Peter Cook

Gained fame with the "Beyond The Fringe" comedy group before he and sometime-partner Dudley Moore turned to TV and films. Publisher of England's long-running satirical magazine "Private Eye," Peter Cook did not achieve the same star status as Moore in the U.S., in part because he went into semi-retirement at an early age and was far more selective in his work. But Cook, who died in 1995, was known for his irreverent, ribald humor, which he demonstrated not just as a performer, but as a writer and playwright as well. Cook was already performing his political and social humor while a student at Cambridge. He first performed "Beyond the Fringe" with Moore at the Edinburgh Festival in 1959, and in 1961 they premiered in London, followed by the U.S. in 1962 and an Australian tour. An unhinged satirical comedy, the duo revived it many times during the next three decades, including "Good Evening" on Broadway in 1973, and for occasional TV appearances. Cook also was a comic playwright during the early 60s, with "Pieces of Eight" (1961) his first play produced in London, and much work performed at The Establishment Theatre Co., a "satirical nightclub" he owned in London beginning in 1962. TV was a logical extension of the stage work. Cook and Moore teamed for the 60s BBC series "Not Only...But Also" and "Pete 'n Dud," through which they achieved their celebrity. Most of Cook's other TV appearances were on variety shows, although he did play proper British butler Robert Brentwood in the one-season CBS series "The Two of Us" (1981-1982). Cook began in feature films in 1966 alongside Moore in "The Wronged Box". They played the greedy nephews of Sir Ralph Richardson who would love to do him in. They teamed again (and co-wrote) "Bedazzled" (1967), directed by Stanley Donen as a twist on the Faust legend. Cook did less well, sans Moore, in the unrealized thriller "A Dandy in Aspic" (1968). He played Sherlock Holmes in "The Hound in the Baskervilles" (1978), but in the 80s, while Moore was having several years as a huge box office attraction, Cook was, by choice, appearing infrequently. He co-wrote and appeared with Moore in the 1981 concert film (a benefit for Amnesty International) "The Secret Policeman's Other Ball," co-wrote and co-starred in the disastrous "Yellowbeard" (1983; and Marty Feldman's final film), and could be glimpsed in "Supergirl" (1984), as the Impressive Clergyman in "The Princess Bride" (1987), and the "don't tell me your troubles" publisher of Sherlock Holmes books in "Without a Clue" (1988). Cook's last screen appearance was in "Black Beauty" (1994); his final TV appearance in the U.S. aired after his death -- he performed on the PBS special "The United States of Poetry" (1996).