TERRENCE V. GILLIAM & THE MONTY PYTHON TROUPE

Today, The Grandma has been watching some movies directed by Terry Gilliam, the British filmmaker, comedian, animator and actor, who was born on a day like today in 1940.

Terrence Vance Gilliam (22 November 1940) is a British filmmaker, comedian, animator and actor. 

He gained stardom as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe alongside John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and Graham Chapman.

Together they collaborated on the sketch series Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969-1974) and the films Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, which Gilliam directed as well), Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983).

In 1988, they received the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema.

Gilliam transitioned to directing serious films with themes exploring imagination and oppositions to bureaucracy and authoritarianism. 

His films are sometimes set in dystopian worlds and involve black comedy and tragicomedic elements. He has directed 13 feature films, including Time Bandits (1981), Brazil (1985), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), The Fisher King (1991), 12 Monkeys (1995), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), The Brothers Grimm (2005), Tideland (2005), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), The Zero Theorem (2013), and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018), as well as the aforementioned Python Holy Grail movie. In addition, he was a writer and/or co-director for several of the other Monty Python films.

Gilliam was born in Minnesota, but spent his high school and college years in Los Angeles. He started his career as an animator and strip cartoonist. He joined Monty Python as the animator of their works, but eventually became a full member and was given acting roles. The only Monty Python member not born in Britain, Gilliam became a naturalised British citizen in 1968 and formally renounced his American citizenship in 2006.

More information: Terry Gilliam Web

Terry Gilliam was born on 22 November 1940 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Beatrice (née Vance) and James Hall Gilliam.

Gilliam graduated from Occidental College in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science.

Gilliam began his career as an animator and strip cartoonist. One of his early photographic strips for the US magazine Help! featured future Python cast member John Cleese.

Gilliam was a member of Monty Python's Flying Circus from its outset, credited at first as an animator (his name was listed separately after the other five in the closing credits) and later as a full member.

In 1975, Gilliam began his career as a director by co-directing Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Terry Jones.Gilliam says he used to think of his films in terms of trilogies, starting with Time Bandits. The Trilogy of Imagination, written by Gilliam, about the ages of man, consisted of Time Bandits (1981), Brazil (1985), and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988).

Gilliam made his opera debut at London's English National Opera (ENO) in May 2011, directing The Damnation of Faust, by Hector Berlioz.

Gilliam has been involved with a number of charitable and humanitarian causes.

In 2009, he became a board member of Videre Est Credere (Latin for to see is to believe), a UK human rights charity. Videre describes itself as giving local activists the equipment, training and support needed to safely capture compelling video evidence of human rights violations. This captured footage is verified, analysed and then distributed to those who can create change. He participates alongside movie producer Uri Fruchtmann, music producer Brian Eno and executive director of Greenpeace UK John Sauven.

More information: Instagram-Terry Gilliam

 You get trapped by stories.
Though I've got this reputation for being out of control,
it's not true, it just happens to be
a more interesting story than the truth.

 

Terry Gilliam