Terry Jones

For other people named Terry Jones, see Terry Jones (disambiguation).
"Terence Jones" redirects here. For the American basketball player, see Terrence Jones.

Terry Jones
Jones in 2014
Born
Terence Graham Parry Jones

(1942-02-01)1 February 1942
Colwyn Bay, Wales
Died21 January 2020(2020-01-21) (aged 77)
London, England
Alma materSt Edmund Hall, Oxford
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • director
  • historian
  • writer
Years active1966–2016
Known forOne of the six members of Monty Python
Spouses
Alison Telfer
​
​
(m. 1970; div. 2012)​
Anna Söderström
​
(m. 2012)​
Children3

Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020)[1][2][3] was a Welsh actor, comedian, director, popular historian, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.

After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and writing partner Michael Palin wrote and performed for several high-profile British comedy programmes, including Do Not Adjust Your Set and The Frost Report, before creating Monty Python's Flying Circus with Cambridge graduates Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Eric Idle and American animator-filmmaker Terry Gilliam. Jones was largely responsible for the programme's innovative, surreal structure, in which sketches flowed from one to the next without the use of punch lines. He made his directorial debut with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which he co-directed with Gilliam, and also directed the subsequent Python films Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.

Jones co-created and co-wrote with Palin the anthology series Ripping Yarns. He also wrote an early draft of Jim Henson's film Labyrinth and is credited with the screenplay, though little of his work actually remained in the final cut. Jones was a well-respected medieval historian, having written or co-written several books and presented television documentaries about the period, as well as a prolific children's author. In 2016, Jones received a Lifetime Achievement award at the BAFTA Cymru Awards for his outstanding contribution to television and film. After living for several years with a degenerative aphasia, he gradually lost the ability to speak and died in 2020 from frontotemporal dementia.[2]

  1. ^ "Terry Jones". BBC Wales. 7 October 2009.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Guardian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Stolworthy, Jacob. "Terry Jones death: Monty Python star and Life of Brian director dies, aged 77". The Independent.