Terrence Vance Gilliam
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Terry Gilliam, born in 1940 near Medicine Lake, Minnesota, became the only American member of Monty Python and directed visionary films such as Brazil 1985 and 12 Monkeys 1995. He renounced his US citizenship in 2006 and is a British citizen. His distinctive animation and dark humor have influenced generations of filmmakers.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Terry Gilliam — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Terry Gilliam by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Terry Gilliam — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Terry Gilliam was born near Medicine Lake, Minnesota in 1940. When he was 12, his family moved to Los Angeles where he became a devoted reader of MAD magazine. He attended Birmingham High School and later Occidental College, where he founded the campus humor magazine Fang in the early 1960s. In his early twenties, he worked in advertising and was frequently stopped by police who suspected him of being a drug addict, forcing him to explain his profession.
Gilliam left the US in the late 1960s and moved to England, landing a job as an animator on the children’s television show Do Not Adjust Your Set 1967. There he met Terry Jones, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin, leading to the formation of Monty Python. He created the cut-out animations for Monty Python’s Flying Circus. His directorial debut was co-directing Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1975, followed by his solo feature Jabberwocky 1977. He earned recognition for Time Bandits 1981 and Brazil 1985, the latter earning him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Other major works include The Fisher King 1991, 12 Monkeys 1995, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 1998.
Gilliam married makeup artist Maggie Weston in 1973. They have three children: Amy, Holly, and Harry. He became a British citizen after renouncing his US citizenship in January 2006, citing political reasons. He holds a passion for science fiction and is a fan of author Philip K. Dick.
Terry Gilliam’s unique visual style and dark humor have influenced generations of filmmakers. Six of his films are in the Criterion Collection, including Brazil and Time Bandits. He received the European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award and is an Officer of Arts and Letters. He remains the only American member of Monty Python, noted for his uncompromising visionary films.
The complete filmography of Terry Gilliam — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Terry Gilliam — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Terry Gilliam's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
A wall of memorable lines from Terry Gilliam — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
There’s a Side of Me That Always Fell for Manic Things, Frenzied, Cartoony Performances. I Always Liked Sideshows, Freakshows. Jerry Lewis Was a Freakshow…Absolutely Grotesque, Awful, Tasteless. I Like Things to Be Tasteless.
People in Hollywood Are Not Showmen, They’re Maintenance Men, Pandering to What They Think Their Audiences Want.
To Be Deemed to Be OK, to Be Part of the Culture, That’s the Kiss of Death. When I’m Pushing Against Something It Helps Me Define What I Believe. I’ve Always Been Led to See What’s Beyond, What’s Round the Corner. the World Tries to Say That This Is What It Is, and Don’t Go Any Further, Because Out There Are Monsters. but I Want to See What They Are. so When I Talk About the Others in the Group Not Having Done More, That’s Because I Really Admire Them, and I Get Angry When I See Those with Extraordinary Talents Not Using Them.
All I Do Is Hunt. I Want to Be Thrilled. and I’m Not Being Thrilled at the Moment. so I’m Being Old and Bitter and Curmudgeonly, Because I Want Sensory Buzz and I’m Not Getting It!
I Think I’ve Got a Certain Talent and I Don’t Know How to Defend It. so I End up Defending It More Vociferously Than It May Need, but I Always Feel Under Threat. It’s a Basic In-built Paranoia. When People Start Interfering, I Go a Little Bit Crazy.
Hollywood Is Run by Small-minded People Who Like Chopping the Legs off Creative People. All They Want to Do Is Say No.
I Do Want to Say Things in These Films. I Want Audiences to Come Out with Shards Stuck in Them. I Don’t Care If People Love My Films or Walk Out, as Long as They Have a Strong Response.
My Problem Is I’m Like a Junkie. I Want a Good Movie Fix, and I Never Get That Fix. I Want to Be Taken into Some Place, Some World, Some Idea That I Haven’t Thought of or Imagined. and It Doesn’t Happen.
It Happens with Every Film. There Comes a Part Where the Money and the Creative Elements All Come Crashing Together. Everybody’s Under a Lot of Pressure, and Everybody Is Panicking About What Works and What Doesn’t. and the Studios and the Money Always Have One Perspective and the Creative People Have Another One, and Usually What Happens Is a Lot of Compromises Get Made.
Whether I Like It or Not, or Whether Anybody Else Does, When I Start a Film I Have a Few Ideas. and as You’re Getting into It, You Think, ‘Ooh, There’s Another Idea,’ and You’re Shooting Some More And, ‘Oh, Here’s Another Thing. Let’s Do That.’ I’m Always Changing and Adding. That’s Just the Way My Mind Works.
“My Main Concern Is to Protect the Film, and Sometimes Even I Can Get in the Way of the Film. If I’m Causing a Problem for the Ultimate Film, Then I’ve Got to Be Stopped, and I Tell This to Everybody Who Works with Me. They Find It Hard to Believe, but They Finally Do Say, ‘Terry, You Can’t Do It.’
I Think There’s a Side of Me That’s Trying to Compete with Lucas and Spielberg – I Don’t Usually Admit This Publicly – Because I Tend to Think That They Only Go so Far, and Their View of the World Is Rather Simplistic. What I Want to Do Is Take Whatever Cinema Is Considered Normal or Successful at a Particular Time and Play Around with It – to Use It as a Way of Luring Audiences In.
The More Successful I Get, the More the Onus of Having to Get It Right Wants to Settle on My Shoulders Alone, but I Just Hate That, I Freeze Up. I Want Everyone to Share My Responsibility, the Guilt, and I’ll Shoulder the Blame, Because That’s My Job in the End.
It’s Hard for Me to Worry About the Studios Losing Money. I’m Not Very Sympathetic to Their Money Problems, Because They Certainly Haven’t Been Sympathetic to Mine.
In the End, People Have to Learn to Live Together. That Is What I Didn’t Like About America – It Is so Homogeneous. I Like Places Where There Are People Who Are Different Culturally, Physically, in Every Way. and I Like to See How They Succeed in Living Together.
The Reason Why I Don’t Watch as Many as I Used to Is That I’m Not Surprised Any More. I Loved Movies Because They Opened up Doors into Worlds I Never Imagined. It Seldom Happens Now.
I Won’t Be Getting an Academy Award – I’ll Predict That – Ever. and Somehow, My Life Will Be No Less for That!
I Find That What I Do Is Reactive, so If I’m Living in London I’m Angry Most of the Time About the State of the World. When I Go to Italy I Get All Blissful. I’ve Never Done Any Creative Work There Except Building Stone Walls. I Just Wander Around Looking at Birds and Leaves. It’s Peace. – on His House in Italy
The First Subversive Thing I Did Was in Junior High School, When I Was Head of Ground Patrol – in Other Words the Local Cop. There Was a Long Corridor, and Someone Was Running Down It. I Was Talking to My Friend and It Was One of Those Moments, I Just Put My Foot Out and He Tripped and Went Flying. I Don’t Know Why I Did It. I Think I Didn’t Like the Guy. There Was Something About the Way He Was Running – I Thought, What an Asshole.
It Depends Who You Talk To. If You Talk to People Who Have Worked with Me, They’ll Say, He’s the Right Guy to Work With, He Knows What He’s Doing, Responsible… If You Talk to Hollywood, They Think Catastrophes, Disasters – He’s a Magnet for Trouble.’ If It’s Easy, I Don’t Do It; If It’s Almost Impossible, I’ll Have a Go. – on What Others in the Business Say of Him
For Me, the Only Reason to Try and Make My Films Successful Is That It Will Be More Likely That I’ll Get the Next Project off the Ground.
Cinemoi Is the Most Important Television Channel in Britain.
My Life Is About Waiting for Money. My Life Isn’t About Filmmaking – That’s Not What I Do. It Feels Incidental to What I Do, Which Is Hunt for the Money, Cast Movies and Re-cast Them and Try to Get Projects Going or Stop Them from Falling Apart. I Spend My Whole Time Repressing Everything Inside of Me Until I Get the Money to Work, and Then I Just Go. I’m on Autopilot Until I Get the Chance to Go on a Set.
Necessity Might Be the Mother of Invention, but Restriction Is the Mother of Efficiency.
I Had a Scholarship to Occidental College, Which Is Heavily Funded by the Presbyterian Church…. I Was Head of the Youth Group at the Local Church, I Would Go to Summer Camps and My Best Friends Were the Minister’s Sons. But, in the End, I Couldn’t Stand the Fact That Nobody Felt Able to Laugh at God. Hold on a Minute, I Said, What Kind of God Is This That Can’t Take My Feeble Jokes? It Was the Sanctimoniousness And, Ultimately, the Narrow-mindedness of People Who Were Protecting This Deity That I Never Thought Needed Any Protection. Their God Was a Much Smaller God Than I Was Thinking of – Less Powerful – and He Needed Them to Protect Him. I Just Got Fed up with It Because I Thought: This Is Getting Dull Now and There’s a Whole World Out There That’s Been off Limits. That Was When I Was About Seventeen.
This Argument That We Should Be Quiet and Let Them Mutilate Our Work, That They’re Doing Us a Favor Somehow, Is What Gets This Angry Pavlovian Response Out of Me. You Get This Same Thing Over and Over. Every Film We Do, They Say ‘It’s Too British, It Won’t Work.’ If They Hadn’t Been so Consistently WRONG and We so Consistently RIGHT, I Wouldn’t Be so Arrogant in My Attitude.
For Better or Worse What Disney Always Did with Grimm’s Fairy Tales Was Fill Them with Really Well-drawn Characters. Unlike Some of His Later Films, Disney’s Early Tales Were as Frightening as They Should Be. Fairy Tales Should Confront Real Fears. They’re a Part of Growing Up.
But, the Fact Was, People Were Nicer and There Was a Real Sense of Community. I Always Felt My Childhood Was Full of Communities Which I Abandoned Because I Felt Trapped by Them; Now I Wistfully Long for Them. Maybe Making Films Is a Way for Me to Work Within a Temporary Community – Where I’m the Mayor!
My Education Was Very Straightforward, Utterly Normal. I Did Read a Lot, but It Was Always Casual and It Came Easy. so It Was with Movies. I Never Thought of Them as Anything I Wanted to Make.
Little-known facts about Terry Gilliam — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
As a result of renouncing his American citizenship, he is only permitted to spend 29 days a year in the United States.
He did not originally intend to cast Sean Connery as King Agamemnon in Time Bandits 1981, he merely wrote in the screenplay that when Agamemnon took off his helmet he looked exactly like Sean Connery. To Gilliam’s surprise, the script found its way into Connery’s hands and Connery expressed interest.
J.K. Rowling originally wanted Gilliam to direct Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 2001, but Warner Brothers wanted a more family friendly film and settled on Chris Columbus.
Turned down the opportunity to direct Who Framed Roger Rabbit 1988, Enemy Mine 1985, Forrest Gump 1994, and Alien: Resurrection 1997.
Was offered the chance to direct Troy 2004; he stopped reading the script 5 pages in and declined.
During the filming of Brazil 1985 he became so stressed that he temporarily lost the use of his legs, which returned to normal several weeks later.
Member of the comedy group Monty Python along with John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, and Graham Chapman; Gilliam also created the animations.
He and John Cleese are the only Monty Python members to be nominated for Oscars; both for Best Original Screenplay, Gilliam for Brazil 1985 and Cleese for A Fish Called Wanda 1988. Neither won.
Has taken British citizenship.
Born in Minnesota, he is the only non-British member of Monty Python.
Has been off and on to write and direct a movie adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel Watchmen; Gilliam said an accurate screenplay would be unfilmable but he would consider directing it as a 10 or 12-part cable series.
Started to direct The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in 2001 in Spain with Johnny Depp, Vanessa Paradis, and Jean Rochefort, but shooting stopped due to storms, lack of financing, and Rochefort’s health problems. A documentary about the struggle is titled Lost in La Mancha.
Is a fan of science fiction author Philip K. Dick.
Gave up his US citizenship in January 2006.
As of 2010, has directed three actors in Oscar-nominated roles: Brad Pitt 12 Monkeys, Robin Williams, and Mercedes Ruehl The Fisher King; Ruehl won her Oscar.
Six of his films are in the Criterion Collection: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Fisher King, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Brazil, Time Bandits, and Jabberwocky.
Due to his history of production bad luck, The Onion once joked that if he were to throw a barbecue it would be beset with delays.
Because of his work with cut-out animation for the Monty Python series, Gilliam often frustrated his fellow Pythons on film sets by demanding precise actor placement, as if shooting animation.
The Fisher King 1991 was the first film he directed without being involved in writing the screenplay.
Was slated to direct an adaptation of Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett; the project languished for three years before being abandoned.
Also turned down directing Braveheart 1995 when briefly solicited by Mel Gibson to direct an abandoned film version of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.
Gilliam has directed three original screenplays from other writers: The Fisher King 1991, The Brothers Grimm 2005, and The Zero Theorem 2013.
According to his memoir, Terry Jones wanted Gilliam to co-direct Monty Python’s Life of Brian 1979 but he wasn’t interested after tension with the group, so he served as production designer instead.
Directed a series of TV ads for Nike in 2001 as part of The Scorpion Knockout Campaign, which won a Cannes award in 2002 for Best TV Campaign.
Member of the Official Competition jury at the 54th Cannes International Film Festival in 2001.
Father of Amy Gilliam aka Amy Rainbow, Holly Gilliam aka Holly DuBois, and Harry Gilliam aka Harry Thunder.
Gilliam has directed one remake: 12 Monkeys 1995 is a remake of La Jetée 1962.
Raised in Los Angeles.
Gilliam has co-written and directed two films not based on previous source material: Time Bandits 1981 and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus 2009.
He was approached after Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1975 to make a movie involving Beatles songs called All This and World War 3, but turned it down to pitch Jabberwocky 1977.
Contributed animations and sketches to Do Not Adjust Your Set 1967; he did one of David Jason’s head on a pig’s body.
Gilliam has directed six feature film literary adaptations: Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Jabberwocky, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Tideland, and The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
Founding editor of and principal contributor to campus humor magazine Fang at Occidental College in the early 1960s.
Is the only one of the six Monty Python troupe to have never appeared on Saturday Night Live.
Retrospective at the 11th New Horizons Film Festival 2011.
Won three top awards at the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards in December 1985.
His film Brazil had a few odd showings in Los Angeles in late 1985 but won three top prizes at the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards.
He was scheduled to direct a film of A Tale of Two Cities starring Liam Neeson but it was shelved due to budget problems.
In 1992 he signed to do a remake of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Terry Gilliam.
Celebrities similar to Terry Gilliam — same craft, ranked by reach.
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