John Cleese dating woman half his age

London, July 21 (IANS) Legendary British comedic actor John Cleese is dating an American marketing executive half his age.

Cleese, who has starred in the "Monty Python" series, is 68 years old and has fallen for the 34-year-old Veronica Smiley. The couple are spending a romantic holiday in Italy's Great Lakes but Cleese seems a bit concerned about the relationship because he resides in London and Smiley calls Chicago home, reports thesun.co.uk.

Cleese said: "Veronica is incredibly bright. I never thought I would be interested in somebody in marketing but she is so acute. I am not sure when we'll be seeing each other again. Unfortunately, we are living very far apart."

Cleese is also in the process of divorcing his third wife Alyce Faye Eichelberger. They separated in January after being married for 16 years.

Veronica said: "At the moment it is a very close, very warm friendship. John is very stimulating and extremely funny and charming. I'm American and had never heard of 'Monty Python' or 'Fawlty Towers', although I had seen 'A Fish Called Wanda'."