated at Kingswood School, Bath, between 1954 and 1961, after which he studied Law at Pembroke College, Cambridge (where his uncle, Israeli statesman Abba Eban studied also). There he participated in the Cambridge University Footlights Club revue Cambridge Circus (appearing with the revue in 1964 on Broadway and on The Ed Sullivan Show).

Career

In 1967, he played Motel the tailor in the original West End production of Fiddler on the Roof (production recorded by CBS Records).

From the late 1960s, Jonathan 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.

He also played the Irish medical student Danny Hooley in the second series of the television comedy Doctor in the House in 1970 (Jonathan Lynn returned as Danny Hooley, for one episode of Doctor in Charge, "Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot?", after Hooley had been working as a doctor). He also wrote some episodes for Doctor at Large, Doctor in Charge, Doctor at Sea and Doctor on the Go.

As an actor, his most memorable role was as Beryl's boyfriend Robert in early series of The Liver Birds.

As a writer

As a writer, in addition to episodes in the Doctor TV series, he worked on On the Buses and wrote for Harry Worth before eventually, in partnership with Antony Jay, writing Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. His later credits include the films Clue (1985) and Nuns on the Run (1990).

As a director

Lynn has won praise for his direction of the stage version of Yes, Prime Minister (London, 2010).^[1] He has also directed numerous films including:

• Clue
• Nuns on the Run
• My Cousin Vinny
• The Distinguished Gentleman
• Greedy
• Sgt. Bilko
• Trial and Error
• The Fighting Temptations
• The Whole Nine Yards.
• Wild Target
• The Last First Time  (2012)

See also

• Cambridge Theatre Company

References

Further reading

• Wilmut, Roger (1980). From Fringe to Flying Circus: Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy. Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-413-50770-9. 
• Hewison, Robert (1983). Footlights!: A hundred years of Cambridge comedy. Methuen London. ISBN 978-0-413-51150-8. 

External links

• Official website
• The new West End play by Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay.
• Jonathan Lynn at the Internet Movie Database
• Jonathan Lynn at the Internet Broadway Database
• Yes Prime Minister movie site

Films directed by Jonathan Lynn 1980s Clue (1985) 1990s Nuns on the Run (1990) My Cousin Vinny (1992) The Distinguished Gentleman (1992) Greedy (1994) Sgt. Bilko (1996) Trial and Error (1997) 2000s The Whole Nine Yards (2000) The Fighting Temptations (2003) 2010s Wild Target (2010)

Twice a Fortnight Graeme Garden · Terry Jones · Jonathan Lynn · Bill Oddie · Michael Palin

Persondata
Name	Lynn, Jonathan
Alternative names
Short description	Actor
Date of birth	3 April 1943
Place of birth	Bath, Somerset, England
Date of death
Place of death