Terrence Malick has had a pretty damn mysterious career in film. He's directed only three movies in his lifetime, but they've been enough to earn him a respectable cult following.
Malick was born November 30, 1943 in Ottawa, Illinois, son of an oil company executive. Big on philosophy, he graduated from Harvard as a Rhodes Scholar, then went to Magdalen College, Oxford to study some more. After college, he did some journalism for Life Magazine and The New Yorker, and then taught Philosophy at MIT. In 1969 he began studying at the American Film Institute, wrote some screenplays, made some 8mm films, and got an MFA.
His first real movie was Badlands (1973). Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek starred in this movie, based on a true story about mass murdering teenagers on the run. It was critically acclaimed, hailed as an incredible debut for the direct. And it made no money. It was five years before Malick released another film, this time it was the beautiful Days of Heaven, starring Richard Gere. Again critically acclaimed. Again a box office failure. It did get more attention than Badlands though, got a few Oscar nominations, winning for cinematography (which it more than deserved). Days of Heaven also won Malick the best director award at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Supposedly Malick wasn't pleased with the casting of this film, not getting the actors he wanted. Nevertheless, Richard Gere certainly does do a fine job here, and it's probably the best movie on his resume.
Malick had ideas for a war film titled Q. But that never happened, as he went on vacation in Paris. And stayed there for 20 years without making another movie.
Finally, the stubborn man came out of his cocoon, and made The Thin Red Line, released 1998. Loosely based on the James Jones novel by the same name, The Thin Red Line was an impressive, artsy, psychological World War II movie, packed with celebrities in minor roles, incredible battle sequences, Jungian psychology, a bizarre ever-changing narrative and everything else you could ever want in a war movie. It didn't flop, but was definitely overshadowed by the other 1998 World War II movie, Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, which really ain't as great as The Thin Red Line (but it's still one hell of a picture).
During the filming of The Thin Red Line, he didn't allow any current pictures of himself to be taken or published. Elusive guy, this Malick. If you do the math, five years between his first two flicks, twenty years between his second…we shall be expecting his next movie in the year 2078. It’ll probably be worth the wait.
Directing:
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Badlands (1973)
Writing:
The Beautiful Country (2003) (story)
Bear's Kiss (2001)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Great Balls of Fire (1989) (uncredited)
The Gravy Train (as David Whitney) (1974)
Badlands (1973)
Pocket Money (1972)
Deadhead Miles (1972)
Dirty Harry (1971) (uncredited)
Producing:
The Beautiful Country (2003)
The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition (2000)
Endurance (1998)
Badlands (1973)
Sources:
http://www.eskimo.com/~toates/malick/tmbio.html
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Malick,+Terrence