Tony Hendra

Tony Hendra was a British writer, humorist, and actor.

Hendra was best known to American film audiences as Ian Faith, the blundering band manager in Rob Reiner's 1984 mockumentary This is Spinal Tap.

Hendra began writing and performing comedy while a student at Cambridge University, working alongside future members of the Monty Python troupe. In 1964, he and his performing partner, Nick Ullett, took their comedy stage act to the United States, where he regularly began performing stand-up comedy, writing and editing for various publications, as well as acting and publishing books.

Hendra, who had written for the British comedy series That Was The Week That Was, eventually moved into television writing in the U.S., including the Hugh Hefner-hosted Playboy After Dark, and ABC's short-lived pop/rock series, Music Scene.

Hendra began writing at National Lampoon magazine and was named managing editor in 1971. Within a year, Hendra had written, directed and produced the Lampoon's highest-profile project to date, the Off Broadway satirical revue National Lampoon's Lemmings.

Hendra wrote and co-produced episodes of the British comedy series Spitting Image. Subsequent writing credits include the 1996 comedy The Great White Hype (with Samuel L. Jackson, Jeff Goldblum, and Damon Wayans). As an actor, he had roles in the Whoopi Goldberg comedy Jumpin' Jack Flash (1996), and TV shows Miami Vice, Suits, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and others.

Hendra published a memoir about his spiritual awakening in 2004 called Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul.

Hendra died March 4, 2021, in Yonkers, New York. He was 79.