thegirlborninthelate90s

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

On this day (at least when I started writing this caption, because my Tumblr app hates me 🫠), 40 years ago, Michael Redgrave died from Parkinson's disease the day after his 77th birthday.

He is most known for his performance as the titular character in Laurence Olivier's 1960s production of Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya." It's also the first performance I ever saw from Redgrave, and I saw it for the first time at the age of 17.

After watching it two more times in the past year, l've found how much my attitude towards this play has shifted. For one thing, I actually like the play now and l've found that there's a lot of sarcasm and unsaid yet universally understood meanings in the dialogue. I've now reached the point where the play is my reminder to take risks in life and to not leave things uncertain out of fear.

I don't think I could've come to this conclusion if Vanya hadn't been portrayed by someone like Redgrave. In fact, even when I first saw this play at 17, I didn't feel I was watching an actor; I felt the character was incredibly real.

Watching Redgrave as Vanya always feels like the first breath of fresh air as the earth is reborn in the spring. It is truly the quintessential Redgrave performance to watch in order to understand just how worthy he is of his high status in the history of theatre.

In this clip from the beginning of "Uncle Vanya," Vanya is ranting about his brother-in-law in a conversation with a doctor played by Laurence Olivier. The dialogue is simply fascinating, in my opinion, even if I don't necessarily agree with every point. The way Vanya burns his BIL by saying, "One feels sorry for the paper he writes on." The loving and delicate way Vanya describes his dearly departed sister. The interesting point he makes on fidelity. It's just all so so beautiful and fascinating, and Redgrave performs it all magnificently 🥹

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

Happy 117th to Michael Redgrave!

What a swell guy 🥹

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

Many happy returns to Patrick McGoohan, and may the sun shine on him today and every day 🥺

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

Birthday remembrance - Patrick McGoohan #botd

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

Today is March 19th, which means it's McGoohan Day.

I had to choose between quoting song lyrics in the most embarrassing way possible and get six notes from my kind followers, or putting a rebel into a coffee table book, which looks like a PowerPoint presentation at times, and hope I don’t end up doing a podcast next.

I chose the later and spent over eight days photoshopping stock photo watermark out of my blorbo’s nose.

I asked myself “Is that everything you can do for Patrick McGoohan?”

Patrick McGoohan, who defined and redefined the word “star” long before it means the same thing as an unskippable ad.

Patrick McGoohan, who shaped and reshaped the future of television for generations to come.

Patrick McGoohan, whose acting, writing and directing have mesmerized, terrified and inspired audience across every cultural, social and political barrier imaginable.

Patrick McGoohan, who was too big for his time and yet too small.

The marvelous and rebellious Patrick McGoohan.

There’s not much I can do, you see. And I don't mean it in a bad way.

Please remember not to take anything I say at midnight too seriously, except when I say "Happy heavenly birthday to my unblorbo!"

And now my hiatus has to start all over again.

Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about graphic design, you can easily guess which ones are “professional” designs I got from some magazines online and which ones are mine. And Tumblr only allows up to 30 photos per post so there are only that many McGoohan stereotypes thrown at his face on his birthday today.

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

Omg you are too sweet for this!

I personally always liked the gift Graham chose as he not only did as he preached (which was that it’s ridiculous that objects, etc. should have a gender attached to them), but it reminded me of my maternal grandmother, who was my best friend and my greatest supporter until her death when I was a kid.

My grandmother was a private primary school principal for 20 years in Iran prior to the revolution, and she always said that the greatest skill a child could ever have is a strong imagination. For this reason, she worked very hard to teach me how to read before I started school and she heavily encouraged any form of play which involved creating stories, whether with dolls or make-believe. I now write stories for recreation, which isn’t an easy task, but it’s one I enjoy and I owe that to my grandmother.

When I was really little, my grandmother frequently bought me antique editions of children’s books, which were occasionally accompanied by a matching stuffed animal. One of those books happened to be Peter Rabbit and a hand-sized stuffed rabbit came alongside it, and I think that’s why this segment with Graham means so much to me 🥹

Graham & Peter Rabbit <33 (a fanart by me)

(or, Graham holding a Peter Rabbit Plushie 🐇🐰🧥🥕🧸<33)

for @thegirlborninthelate90s :))❤️❤️

fanart inspired by Graham in the 1985 Christmas Special of “The Mind of David Berglas”, in which Graham was given this :

(for context, Graham chose the Peter Rabbit book to give to a sick child in a hospital whilst everyone else in the Christmas Special had chosen a toy. Idk I thought that was quite cute and wholesome of him to do frfr <33 🥰🥰💕💕)

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

(insert photo compilation of Graham Chapman being ✨💕real cute and handsome💕✨ in the David Burglass/“The Mind of David Burglass” 1985 Christmas Day Special)

What we’ve got here is a whole journey of Graham entering the show with one injured hand and leaving with two injured hands, in addition to one blown mind…yet somehow the injuries he suffered here are more than the injuries he suffered while performing as Arthur “Bomber” Harris in his 40s 👁️👄👁️ /sarc

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

Fave Graham Chapman pictures and why?

Sorry for the late response! I didn’t even notice I had a new ask!

I have many favorites when it comes to Graham. I mostly like his photos from the 1980s, since I’m not a huge fan of his Mireille Mathieu hairstyle from the 1970s. I also think he was more himself and more free, for lack of a better word, in the 1980s; he was living a healthier lifestyle, he was sober (albeit from an ongoing addiction, but he was handling it very well), his son was managing most of his work, he was constantly working on solo projects and keeping his name out there. In short, he was at his best. That isn’t to say I don’t appreciate photos of him in prior decades, but I truly believe 1980s Graham is the best Graham and is also the most underrated Graham. Usually, when the other Pythons talk about him, they’re talking about an unhealthy man who had completely lost control within his alcohol addiction and was very close to irreversible liver damage; they never talk about who he was in the 1980s because they never bothered to look at him in any other light than the way he was when he was severely ill, even when they had the chance to see who he really was while “Yellowbeard” was being filmed. Therefore, I find it is the duty of every Graham Chapman historian to truly emphasize who he was in the 1980s, because 1980s Graham Chapman was not only the best Graham, but the real Graham.

My favorite genre of Graham photos tends to be photos that are incredibly crisp in quality (naturally though, not AI enhanced) (I wasn’t alive in order to have the chance of meeting Graham, so if a photo is in good quality, that’s the closest thing I have to seeing him in person 🥺) or if you can get a glimpse of his true self as he’s acting. A lot of Graham’s photos that I like are simply because they have good energy or vibes, as Graham had in general, but these photos just convey that energy more, in my opinion.

Tumblr only allows me to put 10 photos per post, so here are my current favorites:

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

Hiya!!

I was wondering,

Is the Bob McCabe biography on Graham Chapman (that being the book “The Life of Graham”) really THAT bad?

I humbly ask as I myself have the book but haven’t read it yet , (For context, I got that book + some of the other books related to Gray (except the Yellowbeard one which I AM planning to get soon) last year for Christmas as I just LOVE any content related to my boy Gray <33, and whilst I was kinda aware of the book’s….uhh…..*tut*…..mixed reception to put it lightly, I eventually decided to get the book just to see/read it and form my own opinions/thoughts on it, even if some of the aspects of the book were apparently kinda problematic, if ya’know what I mean? To paraphrase-ingly quote that line from “Life of Brian” (1979), “we’re all individuals, and we got to think for ourselves”.) , and I just wanted to know your personal opinions on the book itself!

Hope that isn’t an issue or anything, I just wanted to know your thoughts on the book as a fellow Gray Chapman fan, that’s all :))👍 !!

TW: 18+, alleged p*dophilia/inc*st

One thing I’ve learnt about Graham is that we should all make our own decisions about matters which should be separate from what society wants us to think; in short, he was a fierce advocate of critical thinking and maintaining our own individuality in a world that pressures us to conform.

It is for this reason that I decided to read the biography even though I knew I wouldn’t agree with its contents.

After reading the first chapter, I found that I couldn’t go on. The first chapter was mostly retold by Graham’s brother, whose tone resembled that of a person claiming that he was the inspiration behind every thought and idea that came across Graham’s head. These are the passages which made me think his brother’s quotes had some tone of jealousy involved:

As I read further, the chapter about Graham’s fatherhood made me want to burn the book (the book was on Internet Archive though, so that was impossible, but I fervently disagree with book burning, so that should tell you how infuriated I was). Even Bernard McKenna had made it seem that Graham’s relationship with his son was predatory, p*dophilic, and inc*stuous, which infuriates me because I have a newspaper clipping from the 1990s where John said he knew what rumors existed about him and Graham but that they had homophobic origins and that Graham was merely a father to him. So for this book to publish this lie after both Graham and John’s deaths is like they’re bypassing them and just saying whatever. What infuriates me even more is how David Sherlock let this be published, but deep down, I know this is not my battle to fight and I never got the impression that Graham was the type of person to hold grudges against people. I used to fight against the rumors a lot on twitter but this is not my battle, and I just had to remind myself of the Persian saying, “He who doesn’t know but doesn’t know that he doesn’t know will be eternally lost in his hopeless oblivion.” This is McKenna’s passage (which clearly indicates David’s knowledge of what was said), and afterwards is the newspaper clipping (I’m guessing it’s from The Sun but Graham had done an interview before with Mike Housego, the journalist involved in this interview below) from John after Graham’s death which shows the family dynamic after Graham died and what John and Graham’s relationship was like:

My overall conclusion from the book is that it is mostly from word of mouth of people who all had emotionally charged things to say about Graham based on their own prejudices and attitudes towards Graham. It is not something one should read if they want something accurate. It is only helpful in learning how his surroundings thought of him, and it is quite sad, in that light.

It is a biography, but it has no right being an authorized one, and it infuriates me that David Sherlock allowed it to be as such. He has no right to be a keeper of Graham’s legacy because of this book, if you ask me (Graham might forgiven and forgotten David’s actions if he were alive, but, although I can forgive, I can never forget…clearly 🥲).

I will say though that Graham would’ve wanted you to read the book and form your own thoughts on it. But if you are like me and the book ends up only infuriating you, remember that you don’t have to finish it.

(I won’t put Graham’s hashtag here because I don’t want this content to be in a place which should be filled with silly things, as he would’ve wanted)

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

I always wondered what Graham Chapman’s mum (who was called Edith) looked like irl? Ya’know, aside from the cartoon/illustrated images showing his mum (as well as his dad) in the book “A Liar’s Autobiography”. Whilst there are certainly some pics of Gray’s dad Walter online, I haven’t FOR THE LIFE OF ME seen ANY photo even showing the SIDE of Gray’s mum Edith.

Since you are The Local Graham Chapman Historian Wizard™️, I was wondering if you could possibly help me on this lil conundrum of mine by helping in finding at least a photo or 2 of Gray’s mum Edith irl pretty please? That would SOSO kind of you frfr!!

(Fr I need to know what she looks cuz as I always kinda imagined her being a blonde/brunette Glasses-wearing Pepperpot or smth lol (unless she IS actually a blonde/brunette Glasses-wearing Pepperpot irl, in which case that’s pretty cool!!))

(lol although that last part could just be me thinking that she probably looks a bit like her animated portrayal in the film version of “A Liar’s Autobiography” (2012), not EXACTLY like her animated portrayal but some parts of her design-wise could have been inspired from irl that carried onto the animated portrayal I mean! Again it’s just a theory haha!)

Edith Towers (April 14, 1907-July 19, 1989) was indeed quite an elusive lady, as it is insanely difficult to find photographs or any type of footage of her. I have managed to find some footage from Graham’s Super 8 film camera archive on YouTube, but below is a compilation of who are believed to be Graham’s parents:

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

If you ever made an analysis/retrospective video on YouTube about Graham Arthur Chapman called “Graham Chapman : A Deep Dive” (or smth like that in terms of titles idk lol) that explored in deep depth about the Life of Graham (his time during the Monty Python years, his sexuality and relationships, his alcoholism, his other non-Python activities and stuff he did outside of Python, etc) then I’d TOTES watch it frfr!!!

I think it’d be pretty good (nay, AWESOME actually) for you to possibly do (cuz you is imo The Certified Local Graham Chapman Historian Wizard™️) and I’d just LOVE any content on and about Graham frfr!!

If you’re comfortable making that kinda video, then go for it!! But if not, then dw it’s cool :))👍 I just thought it’d be a pretty neat idea for you to possibly do!!

As someone who loves getting new Graham content, I totally understand your perspective, and the idea of making a video of some kind on Graham history sounds super intriguing, but I’m not very good in front of the camera. Perhaps I could do voiceovers on compilations of evidence I’ve picked up on regarding Graham, but overall, I think there’s a bigger problem.

I do not have rights over any of the content I share, whether they’re newspaper clippings, information from books, photos from Getty/Alamy/etc…the list goes on. I am not as familiar with copyright laws (I unfortunately didn’t have enough time to take those classes while I was in law school) so I can’t tell what is crossing the line and what isn’t, and my biggest fear is my video being blocked for copyright infringement when I am trying to obtain my license to become an attorney. As much as I’m upset by David Sherlock’s involvement in the Bob McCabe biography about Graham, it is ultimately important for me to not get on his bad side as well.

Perhaps I can find a middle ground where my lack of rights won’t restrict how I share what I know about Graham, but for now, I’ll just be posting about him on Twitter and Tumblr from time to time or whenever I see anyone has any questions about him.

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

On February 24, 1980, an episode aired on ITV from a program called "Gay Life" which specifically concentrated on child custody and adoption amongst those identifying as LGBQTIA+ and the difficulties they faced in that matter at that time. Below is a link to the full episode on YouTube:

The end of the episode looked at Graham Chapman, his partner, David Sherlock, and his son, John Tomiczek, who became Graham's ward at the age of 14 (by the time this episode aired, John had turned 23, but as Graham himself pointed out in this clip, even when one's child becomes of age, one never stops being a parent).

As Graham points out in this clip, he was never able to legally adopt John but merely became his guardian after an agreement between himself and John's biological father (John's mother had died for quite some time prior to John meeting Graham), but their relationship was a close one which clearly didn't need any legal documents to prove was truly a father-son relationship.

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

Ask and ye shall receive:

If you want to skip ahead to Graham’s part, it starts around the 15-minute mark. I will post a video of Graham’s part for those who can’t open the YouTube video separately as Tumblr hates me 🫠 (or at least my phone 🤷🏻‍♀️)

Below is some context as to the entire video, particularly Graham’s part in it:

🏳️‍🌈❤️ David & Graham ❤️🏳️‍🌈

(this seems to be from an interview of sorts judging by the quality of the pic (suggesting that it’s from an interview or documentary or something, and also cuz the pic must be from at least the year 1979(ish) as Gray’s wearing his Warner Bros/Bugs Bunny jacket!) but I’m not sure which one? If anyone can help me out on finding where exactly this image is from, that would be so incredibly helpful and kind of you frfr!! Thank you <33)

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

Graham and David had two dogs which were called Harry and Towser (they both looked almost exactly alike though, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you who was who if my life depended on it). There was also Florence, a stray cat who once came over to Graham and David’s place in Highgate because of the cold and made the executive decision to stay forever, but photographs of her are often a rare find.

Graham & David : Doggie 🐶 Parents

(what da dog doin’ ?)

Aww so cuuuute (I loooove tiny dogs) Do your know the dog's name ?

That dog is clearly doing a magic trick 🃏🃏🃏🃏

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

Thoughts on the surreal animated Graham Chapman biopic film “A Liar’s Autobiography” (2012)*?

(*which was in turn loosely based on Graham’s comical 1980 autobiography of the same name)

If I’m being quite honest, I haven’t seen it. You see, I’m about halfway through the autobiography itself, but I can never bring myself to finish autobiographies or biographies because it makes me sad when they end, as they usually symbolize the end of that person’s life. For Graham, that’s not what it symbolizes, fortunately, but I’m still rather slow to finish books of that genre regardless, so the plan is to watch that film after I finish the book…eventually…😬

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

Give me Top 10 interesting facts about Graham Arthur Chapman.

Aaaaaaannnnndddddd GO!

Oh god…this feels a bit open-ended and I don’t know what is expected that hasn’t been mentioned before, so I’ll writing what *I* think are fun facts about him, I guess, with the good and the sad 🤷🏻‍♀️ This means the information I put here aren’t going to necessarily be about commonly known facts about him, but rather information that requires a bit of further digging.

(This isn’t ranked most to least interesting btw. This is just how I’m organizing everything. I am, after all, a Virgo moon and rising.)

1) Around the time Graham’s cancer had spread to his spine, he first found out something was wrong when he had gone out to pickup Chinese takeaway and he noticed that his legs were wobbly as he walked, because he couldn’t tell where his legs were, even though he could feel with them. Later, he had his son do an experiment on the sole of his foot: John had to scratch the bottom of Graham’s foot and Graham’s toe would’ve had to have gone down (somewhat like how, when the doctor bangs your knee, your lower legs kicks by itself). However, Graham’s toe went up instead of down, and this was when Graham found out something was wrong with his spine. (This is really sad, I admit that, but I always found it cool how he self-diagnosed himself, in a way, and I appreciate how he shared this prior to his death for us to recognize simple signs of something being wrong with our spine too which we never would’ve thought of otherwise…a true doctor through and through 🥺)

2) There is a Christmas TV special with David Berglas, who invited four celebrities, one of them being Graham, and in the end, they all had to choose something to give a sick child in a children’s hospital as a Christmas present. The thing that struck me was how, while everyone else chose a toy of some sort, Graham was the only one who chose a book (and it was Peter Rabbit), which I felt was quite revealing about his character.

3) When Graham bought his home in Kent, he had taken up the habit of painting. Apparently, after he passed away, David Sherlock showed Michael Palin an oil painting Graham had done of a gate in his garden.

4) Speaking of Graham’s home in Kent, he had arctic roses there, and David said that those were his favorite in the garden.

5) Graham mentioned that, amongst Python, he felt he was the most similar to Eric (in his own words, he said Eric was likely his “parallel” in the group), except that he acknowledged they were polar opposites when it came to trusting others. These were his words on the matter:

“I think Eric expects people to be devious, where I expect them to be straightforward. I’m stupidly trusting, and Eric’s unduly suspicious.” (from the book, “Graham Crackers”)

6) In 1986, Graham was actually in the process of writing a musical about the Jeremy Thorpe trial, with the goal of making everything camp. Unfortunately nothing came of it, but just the fact that he came up with such an idea…😚🤌🏻✨

7) Someone once asked Graham how he felt about Benny Hill, and Graham allegedly threatened to defenestrate them, which…honestly, considering Hill’s sense of humor, is such a mood.

8) Graham was very into cooking elaborate meals, which would take him a few days to complete. The meals themselves were usually simple, but Graham just took a lot of time in making them. According to Michael Palin, his meals were usually a lot more delicious than the style in which they were served.

9) Graham’s favorite Beatles album was “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” but his favorite album overall was John Lennon’s “Imagine.” Truly a man of taste (particularly regarding Sgt Pepper).

10) This isn’t so much about Graham as it is about his dad. His father was born on November 11, 1911…so basically, 11/11/11. Impossible to forget 😅 I just always thought that was pretty neat. Graham’s parents were somewhat akin to helicopter parents, but Graham was rather close to his father, particularly since he was the first out of the parents to be accepting of Graham’s sexuality.

11) [you can’t expect a Graham Chapman fan to follow rules] It often bothers me how other Pythons and people Graham worked with or knew complain about how Graham was a ‘freeloader’ when, after becoming sober, he proved just how much of a hard-worker he was during “Life of Brian.” The dude was out in the sun all day in the titular role, then served as the set doctor. In fact, even David mentioned that Graham could be quite disciplined, perhaps even more so than other Pythons in that he was really good at multitasking. He truly became much more hardworking after becoming sober, but no one really talks about that, because they didn’t trust that he had changed and they rarely gave him the opportunity to prove himself.

12) As I’m now full-blown cheating in this challenge, here’s a bingo card I made awhile back which is a rudimentary summary of Graham’s personality:

[Sorry this took so long; Graham has a lot of interesting tidbits to limit down to 10]

[thegirlborninthelate90s]

Hiya!! I was wondering if you possibly have the full image of this pic of Graham Chapman in a striped shirt leaning down please? (like the one shown below 👇👇👇, but specifically the FULL full image, including Graham’s legs as well)

Uhh thank you <33

I gotchu 😎👉🏻👉🏻