PYTHON PAL TERRY LAUGHED UNTIL THE VERY END
BRILLIANT LIFE OF TERRY: PYTHON LEGEND DIES AGE 77
MICHAEL Palin has told how his pal Terry Jones battled cruel dementia with typical humour until his final days.
The Monty Python star died at 77 on Tuesday.
Palin revealed he had taken him a book and said: “He laughed at the bits he wrote.”
With his many on-screen comedy guises, Jones had audiences in stitches during a glorious career that spanned six decades. But the popular Monty Python actor was also a talented writer, director, children’s author, TV presenter and poet.
And showbiz figures last night paid tribute to the Welshborn genius who died after a four-year battle with dementia.
Fellow Python actor Palin added: “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, children’s author, and the warmest, most wonderful company you could wish to have.”
Palin told how he recently saw his pal as the dementia was “shutting him down”.
But he added: “I went round with a book we’d written together, Dr Fegg’s Encyclopaedia of All World Knowledge. I started reading a few little bits out of it and for the first time for a long time I heard real laughter, that little wispy laughter of Terry’s.
“Best of all was that Terry was only laughing at the bits he’d written. I thought, that’s defying dementia for you.”
As well as Palin, Jones appeared in Monty Python with John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman and Terry Gilliam.
Cleese said: “Just heard about Terry J. It feels strange that a man of so many talents and endless enthusiasm should have faded so gently away … Two down, four to go.” Idle added: “It is a cruel and sad thing. But let’s remember just what joy he brought us. So many laughs, moments of total hilarity onstage and off we have all shared with him. “You will always smile at the many funny moments he gave us.”
Stephen Fry tweeted: “Farewell, Terry Jones. The great foot has come down to stamp on you. My god what pleasure you gave, what untrammelled joy and delight.”
Adrian Edmondson said: “Terry Jones was the only Python who agreed to appear in The Young Ones. It was like affirmation from God.”
Jones died with his wife Anna Soderstrom by his side.
In a statement, his family said he had fought “a long, extremely brave but always goodhumoured battle” with the rare frontotemporal dementia. They added: “Over the past few days his wife, children, extended family and close friends have been constantly with Terry as he gently slipped away at his home in north London.
“We have all lost a kind, funny, warm, creative and truly loving man whose uncompromising individuality, relentless intellect and humour has given pleasure to countless millions.
“His work with Monty Python,
He laughed at the bits he’d written. I thought, that’s defying dementia...
MICHAEL PALIN ON ONE OF HIS LAST MEETINGS WITH TERRY
his books, films, television programmes, poems and other work will live on for ever.
“We, his wife Anna, children Bill, Sally, Siri and family would like to thank Terry’s medical professionals and carers for making the past few years not only bearable but often joyful. We hope this disease will one day be eradicated entirely.”
Jones was born in 1942 at Colwyn Bay, north Wales.
At Oxford University, he became involved in the theatre scene and met Palin. The pair went on to write TV series Ripping Yarns. Jones later worked on TV shows including The Frost Report, Do Not Adjust Your Set and The Complete And Utter History of Britain alongside other future stars of comedy – including Cleese, Idle and Peter Cook.
But his life-changing moment came in 1969 at a London curry house where he sat down with Palin, Chapman, Cleese, Idle and American Gilliam to discuss working on a new BBC comedy.
Monty Python’s Flying Circus was born, making its BBC1 debut on October 5 that year.
There were 45 episodes. With its surreal, stream-of-consciousness style, it racked up Baftas and influenced an array of comics and comedy writers ever since.
Jones played many different characters, including Mr Creosote, the rude, obese diner who explodes after eating too much in The Meaning of Life. He often appeared in drag as a “haggard housewife” or nude, playing the piano. Jones made his directorial movie debut, alongside Gilliam, with Monty Python And The Holy Grail in 1975. He starred in and directed 1979’s Life of Brian, about a hapless man mistaken for Jesus. Branded blasphemous at the time, it has since been voted the funniest movie of all time. The film had the famous line: “He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.”
Jones also directed The Meaning Of Life in 1983. After the Pythons split – Chapman died of cancer in 1989 – he directed Personal Services in 1987, and the 1989 movie Erik The Viking.
Jones married Alison Telfer in 1970. They had Sally in 1974 and Bill in 1976.
At the age of 67 in 2009, he had Siri with second wife Anna. He was diagnosed with FTD, which affects the ability to communicate, in 2016.