Terry Jones director death: "The Life of Brian", founding member of the Monty Python Flying Circus

The British comedian was best known for his participation in the comedy group, which produced 45 television episodes and five feature films.

An Oxford graduate, Terry Jones, who has just died at the age of 77 of a rare form of dementia, was not only a leading scholar of the English medieval poet Geoffrey Chaucer. He had also committed several historical documentaries for the BBC devoted, inter alia, to the Crusades or ancient Rome. Not to mention this fictional feature film inspired by the destiny of a brothel keeper in London. Or the scenario of a puppet movie in which David Bowie wore a wig made of sprigs of sauerkraut. As for the Monty Python Flying Circus, which Terry Jones founded, with four other British and an American, a little over fifty years ago, his influence on contemporary comedy is comparable to that which the Beatles exercised on contemporary music. The 45 television episodes and five feature films of the comic group (including two directed by the one Terry Jones) remain after the most beautiful title of glory of this singular talent.

Terry Jones director death

Terrence Graham Parry Jones was born on February 1, 1942 - "exactly in the middle of World War II," he liked to point out - in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. A banker by profession, his father was mobilized and sent to India after the Allied victory. Young Terry did not meet him until he was four years old. In the meantime, the family has moved to a London suburb where the boy studies well enough to be admitted to Oxford. First enrolled in literature, he turns to history out of love for Chaucer until the day when, working in the library, he realizes that he finds much more interest in his activities within the Experimental Theater Group, where he met a fellow student by the name of Michael Palin, who was studying. The young people grew up listening to The Goon Show, the radio show by Spike Milligan that made Peter Sellers, and are influenced by the group Beyond the Fringe, founded by Dudley Moore and Peter Cook.

Meanwhile, in Cambridge, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Eric Idle neglected their studies to cultivate their comic talents within the Footlights troupe.

Prince of Persia (W9) Jake Gyllenhaal reveals what was the hardest during filming

The Sands of Time. Inspired by a cult video game, this Disney blockbuster features Jake Gyllenhaal as the hero. We met him in London in 2010 during the film's preview.

You must have had a lot of training to ensure the stunts and display a gladiator's musculature!

Jake Gyllenhaal: Yes, for six months. But the hardest part was wearing long hair. Shampoos, conditioners, what a job!

When the Next Day came out, you vowed never to make a blockbuster again. Why this turnaround?

It was in 2004. Until then, I had only shot in small independent films. Thanks to the unexpected success of The Secret of Brokeback Mountain and Zodiac, I have traveled the world. I got a taste of another, more exciting life. And then Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is my first action movie. For once, I can take my nephews to see something I’ve shot.

The dagger that Dastan and Tamina protect helps to go back in time. What would you do with such power?

I would return to my 8 years. To rediscover the taste of the small grilled chicken wings prepared by my parents.