Vivian Stanshall

Active - 1967 - 1997  |   Born - Mar 21, 1943   |   Died - Mar 5, 1995   |   Genres - Fantasy, Comedy, Drama

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Biography by AllMovie

Best known for leading the innovative, comical Bonzo Dog Band in the mid-'60s, British pop artist Vivian Stanshall was also involved with a couple of feature films. He debuted with the aforementioned group in the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour (1967). After the band's 1970 breakup, Stanshall went on to form other groups, including Viv and His Gargantuan Chums and Gerry Attric and His Aging Orchestra. During the early '70s, he hosted Viv Stanshall's Radio Flashes on the BBC network. Later in his career, he experimented with humorous spoken word recordings and radio plays, one of which, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, he adapted into a feature film starring Trevor Howard. Stanshall made one of his last acting appearances in the posthumously-released Middleton's Changeling (1997).