# Carol Cleveland

Carol Cleveland (born Carol Gillian Frances on 13 January 1942) is an English actor, comedian, dancer, and model. She has performed in dozens of productions for stage and screen, in a career that spans more than 60 years. She is best known, however, for her performances with the comedy troupe Monty Python.
Born in London, Cleveland relocated to the United States at age five with her mother and American stepfather. She soon began ballet lessons before moving on to modern dance, acting, and modelling. After she graduated from high school in 1960, she and her family returned to London, where Cleveland was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Many roles on stage and screen later, she was cast in a new programme called Monty Python's Flying Circus. She went on to appear in 32 of the 45 episodes of Flying Circus, and all four Monty Python feature films, as well as Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982) and Monty Python Live (Mostly) (2014), among other productions.

## Quotes

* … I had to read [the script for the first episode of Flying Circus] several times in order to try and make some sense of it. The sketches ended strangely or sometimes didn't seem to end at all! Others had an odd beginning too. It certainly wasn't the sort of humour I was used to and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it all.
** PomPoms Up! From Puberty to Pythons and Beyond (2014)
* One day, when we were doing a read-through, the boys realised they had forgotten to cast another male to be in a jungle sketch. Rather than make an urgent phone call, Michael suggested that I do it instead. It turned out to be one of my most enjoyable sketches, because it was so silly! I'm dressed exactly as they are, in khaki shorts and a pith helmet, with a huge moustache and speaking in a very low gravelly voice. There was no disguising I'm a female though, as I still have my lipstick and false eyelashes on. After that they often put me in men's roles!
** PomPoms Up! From Puberty to Pythons and Beyond (2014)
* I was a great Lucille Ball fan. I did actually want to be Lucille Ball. Or Marilyn Monroe. I didn't care which.
** From a 2019 interview with Vulture, commemorating the 50-year anniversary of Monty Python's Flying Circus
* When [the Pythons] discovered that I had a flair for comedy, the roles got more interesting. Michael … was always the one [to recommend me]; I think if it hadn't been for Michael, I probably always would have just been the glamour stooge.
** Interview with Vulture (2019)

## Quotes about Cleveland

* Carol … was the unsung heroine because she was so spot on. We never had to tell her how to play a scene, she just had a Python way of thinking about it.
** Michael Palin in The First 20 Years of Monty Python (1989)
* We didn't know who she was when we started the series. John Howard Davies cast her and we all liked her, so from then on, we used her for all but the more upper-class roles. We simply liked what she did; she was very easy to get along with, she could be very silly when required and she didn't have an excessive sense of dignity.
** John Cleese in The First 20 Years of Monty Python (1989)

## Notes

* 1 2 Cleveland, Carol (2014). "It's Monty Python's Flying Circus!". PomPoms Up! From Puberty to Pythons and Beyond. Dynasty Press.
* 1 2 Stein, Ellin (20 February 2019). Interview: Carol Cleveland on Working With Monty Python. Vulture.
* 1 2 Johnson, Kim "Howard" (1989). The First 20 Years of Monty Python. St. Martin's Griffin.

## External links

* Official website
* Carol Cleveland on IMDb