Poets, Comedians and Movie Stars Among Those Hit By Disorder

Dylan Thomas, regarded as one of the greatest poets of all time, suffered from manic depression. He drank himself to death at the age of just 39.

Comedian Stephen Fry spoke frankly about his experiences of bipolar disorder in the two-part BBC documentary Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive.

He spoke of attempting suicide after walking out of the West End play Cellmates in 1995, and the continuing severe mood swings he has to endure.

Comedian Spike Milligan suffered a breakdown during the Goon Show. He co-wrote a book – Depression and How to Survive It.

Hollywood actor Ben Stiller, star of such films as There’s Something About Mary, Zoolander and Meet the Parents, told a magazine in 2001: “I have not been an easygoing guy. I think it’s called bipolar manic depression. I’ve got a rich history of that in my family.”

Poet Sylvia Plath’s journals reveal how she experienced bipolar disorder. One entry said: “It is as if my life were magically run by two electric currents – joyous and positive, and despairing and negative.”

Many believe that former Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s achievements were a result of his bipolar disorder. Historian Anthony Storr wrote: “Had he been a stable and equable man, he could never have inspired the nation. In 1940, when all the odds were against Britain, a leader of sober judgement might well have concluded that we were finished.”

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