Peter Edward Cook

Peter Edward Cook (November 17, 1937 – January 9, 1995)

He is widely regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was closely associated with the anti-establishment comedy that emerged in the United Kingdom and United States in the late 1950s. He also founded The Establishment, a London comedy club where many younger comedians got their start, and published the satirical magazine Private Eye. Cook studied modern languages at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he began writing and performing irreverent sketches with fellow students Bennett, Miller, and Moore. The quartet’s efforts evolved into Beyond the Fringe, which they took to London’s West End in 1961 and to Broadway a year later. Cook’s tall, lean frame and droll, deadpan delivery of even the most absurd dialogue made him a perfect foil for the short, energetic Moore, and the two created a series of comic duos, notably the inane working-class philosophers Pete ’n’ Dud, on their long-running television program, "Not Only . . . But Also" (1965-66; 1970), and their two-man shows Behind the Fridge (1971-72) and Good Evening (1973-75). The pair’s films included the Faustian Bedazzled (1967), a spoof version of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1977) with Cook as Sherlock Holmes, and Derek and Clive (1980), a variation on the original Pete ’n’ Dud. After Moore moved to Hollywood in the 1980s, Cook concentrated on Private Eye, although he made a few more films and was a frequent guest on TV talk shows. Cook died from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage on January 9, 1995, aged 57. His body was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, and his ashes were buried in an unmarked plot behind St John-at-Hampstead, not far from his home in Perrins Walk.