Monty Python Founding Member Terry Jones Dead at 77
Terry Jones, founding member of the iconic comedy group Monty Python, has died. He was 77.
Jones’ death was confirmed to BBC News with the cause of death due to Frontotemporal dementia, a rare type of dementia, which he was diagnosed with in 2015. Jones’ family said to BBC News in a statement, “We have all lost a kind, funny, warm, creative and truly loving man.”
A number of Python members have issued statements on Jones including Michael Palin was told BBC News, “Terry was one of my closest, most valued friends. He was kind, generous, supportive and passionate about living life to the full. He was far more than one of the funniest writer-performers of his generation, he was the complete Renaissance comedian – writer, director, presenter, historian, brilliant children’s author, and the warmest, most wonderful company you could wish to have.”
Python member John Cleese said, “It feels strange that a man of so many talents and such endless enthusiasm, should have faded so gently away…Of his many achievements, for me the greatest gift he gave us all was his direction of Life of Brian. Perfection.”
Jones portrayed a number of characters throughout Monty Python’s history, from a number of screeching middle-aged women to Cardinal Biggles from “The Spanish Inquisition.” Notably, Jones helmed Monty Pyton’s films, co-directing 1975’s Monty Python and The Holy Grail with Terry Gilliam and receiving full directing credit for 1979’s Life of Brian and 1983’s The Meaning of Life.
