Christopher Guest

Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948), is a British/American comedian, actor, writer, director, composer, and musician known as Christopher Guest. He is known for having written, directed and starred in several mockumentary films, and most recently the non-mockumentary For Your Consideration.

Biography

Early life

Guest was born in New York City, the son of Peter Haden-Guest, a United Nations diplomat who later became 4th Baron Haden-Guest, and his second wife, Jean Pauline Hindes, a CBS executive. Guest's maternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia,^[1][2] while a paternal great-grandfather was Colonel Albert Goldsmid, an English Jew who founded the Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade.^[3] Guest spent parts of his childhood in his father's native England. Although both of his parents were born Jewish, they became atheists and Guest had no religious upbringing.^[1]

Career

Guest is well known for his portrayal of Nigel Tufnel in the mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap, and his stint as a cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live (1984-1985). Guest made his first appearance as Tufnel on the 1980 album Lenny and the Squigtones by "Lenny and Squiggy"' (comedians Michael McKean and David Lander) and appears as Tufnel most recently in a television ad for Volkswagen. He also appeared as Count Rugen in The Princess Bride, Charlie Ford in The Long Riders, Lord Cromer in Mrs. Henderson Presents and Dr. Stone in A Few Good Men. He had a cameo role as Dylan, a smarmy pedestrian, in the 1986 remake of The Little Shop of Horrors.

Recurring characters on SNL played by Guest include: Frankie, of Willie and Frankie (two co-workers who recount in detail physically painful situations in which they've found themselves); Herb Minkman, a shady novelty toymaker with a brother named Al (played by Billy Crystal); Rajeev Vindaloo, an eccentric foreign man in the same vein as Andy Kaufman's Latka character from Taxi; and Senor Cosa, a Spanish ventriloquist often seen on the recurring spoof of The Joe Franklin Show.

During his career he has written, acted in, and directed several heavily improvised films, frequently mockumentaries:

• The Big Picture (1989)
• Waiting for Guffman (1996) - as Corky St. Clair
• Best in Show (2000) - as Harlan Pepper
• A Mighty Wind (2003) - as Alan Barrows
• For Your Consideration (2006) - as Jay Berman

He also directed the 1998 comedy Almost Heroes; it is generally not considered his finest film.

Guest contributed to the National Lampoon Radio Hour in the early 1970s as well as various National Lampoon LPs. He both performed comic characters (Flash Bazbo-Space Explorer, Mr. Rogers, music critic Roger de Swans, and sleazy record company rep Ron Fields) and also wrote, arranged and performed numerous musical parodies.

Personal life

Guest married actress Jamie Lee Curtis in 1984 at the home of their mutual friend Rob Reiner. They have two adopted children: Anne (born 1986) and Thomas (born 1996). Guest became the 5th Baron Haden-Guest, of Saling in the County of Essex, when his father died in 1996. According to an article in The Guardian, Guest attended the House of Lords regularly until the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999 barred most hereditary peers from their seats. In the article Guest remarked:

As Guest's children are adopted, they cannot inherit the family barony under the terms of the letters patent that created it, though a 2004 Royal Warrant addressing the style of a peer's adopted children states that they can use courtesy titles. The current heir presumptive to the barony is Guest's brother, the actor Nicholas Haden-Guest.

Guest is sometimes off-putting in interviews and promotional appearances, ^{[not specific enough to verify]} as well as with people who have met him outside of the work environment, because contrary to expectations of him as a comedian he often seems deadpan, even dour.^{[citation needed]} Of this, Guest has said, "People want me to be funny all the time. They think I'm being funny no matter what I say or do and that's not the case. I rarely joke unless I'm in front of a camera. It's not what I am in real life. It's what I do for a living".

Footnotes

References

• Interview for release of A Mighty Wind
• Interview with Christopher Guest

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