John Fortune

{{Infobox person

| name = John Fortune

| image = John Fortune (1939–2013).jpg

| birth_name = John Courtney Wood

| birth_date = {{birth date|1939|06|30|df=y}}

| birth_place = Bristol, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|2013|12|31|1939|06|30|df=y}}

| death_place = Hampshire, England

| occupation = {{dotlist|Actor|writer}}

| spouses = {{ubl|{{marriage|Susan Fry Waldo, aka Susannah Waldo Wood|1962|1976|end=divorce}}|{{marriage|Emma Burge|1995}}}}

| children = 3

}}

John Courtney Fortune (born John Courtney Wood; 30 June 1939 – 31 December 2013) was an English actor, writer and satirist, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the television series Bremner, Bird and Fortune.{{cite web | url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/32481 | title=Bremner, Bird and Fortune | publisher=British Film Institute | work=Film & TV Database | access-date=31 December 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101142653/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/32481 | archive-date=1 January 2014 | url-status=dead }}

Early life

Fortune was born John Courtney Wood in Bristol on 30 June 1939.{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/31/john-fortune-dies-at-74 | title=John Fortune dies at 74 | newspaper=The Guardian | date=31 December 2013 | access-date=31 December 2013 | author= Kennedy, Maev | author-link= Maev Kennedy }} He was educated at Bristol Cathedral School and King's College, Cambridge, where he was to meet and form a lasting friendship with John Bird.

Career

Fortune's early work included contributions to Peter Cook's Establishment Club team in 1962, and as a regular member of the cast of the BBC-TV satire show Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, both alongside Eleanor Bron and John Bird. Fortune and Bird also worked together on the TV show A Series of Birds in 1967, and Fortune and Bron wrote and performed a series of sketches for TV in Where Was Spring? in 1969. In 1971, with John Wells, he published the comic novel A Melon for Ecstasy, about a man who consummates his love affair with a tree. He appeared with Peter Sellers in a Barclays Bank television commercial in 1980, shortly before Sellers' death.

Along with writing several series for the BBC, in 1982 Fortune appeared in an episode of the BBC sitcom Yes Minister, as an army officer who brings the minister's attention to British-made weapons getting into the hands of terrorists. In 1999, he starred with Warren Mitchell and Ken Campbell in Art at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End. He also appeared in the films Take A Girl Like You (1970), in which he shared a TV debate with John Bird, Kenny Everett's horror spoof Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984), England, My England (1995), Maybe Baby (2000), and Saving Grace (2000), and had a guest part in the sitcom Joking Apart.

In 1993, Fortune and Bird began co-starring with Rory Bremner in the sketch show Rory Bremner...Who Else? on Channel 4. In 1999, the show changed its name to Bremner, Bird and Fortune and continued until 2010, receiving several BAFTA nominations along the way.{{cite web|url=http://www.bafta.org/awards/television/nominations/?year=2002|title=BAFTA Television Awards|work=bafta.org|date=31 July 2014 |accessdate=10 March 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bafta.org/awards/television/nominations/?year=2001|title=BAFTA Television Awards|work=bafta.org|date=31 July 2014 |accessdate=10 March 2015}}

Fortune's other work with John Bird included their series of satirical sketches The Long Johns, in which one interviewed the other, the latter being in the guise of a senior figure such as a politician, businessman or government consultant. The sketches earned several BAFTA award nominations, winning the Television Light Entertainment Performance award in 1997.{{cite web|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1997/television/light-entertainment-performance|title=BAFTA Awards – Television {{!}} Light Entertainment Performance in 1997|publisher=British Academy of Film and Television Arts|access-date=1 January 2014}} In one episode, they were two of the very first to predict the 2008 financial crisis during an episode of The South Bank Show broadcast on 14 October 2007.{{cite web|url=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/james22| title=The Marx Renaissance|publisher= Project Syndicate|author= James, Harold |date= 25 December 2008|access-date= 31 December 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.tv.com/the-south-bank-show/the-last-laugh-john-bird-and-john-fortune/episode/1157860/reviews.html |title=The Last Laugh: John Bird and John Fortune Reviews |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604120231/http://www.tv.com/the-south-bank-show/the-last-laugh-john-bird-and-john-fortune/episode/1157860/reviews.html |archive-date= 4 June 2011 }} In Fortune's latter years, he featured in the Radio 4 sitcom Ed Reardon's Week, playing the head of a literary agency and as theatrical agent Mel Simons in a 2008 episode of New Tricks.

Fortune died on 31 December 2013, aged 74.{{Cite news | title=Comedian John Fortune dies aged 74 | url= http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-12-31/comedian-john-fortune-dies-aged-74/ | work=ITV News|date= 31 December 2013| access-date=5 May 2020}} His agent Vivienne Clore said he died peacefully, with his wife Emma and dog Grizelle at his bedside.{{cite news|title=Comedian John Fortune Dies Aged 74 |url=http://news.sky.com/story/1188861/comedian-john-fortune-dies-aged-74 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131231175655/http://news.sky.com/story/1188861/comedian-john-fortune-dies-aged-74 |url-status=dead |archive-date=31 December 2013 |publisher=Sky News |date=31 December 2013 |access-date=31 December 2013 }}

Filmography

Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes
class="wikitable"
1970	Take a Girl Like You	Sir Gerald Culthorpe-Jones
1982	The Missionary	Schoolmaster's voice	Voice
1984	Bloodbath at the House of Death	John Harrison
1987	Hardwicke House	Educational psychologist in Episode 3, "Interview Day"	Only the first two episodes of the series were shown, with the last five pulled. It was scheduled to be screened on ITV on 4 March 1987. In 2019, all seven episodes were uploaded to YouTube.
1995	England, My England	Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon
1999	The Strange Case of Delfina Potocka: The Mystery of Chopin	Second official
2000	Saving Grace	Melvyn
2000	Maybe Baby	Acupuncturist
2001	The Tailor of Panama	Maltby
2003	Calendar Girls	Frank
2005	Match Point	John the Chauffeur

References

External links

{{IMDb name|0287432}}
[https://archive.today/20130209030400/http://www.vivienneclore.com/articles/John_187807_28.html John Fortune] at Vivienne Clore
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060925042331/http://www.psa.ac.uk/awards2003/bremner_bird_fortune.htm Bremner, Bird and Fortune, "Best Political Satire -Television, 2003"] – Political Studies Association Awards 2003
[https://web.archive.org/web/20091003031800/http://www.bafta.org/learning/webcasts/bird-and-fortune,698,BA.html Bird and Fortune: A Life in Television] BAFTA filmed event, March 2009
[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-fortune-comedian-and-author-best-known-for-collaborations-and-sketches-that-poked-fun-at-the-powerful-and-selfimportant-9032043.html Obituary] in The Independent by Marcus Williamson

{{British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance}}

Category:1939 births

Category:2013 deaths

Category:20th-century English novelists

Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge

Category:Best Entertainment Performance BAFTA Award (television) winners

Category:English male comedians

Category:English male film actors

Category:English male radio actors

Category:English male stage actors

Category:English male television actors

Category:English male writers