British actor Terry Jones was made famous by the comedy show "Monty Python". However, the artist is also known as a composer, screenwriter and director, children's writer. He is also known as a popular historian.
The biography of Terence Graham Perry Jones began in 1942. The future artist was born in the town of Colvin Bay on the first day of February in the family of a bank clerk. In addition to Terry, the parents already had a child, Nigel.
Searching for the work of life
With a five-year-old toddler and eldest son, the adults moved to Claygette. At the Royal High School in Guildford, the younger Jones took a course. After completing his studies, the graduate decided to continue his education in Oxford, at St. Edmund's College. He studied English literature and language.
During his studies, the student met Michael Palin. Together, the guys wrote sketches for the student experimental theater and performed on stage. One of their shared creations was the comedy play Bow Your Head and Die. The production has been successfully shown several times at the Oxford Playhouse, a local theater, in the capital's Comedy Theater. Future colleagues organized the Oxford Review comedy group from the students. They themselves performed with her in Edinburgh at the theater festival in 1964.
After graduation, Terry worked for England Television. Then she again began working with Palin in the script department at the BBC television service. For the comedy shows of Ken Dodd and David Frost, recent students wrote sketches. They created the script for the series "Don't Turn the Tuning Knob", the program "The Complete and Ultimate History of Britain," in a humorous vein.
The young screenwriters became friends with their United States counterparts and cartoonist Terry Gilliam. Soon, together with him Eric Idle, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, the British founded the author's show "The Monty Python Air Circus". The program went down in history as a previously unknown comedy attraction. It combined burlesque, satire and grotesque with black humor.
Success and recognition
Over time, the show has won many fans and influenced generations of comedy artists. On British television, the project ran from 1969 to 1974. During the screenings, Jones fully took place both as a screenwriter and a talented artist. On the screen, he appeared in the most unexpected ways. Terry appeared in front of the audience and an elderly, who loved to grumble the mother of the family, who is already well over 50, and reincarnated in other equally colorful characters.
After completing the broadcasts of his own show, together with Gillian Jones, he created and directed an absurd full-length comedy from the time of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table called "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." The story is masterfully played in a humorous way. The king meets both the anarcho-syndicalist peasants, the Black Knight, and a group of French mockers who have occupied the castle with the Holy Grail. The ending of the film shocks viewers with its unpredictability.
Many of the characters, bred by Terry, turned into independent ones, migrating to other works. In the new comedy, the author performed several roles at once, the main of which was Bedever the Wise. New work in 1976 was the film "Life of Brian". The comedy was a huge success.
"The Meaning of Life by Monty Python" was filmed in a satirical and even evil form. The 1983 project is composed of several plots. According to them, a person's life can be traced from the moment of birth to death. The work was nominated for the Palme d'Or competition and received a special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
New facets of talent
With the participation of Jones, both live performances of "Monty Python" and recordings of albums with their sketches and songs were performed. The latter sounded in TV programs, films. Based on the publications, an original show was created in 1971. In the second half of the seventies, Terry and his longtime colleague Michael Palin created the series Funny Stories. Palin played the main characters in it, and Jones became a screenwriter, only in one episode flashed on the screen.
In 1986, the acclaimed artist became one of the screenwriters who worked on the fabulous film "Labyrinth". The play by Palin and Jones is also used in Consumer Passions. Terry's directorial ideas also differ in variety. In 1987, viewers saw his black comedy Private Services. Her main character is a single mother. She decided to open a brothel. The source of inspiration for the writers was the memories of the owner of such an institution.
The fantasy project "Eric the Viking" was filmed in 1989 based on the book by Terry Jones himself. He wrote it for his son. The plot unfolds at a difficult time. The main character realizes that the way of life adopted by the Vikings is wrong. Finally, Eric decides to change everything after the death of his beloved, Helga.
Together with the detachment, the guy intends to get to the mysterious country of Hi-Brasil in order to find the horn there and trumpet it three times. This will awaken the sleeping gods and bring the heroes home to their Asgard.
Realizing that such a decision would put an end to his lucrative business, Loki, hiding under the guise of a local blacksmith, tries to interfere with the campaign. In the film, the scriptwriter and director played the role of the king.
Family and history
In 1996 the film "The Wind in the Willows" was shot. It is based on the famous novel of the same name by Kenneth Graham. The role of Jones was Mr. Toad. Critics praised the work very highly, completely encouraging the film itself. After the premiere screening, Terry left directing and switched to other projects.
He made his debut as a children's writer in the early eighties. He has created many fascinating stories. These include both "Tales", and "The Curse of the Vampire's Socks", and "The Saga of Eric the Viking."
Interested in the history of the Middle Ages, the writer created popular science films in a very unusual interpretation. In "Crusades", "Life in the Middle Ages" and "Barbarians" the author acted as a host, screenwriter and author of the idea. He offered viewers their own view of history, dispelling stereotyped ideas about many events. The humorous beginning was perfectly combined with the competence of the presentation of facts and the professionalism of the creators.
Jones became a regular contributor to The Guardian. He has an author's column in the newspaper. He writes articles for both the Daily Telegraph and the Observer.
Arranged artist and writer personal life. With Alison Telfer, they became husband and wife since 1970. In marriage, she had two children, a son, Bill and a daughter, Sally. The couple broke up in 2003.
In early September 2009, the new director and screenwriter Anna Soderstrom gave birth to a daughter, Siri. Her parents officially became spouses in 2012.
