Tony Hendra (1941–2021,) fully Anthony Christopher Hendra, was a British satirist, actor, and writer who lived in America. He held a steady, if varied career doing stand-up comedy, writing and editing for various publications, acting, and publishing books.
Born in Hertfordshire, Hendra was a schoolmate of Stephen Hawking. Hendra attended St John’s College-Cambridge, where he was a member of the Cambridge University Footlights revue in 1962, alongside Monty Python members John Cleese and Graham Chapman, and comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor.
In 1964, Hendra and his comedy partner, Nick Ullett, took their stage act to the U.S. They opened for Lenny Bruce in Greenwich Village at Café Au Go Go. Hendra wrote for two years for Hugh Hefner’s Playboy After Dark. He was a regular guest on The Merv Griffin Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. In later years, he had appearances on Miami Vice, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, and the film Suits (1999.)
Hendra worked as a managing editor of National Lampoon and editor-in-chief of Spy magazine and had a zesty role in the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984.) His Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul (2004) was his account of his long relationship with a Benedictine monk named Joseph Warrilow, who had helped ground him through personal setbacks and guided his return to the Roman Catholic faith.
Hendra’s other works include Going Too Far (1987,) The Book of Bad Virtues (1994,) and The Messiah of Morris Avenue (2006.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Tony Hendra
Let not the sands of time get in your lunch.
—Tony Hendra
Topics: Time
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