Carol Cleveland has revealed the Monty Python team did apologise to her for only giving her one-dimensional sexist roles to play.
The 72-year-old actress appeared in Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and is reuniting with the team for their upcoming farewell live tour.
Carol revealed: “They did apologise to me in the beginning. It was Michael (Palin) who came up to me by the time we got to the second or third episode, and they realised I wasn’t just a pretty face. Michael said: ‘I’m so sorry we don’t have more for you to do Carol. We’re just not very good at writing for women.’ They were the ‘old bags’ and I was the young girl, and that was it.”
And the actress, who said she stumbled into comedy quite by accident, admitted being the “Seventh Python” had been a bit of a hindrance in getting serious acting roles.
She said: “Even though I loved doing Python, and I’m so looking forward to the reunion, it has in a way been a ball and chain. As I say in my book – and I hope it comes across very clearly – that I always saw myself as a ‘straight actress’; an all-rounder who could do drama and comedy.
“I never saw myself as a comedian, and I have done some good work on stage; all my sort of dramatic roles have been on stage. As many of them were out of town, casting people didn’t get to see them. Consequently, even though I was doing all this fine work, I’m still known as ‘the Python girl’.”
Speaking about the new live shows she revealed: ” I’ve never even seen the 02 Arena! I’ve only recently discovered that I’m not going to see it until our first night’s performance, so that’s going to be a bit of a shock. First night is always pretty panicky anyway. I’ll try and take a peek at it so I don’t freak out too much.”
:: PomPoms Up! From Puberty To Python And Beyond by Carol Cleveland is published by Dynasty Press, priced £10.99. Available now.
Cleveland: Pythons apologised to me
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