He has also had roles in the films Chariots of Fire (1981), A Fish Called Wanda (1988), The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), V for Vendetta (2005), and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011).

The revue caught the attention of Granada Television, who, keen to replicate the success of the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News, hired Fry, Laurie and Thompson to star alongside Ben Elton in There's Nothing to Worry About!

[49] Fry is a long-standing fan of the anarchic British musical comedy group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and particularly of its eccentric front man, the late Vivian Stanshall.

Fry helped to fund a 1988 London re-staging of Stanshall's Stinkfoot, a Comic Opera, written by Vivian and Ki Longfellow-Stanshall for the Bristol-based Old Profanity Showboat.

When writing a book review for Tatler, Fry wrote under a pen name, Williver Hendry, editor of A Most Peculiar Friendship: The Correspondence of Lord Alfred Douglas and Jack Dempsey, a field close to his heart as an Oscar Wilde enthusiast.

[52] Fry was cast in a lead role in Simon Gray's 1995 play Cell Mates, which he left three days into the West End run, pleading stage fright.

[53] A year later, Fry starred in David Yates' small independent film The Tichborne Claimant, and in 2001, he played the detective in Robert Altman's period costume drama, Gosford Park.

[56] He has also read for Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film tie-in edition and has made recordings of his own books, such as The Stars' Tennis Balls and Moab Is My Washpot, and of works by Roald Dahl, Michael Bond, A.

In the same year, in V for Vendetta, he played a closeted TV presenter who challenges a fascist state - the screenwriters, The Wachowskis, pointed out that it was Fry's "normalcy" in the face of the insanity of the censorship of BTV that made his character truly powerful and added a "wholly unexpected dimension to the film".

[77][78] He also narrates a section of Bungie's Destiny 2 (2017) expansion Warmind as the "Concierge"; an AI that, when interacted with at certain points, will give the player background information on Bray Exoscience.

[92] He also appeared as a shiny New Millennium Bonzo on their post-reunion album, Pour l'Amour des Chiens, on which he recited a recipe for "Salmon Proust", played a butler in "Hawkeye the Gnu", and voiced ads for the fictitious "Fiasco" stores.

[106][107] In August 2013, he lent his voice to the title role in Benjamin Britten's operetta Paul Bunyan at the Wales Millennium Centre with the Welsh National Youth Opera.

[110] At the 2012 Pride of Britain Awards shown on ITV on 30 October, Fry, along with Michael Caine, Elton John, Richard Branson and Simon Cowell, recited Rudyard Kipling's poem "If—" in tribute to the 2012 British Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

[125] Fry said of his patronage, "I'm proud and delighted to be patron of the first audiobook charity to offer downloads to its members and excited about what this will mean for all print impaired people who can now listen on-the-go.

[133] In September 2020, Fry was among the stars to mark the 100th anniversary of Sir Noël Coward's West End debut with a stage celebration titled "A Marvellous Party".

He won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture along with the ensemble of the Robert Altman directed murder mystery Gosford Park (2001).

For his work on Broadway he received two Tony Award nominations for Best Book of a Musical for Me and My Girl (1987) and Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Malvolio in the revival of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (2014).

"[153] In December 2006, he was ranked sixth for the BBC's Top Living Icon Award,[154] was featured on The Culture Show, and was voted Most Intelligent Man on Television by readers of Radio Times.

[155] Later the same month, he was announced as the 2007 Mind Champion of the Year,[1] in recognition of the success of his documentary The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive in raising awareness of bipolar disorder.

[168] In 2021, Fry was appointed a Grand Commander of the Order of the Phoenix by Greek president Katerina Sakellaropoulou for his contribution in enhancing knowledge about Greece in the United Kingdom and reinforcing ties between the two countries.

[202] Fry was among over 100 signatories to a statement published by Sense about Science on 4 June 2009, condemning British libel laws and their use to "severely curtail the right to free speech on a matter of public interest".

The original sentence reads, "True literature can exist only when it is created, not by diligent and reliable officials, but by madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels and skeptics.

[230] In 1995, while appearing in the West End play Cell Mates, Fry had a nervous breakdown and walked out of the production, causing its early closure and incurring the displeasure of co-star Rik Mayall and playwright Simon Gray.

[244] On 14 September 2023, Fry was taken to hospital after he fell about 6 ft (1.8 m) onto a concrete floor, when exiting the stage following a conference on artificial intelligence at The O2 Arena in Greenwich; he had sustained injuries to his ribs and legs.

[251][non-primary source needed] In 2009, The Guardian published a letter from Fry addressing his younger self, explaining how his future is soon to unfold, reflecting on the positive progression towards gay acceptance and openness around him, and yet not everywhere, while warning on how "the cruel, hypocritical and loveless hand of religion and absolutism has fallen on the world once more".

[252] Later that year, he and Christopher Hitchens participated in an "Intelligence Squared" debate in which they argued against Ann Widdecombe and Archbishop John Onaiyekan, who supported the view that the Catholic Church was a force for good.

"[268] He used his influence to recommend underexposed musicians and authors (who often saw large increases in web hits and sales)[269][270] and to raise awareness of contemporary issues in the world of media and politics, notably the dropping of an injunction against The Guardian[271][272] and public anger over Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir's article on the death of Boyzone member Stephen Gately.

He commemorated the million-followers milestone with a humorous video blog in which a 'Step Hen Fry' clone speaks from the year 2034, where MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have combined to form 'Twit on MyFace'.

[294] In 2016, Fry launched Pindex, "a self-funded online platform that creates and curates educational videos and infographics for teachers and students," founded and run by a four-person team.

[306] In the lighthearted sketch, Fry reprises his Blackadder character Lord Melchett, who is on a Zoom call with the then Duke of Cambridge as they talk about television shows such as EastEnders and Tiger King as well as homeschooling.