Terry Gilliam's birthday

On November 22, 1940 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the family of the traveling salesman James Hall Gilliam and his wife Beatrice, a son was born - Terrence Vance.

At 22, Terrence Vance Gilliam graduated from Los Angeles Occidental College with a BA in Political Science. However, he did not work in this specialty. While still a schoolboy, Terry discovered in himself the extraordinary abilities of a cartoonist. As a result of these abilities, after graduating from college, he became involved with the humorous magazine "Help!", as well as an advertising agency that worked for the United Artists film company. Working in the highly specialized realm of comics and cartoons, Terry Gilliam paired the British comedian John Cleese, who toured New York City with the satirical performance of Cambridge Circus.

This acquaintance contributed to the move of Terry Gilliam in 1967 to the UK. But the reason for the move, of course, was something completely different. The fact is that 1966-1967 in California was a period of serious social upheaval, ethnic clashes, clashes between youth and the police. Terry Gilliam, like many representatives of the hippie generation, and especially people of creative professions, wore long hair, apparently dabbled in drugs, alcohol ... In short, in the eyes of the police he looked like an "unreliable element". That is why he was regularly detained by the police and proved for a long time in the police station that he was not a bomber, not a terrorist, and not any rebel. In the end, Gilliam got tired of this, and he decided to leave for Britain.

Getting to know Cleese allowed Gilliam to very quickly get a job in two humorous shows on the BBC, as well as get to know a company of like-minded people. The company soon created the comedy show Monty Python's Flying Circus, which aired in 1969-1974 on the BBC. In 1975, the comedy group Monty Python filmed the comedy "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". This film was directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. This film was the first full-length feature film in the work of Terry Gilliam.

For his 81st birthday, Terry Gilliam has shot a total of 12 feature films on his own and two in collaboration with Terry Jones. 5 of these 14 films entered the Golden Thousand. Thanks to this indicator, Terry Gilliam is included in the list of the 100 greatest directors of world cinema, compiled by FilmGourmand.

For 38 years, from 1968 to 2006, Terry Gilliam had dual citizenship of the United States and Great Britain. In 2006, he renounced his American citizenship, retaining only British citizenship. The hurt American government decided to punish the famous director by allowing him to stay in the United States for no more than 30 days a year. Other UK citizens are not subject to such strict restrictions.

On the birthday of the outstanding Master, we would like to remind fans of his work frames from his best films included in the Golden Thousand.