Brian Gibson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 22 September 1944 Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England |
| Died | 4 January 2004 (aged 59) London, England |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, television director |
| Years active | 1960s–2002 |
Brian Gibson (22 September 1944 – 4 January 2004) was an English film and television director.
Gibson was born 22 September 1944 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.[1] His mother, Victoria,[2] was a shop assistant and his father was a carpenter.[3] He had a sister, June.[2][4] Gibson attended Southend High School for Boys.[1][3] He attended St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he studied medicine.[1][3][5] He also studied History of Science at Darwin College, Cambridge.[3] He graduated from Cambridge University.[2]
In the late 1960s, Gibson began working for the BBC, directing scientific documentaries.[1] Gibson directed Helen Mirren in the 1979 BBC film Blue Remembered Hills and his work on that film won him a BAFTA Award for Best Director.[2] Gibson made his feature film directorial debut with Breaking Glass (1980).[1] In 1986, he directed Poltergeist II: The Other Side.[1] In 1989, he directed Ben Kingsley in the HBO television film Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story.[1] In 1990, Gibson directed the miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story, starring Steven Bauer and Benicio Del Toro.[1] Gibson won a Primetime Emmy and a Directors Guild of America Award for directing the HBO television film The Josephine Baker Story (1991).[1] In 1993, he directed the Oscar nominated film What's Love Got to Do with It, starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne.[1] This led to a first look deal with Touchstone Pictures.[6] In 1996, he directed Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin in The Juror.[1] In 1998, he directed the British film Still Crazy starring Bill Nighy and Billy Connolly.[1] Gibson served as an executive producer for Frida (2002), starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina.[1] He was preparing to direct a film for 20th Century Fox, and also collaborating on a script with his wife when he was diagnosed with cancer.[1]
Gibson had homes in London and Los Angeles.[2]
In 1990, Gibson married Lynn Whitfield.[7] They have a daughter Grace.[1] Their marriage ended in divorce.[2] After their divorce he married the artist Paula Rae Gibson, with whom he had another daughter, Raphaela.[1][3]
Gibson died of bone cancer in London on 4 January 2004; he was 59.[1][2]
