John Fortune

John Fortune (30 June 1939 – 31 December 2013) was a British satirist, comedian, writer and actor, best known for his work with John Bird and Rory Bremner on the TV series Bremner, Bird and Fortune. He was educated at Bristol Cathedral School and King's College, Cambridge, where he was to meet and form a lasting friendship with John Bird.

Biography

He was born John Wood in Bristol in 1939. His early career included contributions to Peter Cook's Establishment Club team in 1962, and as a regular member of the cast of the BBC-TV satire show Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, both alongside Eleanor Bron and John Bird. Fortune and Bird also worked together on the TV show A Series of Birds in 1967, and Fortune and Bron wrote and performed a series of sketches for TV in Where Was Spring in 1969. In 1971, with John Wells, he published the comedy classic A Melon for Ecstasy, about a man who consummates his love affair with a tree. He appeared withPeter Sellers in a Barclays Bank ad in 1980, shortly before Sellers's death.

Along with writing several series for the BBC, in 1982 he appeared in an episode of the BBC sitcom Yes Minister, as an army officer who brings the minister's attention to British-made weapons getting into the hands of terrorists.

In 1999, Fortune starred with Warren Mitchell and Ken Campbell in ''Art'' at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End. He also appeared in the films Maybe Baby and Saving Grace, and had a guest part in the sitcom Joking Apart.

Perhaps the most successful example of his work with John Bird was their series of satirical sketches The Long Johns, in which one interviewed the other in the guise of a senior figure such as a politician, businessman or government consultant. In one episode, they were two of the very first to predict the financial crisis of 2007–2010 during an episode of The South Bank Showbroadcast on 14 October 2007.

In his latter years, he featured in the award-winning Radio 4 sitcom Ed Reardon's Week, in which he played the head of a literary agency.

Fortune died on 31 December 2013, aged 74. He was surrounded by his wife and three children. His agent Vivienne Clore said he died peacefully with his wife Emma and dog Grizelle at his bedside.