Brian Gibson (director)

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Brian Gibson

Born September 22, 1944
Reading, Berkshire, England
Died January 4, 2004
London, England
Years active 1970s-1998

Brian Gibson (September 22, 1944 - January 4, 2004) was an English film director.

[edit] Biography

Born in Reading, Berkshire, he studied Natural Sciences at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge graduating with an upper-second, and then History of Science at Darwin College, Cambridge. He intended to become a doctor, but became interested in journalism and edited Granta, the Cambridge University magazine.

After travelling in Turkey, Israel and Syria, Brian started at the BBC as a research assistant for Rene Cutforth's program, "Europa." He then produced several excellent editions of Horizon, a science tv magazine. Gibson received a BAFTA award and the 1975 Prix Italia for "Joey", based on "Tongue tied" the story of a brain-damaged child, by Joey Deacon who, in his adult life, found a handicapped friend to unlock his latent intellect. After this he made The Billion Dollar Bubble, which introduced James Woods to UK audiences, and the intriguing Gossip from the Forest with John Shrapnel. He went on to direct Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills with amongst others Colin Welland, Helen Mirren and John Bird and Breaking Glass with Hazel O'Connor, Phil Daniels, and Jonathan Pryce. This opened doors for him in Hollywood.

In Hollywood, he directed Poltergeist II and HBO specials which included biographies of Simon Wiesenthal and Josephine Baker. He followed up with the Tina Turner biopic, What's Love Got to Do with It, and The Juror. In 1998 he directed his last film, Still Crazy.

Gibson married the leading lady of his TV film "The Josephine Baker Story," Lynn Whitfield. They had a daughter and divorced in 1992. He remarried Paula Rae Gibson and had another daughter before he died of Ewing's Sarcoma at his London home at the age of 59.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] External links


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