Terry Gilliam (full name Terrence Vance Gilliam) is a British director, screenwriter, producer, artist, animator and actor. In his youth, he was one of the members of the famous comic group "Monty Python". Gilliam began his directing career in 1968 with the short film "Time for Tales".
The creative biography of the famous and controversial director today numbers about twenty full-length films. He has also written twenty-six films and produced four films.
Biography facts
Gilliam is known not only as a director, but also as an actor who has starred in many films. Terry's acting career began with the Monty Python: Flying Circus project. This was followed by work in a number of films together with the comedy group "Monty Python", where Terry was one of the main participants for several years.
Gilliam's directorial work has always caused a wave of discussion and controversy. Someone considers them masterpieces, for someone they remain incomprehensible.
During his creative career, Gilliam was repeatedly nominated for numerous cinematographic awards. He became a laureate of many film festivals.
Since 1982, Terry has received awards: Saturn, Cannes Film Festival, British Academy, Oscar, Venice Film Festival, Golden Globe, Berlin Film Festival, International Film Critics Association, European Film Academy.
For the past few years, almost nothing has been heard about Gilliam. In 2018, at the Cannes Film Festival, he presented his new work, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. The film again surprised fans of Gilliam's talent and received very mixed reviews from film critics.
early years
The boy was born in the United States in the fall of 1940. His father worked as a representative for one of the coffee companies. Later, he became involved in carpentry, because of which the family was forced to move to the suburbs of Los Angeles.
During his school years, Terry became interested in drawing, he was promised a brilliant career as an artist. At school, the young man was one of the most diligent students, he was even elected president of the class.
After completing his primary education, Gilliam continued his studies at the university at the Faculty of Political Science, graduating with a bachelor's degree.
In his student years, he did not stop doing creative work, he painted a lot. His work has regularly appeared in the youth publications of the university.
After a while, Gilliam was invited to the Help! Publishing house, where he worked as an illustrator for several years. There he met a reporter from England, John Cleese, who played a big role in the fate of Terry. It was he who invited the young man to become a member of the comedy group "Monty Python".
Creative way
In the late 60s, John Cleese helped Terry move to England and obtain British citizenship. For some time Gilliam worked in London as an animator, in the program “Don't Turn the Tuning Knob”. There he met all the future members of the Monty Python group. After the project was closed, he began performing with them in the show.
Gilliam appeared in cinema in the early 1970s. He has performed several film roles with the Monty Python group. After the collapse of the collective, Gilliam continued to be creative and wrote his first script for the film "Jabberwock". This was followed by work on projects: "Bandits of Time", "Brazil", "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen".
In the early 1990s, Gilliam made films: The Fisher King, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 12 Monkeys.
In the 2000s, his new films were released: The Brothers Grimm, The Land of the Tides, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Zerro's Theorem, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
Personal life
Gilliam's wife in 1973 was makeup artist Meggie Weston. They met during the successful performance of the Monty Python group.
Terry and Maggie have three children: Holly, Amy and Harry.
The family lives in England for several months a year, and spends most of the time in their own home in Italy.
