Terry Southern Biography (1926-1995)



Born May 1, 1924 (some sources say 1926), in Alvarado, TX; died of respiratory failure, October 29, 1995, in New York, NY. Educator, screenwriter, novelist. Southern is best remembered for his satirical novels, such as Candy and Flash and Filigree, and 1960s screenplay collaborations, including Dr. Strangelove, Easy Rider, and Barbarella. Controversial on release, his works have since become cult classics. Throughout his early career, Southern worked primarily as a writer; in the 1980s until his death, he taught screenwriting at schools such as Columbia University and New York University. Southern gained notoriety in the late 1950s with his first work, Candy, written with Mason Hoffenberg under the joint pseudonym of Maxwell Kenton. A takeoff on Voltaire's Candide, the novel concerned pornography and attempts were made to ban the bookin England, France, and the United States. His other books of fiction included the novel The Magic Christian and a collection of short stories entitled Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes. Southern received much acclaim for his screenplays beginning in the 1960s. His Dr. Strangelove; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, cowritten with noted film director Stanley Kubric and Peter George, concerned the Cold War and the threat of nuclear war. Nominated for an Academy Award, the screenplay was honored by the Writers Guild and the British Screen Writers. Easy Rider, written with actors Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda, was a road film set in the drug culture of the 1960s. Thescreenplay also received an Academy Award nomination. Among Southern's otherworks for the screen were The Cincinnati Kid, featuring Steve McQueen, Barbarella, starring Jane Fonda, and The Telephone, written with Whoopi Goldberg.In the early 1980s he was a staff writer for the television comedy series Saturday Night Live. In 1992, Southern issued Texas Summer, his first novel in some twenty years. Shortly before his death he had completed a spoof about theVirgin Records company, called Virgin. He left more than forty unproduced screenplays.

Occupation
author, screenwriter
Birth Details
May 1, 1926
Alvarado, Texas, United States
Death Details
October 29, 1995
New York, New York, United States

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