41 Facts About Terry Gilliam

Terrence Vance Gilliam is an American-British filmmaker, comedian, collage animator, and actor.

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

In 2009, Terry Gilliam received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement.

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

Terry Gilliam's films are sometimes set in dystopian worlds and involve black comedy and tragicomedic elements.

Terry Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, gaining acclaim for Time Bandits, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Fisher King, 12 Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Terry Gilliam later directed The Brothers Grimm, Tideland, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Zero Theorem, and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

Terry Gilliam was born in Minnesota, but spent his high school and college years in Los Angeles.

Terry Gilliam started his career as an animator and strip cartoonist.

Terry Gilliam 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, Terry Gilliam became a naturalised British citizen in 1968 and formally renounced his American citizenship in 2006.

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

Terry Gilliam's father was a travelling salesman for Folgers before becoming a carpenter.

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

Terry Gilliam began his career as an animator and strip cartoonist.

Terry Gilliam was a member of Monty Python's Flying Circus from its outset, credited at first as an animator and later as a full member.

Terry Gilliam's cartoons linked the show's sketches together and defined the group's visual language in other media, such as LP and book covers and the title sequences of their films.

Terry Gilliam appeared in several sketches, though he rarely had main roles and did considerably less acting in the sketches.

Terry Gilliam designed the covers of most of the Monty Python albums, including Another Monty Python Record, The Monty Python Matching Tie and Handkerchief, Monty Python Live at Drury Lane, and all of their later film soundtrack albums.

Terry Gilliam was responsible for photography and appeared as both Patsy and the Old Man from Scene 24, while Jones guided the actors' performances.

Gilliam served as art director on Monty Python's Life of Brian, Terry Jones having taken on sole directing duties.

In 2002, Terry Gilliam directed a series of television advertisements called "Secret Tournament".

In 2005, Terry Gilliam released The Brothers Grimm, followed later in the year by Tideland.

In 2006, Terry Gilliam made his debut as theatre director by directing the stage show Slava's Diabolo, created and staged by the Russian clown artist Slava Polunin.

In January 2007, Terry Gilliam announced that he had been working on a new project with his writing partner Charles McKeown.

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

In July 2012, Terry Gilliam revealed plans for a film which would be shot in Bucharest, Romania.

Terry Gilliam denied that it would be Don Quixote but refused to give any further details.

In June 2014, Terry Gilliam followed up on his success with Faust with a new ENO production of another opera by Berlioz, the rarely performed Benvenuto Cellini.

Michael Palin reportedly entered into talks with Terry Gilliam about stepping in for Rochefort and playing Don Quixote.

However, Terry Gilliam revealed on the Canadian talk show The Hour on 17 December 2009 that Robert Duvall had been cast to play Quixote, before the film was postponed .

In January 2014, Terry Gilliam wrote on Facebook that "Dreams of Don Quixote have begun again".

On 4 June 2017, Terry Gilliam announced that the shooting of the film was complete.

In June 2024, Terry Gilliam announced the making of a new film called Carnival: At the End of Days.

On 16 December 2010, Variety reported that Terry Gilliam was to "godfather" a film called 1884, described as an animated steampunk parody of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, with several former Pythons lending their voices to the project; Terry Gilliam was to be credited as "creative advisor".

On 15 May 2013, Terry Gilliam was signed on to executive produce The White Circus, a "dark fairy tale" adventure-romance that was to star Chloe Grace Moretz, Asa Butterfield, Andrea Riseborough and Christian Friedel.

Terry Gilliam has been married to British makeup artist Maggie Weston since 1973.

Terry Gilliam worked on Monty Python's Flying Circus, many of the Python films, and Gilliam's films up to The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

Terry Gilliam held dual American and British citizenship for the next 38 years, until he renounced his American citizenship in January 2006.

Terry Gilliam has been instrumental in establishing the annual Umbria Film Festival, held in the nearby town of Montone.

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