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Michael Palin
Broomhill, Sheffield, England, UK
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty P…
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Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries. Palin wrote most of his comedic material with Terry Jones. Before Monty Python, they had worked on other shows such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin appeared in some of the most famous Python sketches, including "Argument Clinic", "Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", and "The Spanish Inquisition". Palin continued to work with Jones after Python, co-writing Ripping Yarns. He has also appeared in several films directed by fellow Python Terry Gilliam and made notable appearances in other films such as A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. After Python, he began a new career as a travel writer and travel documentarian. His journeys have taken him across the world, including the North and South Poles, the Sahara desert, the Himalayas and, most recently, Eastern Europe. In 2000 Palin was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2026
Michael Palin in the Philippines
TV show Self - Presenter
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2026
Secrets of the Bayeux Tapestry: Inside the Museum
Movie Narrator
- 2026
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2026
The Magic Faraway Tree
Movie Know All
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2026
Small Prophets
TV show Brian Sleep
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2026
Joke
Movie
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2025
Michael Palin in Venezuela
TV show Self - Presenter
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2025
The Secret Life of Trees
TV show Self - Narrator
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2025
When Bruce Springsteen Came to Britain
Movie Self
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2025
Innes Lloyd: The Producer
Movie Self
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2025
The Academy of Armando
Movie Self
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2025
David Frost Vs
TV show self
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2024
Dame Maggie Smith - A Celebration
Movie Self
-
2024
Time Bandits
TV show Characters
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2024
My National Gallery, London
Movie Self
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2024
Michael Palin in Nigeria
TV show Self - Presenter
More credits
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2023
Fawlty Towers: 50 Years of Laughs
Movie Self
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2022
Michael Palin: Into Iraq
TV show Self - Presenter
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2022
The Fringe, Fame and Me
Movie Self
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2022
Remembers…
TV show
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2021
Monty Python's Best Bits Celebrated
Movie Self (archive footage)(uncredited)
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2020
Jeepers Creepers
Movie Newscaster (voice)
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2020
Michael Palin: Travels of a Lifetime
TV show Self - Host
- 2020
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2020
Staged
TV show Michael
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2020
Peter Sellers: A State of Comic Ecstasy
Movie Self
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2019
Worzel Gummidge
TV show The Green Man
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2019
Python at 50: Silly Talks and Holy Grails
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2019
An Accidental Studio
Movie Self
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2019
Final Ascent: The Legend of Hamish MacInnes
Movie Self
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2018
Michael Palin in North Korea
TV show Self - Presenter
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2018
Vanity Fair
TV show William Makepeace Thackeray
- 2018
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2017
The Death of Stalin
Movie Vyacheslav Molotov
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2016
Generation '66
Movie
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2016
Attenborough at 90
Movie Self
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2015
Michael Palin's Quest for Artemisia
Movie Self
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2015
Clangers
TV show Narrator (voice)
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2015
Artsnight
TV show Self
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2015
Absolutely Anything
Movie Kindly Alien (voice)
