Editing John Fortune (section)

== Career ==
Fortune's early work included contributions to [[Peter Cook]]'s [[The Establishment (club)|Establishment Club]] team<ref name="Kennedy"/> 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 (actor)|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 (satirist)|John Wells]], he published the comic novel ''[[A Melon for Ecstasy]]'', about a man who consummates his love affair with a tree. He appeared with [[Peter Sellers]] in a [[Barclays Bank]] television commercial in 1980, shortly before Sellers' death.

Along with writing several series for the [[BBC]], in 1982 Fortune 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, he starred with [[Warren Mitchell]] and [[Ken Campbell (actor)|Ken Campbell]] in ''[[Art (play)|Art]]'' at [[Wyndham's Theatre]] in [[West End theatre|London's West End]].<ref name="Kennedy"/> He also appeared in the films ''[[Take a Girl Like You (film)|Take A Girl Like You]]'' (1970), in which he shared a TV debate with John Bird, [[Kenny Everett]]'s horror spoof ''[[Bloodbath at the House of Death]]'' (1984), ''[[England, My England]]'' (1995), ''[[Maybe Baby (2000 film)|Maybe Baby]]'' (2000), and ''[[Saving Grace (2000 film)|Saving Grace]]'' (2000), and had a guest part in the sitcom ''[[Joking Apart]].'' 

In 1993, Fortune and Bird began co-starring with [[Rory Bremner]] in the sketch show ''Rory Bremner...Who Else?'' on [[Channel 4]]. In 1999, the show changed its name to ''[[Bremner, Bird and Fortune]]'' and continued until 2010, receiving several [[BAFTA]] nominations along the way.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bafta.org/awards/television/nominations/?year=2002|title=BAFTA Television Awards|work=bafta.org|date=31 July 2014 |accessdate=10 March 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bafta.org/awards/television/nominations/?year=2001|title=BAFTA Television Awards|work=bafta.org|date=31 July 2014 |accessdate=10 March 2015}}</ref>

Fortune's other work with John Bird included their series of satirical sketches ''The Long Johns'', in which one interviewed the other, the latter being in the guise of a senior figure such as a politician, businessman or government consultant. The sketches earned several BAFTA award nominations, winning the Television Light Entertainment Performance award in 1997.<ref name="BAFTA1997">{{cite web|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1997/television/light-entertainment-performance|title=BAFTA Awards – Television {{!}} Light Entertainment Performance in 1997|publisher=[[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]]|access-date=1 January 2014}}</ref> In one episode, they were two of the very first to predict the [[2008 financial crisis]] during an episode of ''[[The South Bank Show]]'' broadcast on 14 October 2007.<ref name=Prophecy>{{cite web|url=http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/james22| title=The Marx Renaissance|publisher= Project Syndicate|author= James, Harold |date= 25 December 2008|access-date= 31 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tv.com/the-south-bank-show/the-last-laugh-john-bird-and-john-fortune/episode/1157860/reviews.html |title=The Last Laugh: John Bird and John Fortune Reviews |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604120231/http://www.tv.com/the-south-bank-show/the-last-laugh-john-bird-and-john-fortune/episode/1157860/reviews.html |archive-date= 4 June 2011 }}</ref> In Fortune's latter years, he featured in the [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] sitcom ''[[Ed Reardon's Week]]'', playing the head of a literary agency and as theatrical agent Mel Simons in a 2008 episode of ''[[New Tricks]]''.

Fortune died on 31 December 2013, aged 74.<ref name=SkyNews/><ref>{{Cite news | title=Comedian John Fortune dies aged 74 | url= http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-12-31/comedian-john-fortune-dies-aged-74/ | work=[[ITV News]]|date= 31 December 2013| access-date=5 May 2020}}</ref> His agent Vivienne Clore said he died peacefully, with his wife Emma and dog Grizelle at his bedside.<ref name=SkyNews>{{cite news|title=Comedian John Fortune Dies Aged 74 |url=http://news.sky.com/story/1188861/comedian-john-fortune-dies-aged-74 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131231175655/http://news.sky.com/story/1188861/comedian-john-fortune-dies-aged-74 |url-status=dead |archive-date=31 December 2013 |publisher=[[Sky News]] |date=31 December 2013 |access-date=31 December 2013 }}</ref>