Graham Chapman

Graham Chapman was an English comedian, writer, and actor, one of the six members of Monty Python's Flying Circus, who co-wrote many of the troupe's most celebrated sketches and films, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) and Life of Brian (1979), in which he played the lead role of Brian. Chapman met David Sherlock in Ibiza in 1966, and the two became partners, hosting a "coming out" party for friends and colleagues — including future fellow Pythons — in 1967. He went public with his sexuality on national television in 1974, during an appearance on a chat show hosted by jazz musician George Melly, making him one of the first British celebrities to come out openly. Chapman and Sherlock remained together, eventually raising a son, until Chapman's death from throat cancer in 1989. A recovering alcoholic, Chapman wrote candidly about both his sexuality and his struggles with drinking in his memoir A Liar's Autobiography (1980), co-written with Sherlock and others.