Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied English at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and joined Cambridge University Footlights. He has received a Grammy Award as well as nominations for two Tony Awards.

Idle reached stardom in the 1970s when he co-created and acted in the Python sketch comedy series Flying Circus (1969–1974) and the films Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian, (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983) with Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Known for his elaborate wordplay and musical numbers, Idle composed and performed many of the songs featured in Python projects, including "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

After Flying Circus ended, Idle created another sketch show Rutland Weekend Television (1975–1976), and hosted Saturday Night Live four times (1976–1979). He also acted in films such as National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), The Transformers: The Movie (1986), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), Nuns on the Run (1990), Splitting Heirs (1993), Casper (1995), The Wind in the Willows (1996), An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997), Ella Enchanted (2004), and Shrek the Third (2007).

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Monty Python's The Meaning of Life	Various roles	Also co-writer
1993	Splitting Heirs	Tommy Butterfly Rainbow Peace Patel	Also writer and executive producer
1995	Casper	Paul "Dibs" Plutzker
1999	Dudley Do-Right	Prospector Kim J. Darling
2007	Shrek the Third	Merlin	Voice[1]
2014	The Boxtrolls		Composer: "The Boxtrolls Song"