Jonathan Miller, acclaimed British comedy writer, dead at 85
Miller went on to become editor and presenter of BBC arts programs and directed plays for the National Theater.
By HANNAH BROWNJonathan Miller appearing on After Dark on 3 September 1988. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Sir Jonathan Miller, a brilliant hyphenate who combined careers as a doctor, author, comedy writer and performer, and opera and theater director, died “peacefully at home... following a long battle with Alzheimer’s,” the BBC reported on Wednesday. He was 85.Miller, who was knighted in 2002, was one of Britain’s leading names in many fields and was probably best known creating the hilariously subversive comedy revue, Beyond the Fringe, with Dudley Moore, Peter Cook and Alan Bennett. The popular revue premiered at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival before moving to the West End and Broadway and inspired generations of comedians, including those who created Monty Python.Miller went on to become editor and presenter of BBC arts programs, and directed plays for the National Theater in London. One of his productions was a modern-dress staging of The Merchant of Venice, with Laurence Olivier as Shylock. He was also acclaimed as an opera director, who was known for demanding real acting from opera singersMiller, who came from a family of Lithuanian Jewish descent, had a father who was a pediatric psychiatrist. He studied medicine at Cambridge University and left the arts several times to devote himself to medical research in the field of neuropsychology.At times, he combined his medical training with entertainment, notably when he made the 13-part TV documentary series, The Body in Question, for the BBC in the late 70s.Mark Lawson wrote, in his obituary for Miller in The Guardian: “Although he had professionally abandoned comedy, it remained a key part of his personality. Asked, early on, to define his identity, he replied ‘Jew-ish’, a characteristic Miller joke with serious meaning that has subsequently been adopted by numerous others who, though not religiously believing or observant, found it abhorrent to deny, especially after the Holocaust, the historical, intellectual and artistic inheritance from Judaism. He was, though, an atheist and active in the Humanist movement.”Eric Idle of Monty Python eulogized Miller on Twitter, writing, “Savage news... The beloved hilarious genius Jonathan Miller who dramatically changed my life three times... It’s a fucking rainy day in LA appropriate for tears.”
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