Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 â€" 21 January 2020) was a
Welsh actor, writer, comedian, screenwriter, film director, historian,
and a member of the Monty Python comedy team.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 the 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 punchlines. He made his
directorial debut with the Python film, 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, though little of his
work remained in the final cut. Jones was a well-respected medieval
historian, having written several books and presented television
documentaries about the period, as well as a prolific children's book
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.
Welsh actor, writer, comedian, screenwriter, film director, historian,
and a member of the Monty Python comedy team.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 the 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 punchlines. He made his
directorial debut with the Python film, 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, though little of his
work remained in the final cut. Jones was a well-respected medieval
historian, having written several books and presented television
documentaries about the period, as well as a prolific children's book
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.
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