Brian Gibson (director)

Brian Gibson
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.

Early life and education

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]

Career

In the late 1960s, Gibson began working for the BBC, directing scientific documentaries^[1] for their long-running series Horizon. One standout episode entitled "Joey," about Joey Deacon, a lifelong brain-damaged man who found a way to communicate with his family through another similarly affected patient at his hospital, won him an SFTA Award for Best Specialized Programme of 1974.

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]

Personal life and death

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]