“Terry was one of my closest, most valued friends. He was kind, generous, supportive and passionate about living life to the full,” Palin said in a statement.
“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,” Palin said.
Jones wrote and performed for the troupe’s early-70s TV series and films including Monty Python and the Holy Grail in 1975 and Monty Python’s Life of Brian in 1979.
Playing the mother of Brian, a hapless young man who is mistaken for Jesus, he delivered one of the Pythons’ most famous lines: “He’s not the Messiah. He’s a very naughty boy!”
A more understated presence than the 6-foot-five-inch (1.95 meters) Cleese or the energetic Idle, Jones was a deft comic performer, who played many of the Pythons’ female characters. He was also, among many other characters, a grinning nude organist, Spanish Inquisitor Cardinal Biggles and the explosively gluttonous restaurant patron Mr. Creosote.
Cleese tweeted: “It feels strange that a man of so many talents and such endless enthusiasm, should have faded so gently away…”
He added: “Two down, four to go,” a reference to the six members of the troupe. Chapman died of cancer in 1989.
As well as performing, Jones co-directed Holy Grail with Gilliam, and directed Life of Brian and the 1983 Python film The Meaning of Life.
During the 1970s, Jones also created the show Ripping Yarns with Palin and wrote sketches for comedy duo The Two Ronnies.
After the Pythons largely disbanded in the 1980s, Jones wrote books on medieval and ancient history, presented documentaries, wrote poetry and directed films, including Personal Services, about a suburban brothel madam, and the comedy adventure Erik the Viking. He also scripted the Jim Henson-directed fantasy film Labyrinth, which starred David Bowie.
In 2014, more than three decades after their last live performance, the five surviving Pythons reunited for a string of stage shows that revived their old skits for adoring audiences.
Palin would recall that during the stage run, Jones struggled for the first time with remembering lines. Two years later, Jones’s family announced he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, which gradually robbed him of the ability to write and speak.
“It is a cruel and sad thing,” surviving troupe member Idle tweeted Wednesday. “But let’s remember just what joy he brought to all of us.
“So many laughs, moments of total hilarity onstage and off, we have all shared with him. It’s too sad if you knew him, but if you didn’t you will always smile at the many wonderfully funny moments he gave us.”
Jones is survived by his wife, his ex-wife Alison Telfer, and three children.