Terry Southern
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Terry Southern (May 1, 1924 - October 29, 1995) was a highly influential American short story writer, novelist, essayist, screenwriter and university lecturer. He was part of the Paris postwar literary movement in the 1950s and a companion to Beat writers in Greenwich Village; he was at the center of Swinging London in the sixties and helped to change the style and substance of Hollywood films of the 1970s. In the 1980s he wrote for Saturday Night Live and lectured on screenwriting at several universities in New York.
Southern's dark and often absurdist style of broad yet biting satire helped to define the sensibilities of several generations of intelligent writers, readers, directors and filmgoers. He is credited by journalist Tom Wolfe as having invented New Journalism with the publication of "Twirling at Ole Miss" in Esquire in 1962, and his gift for writing memorable film dialogue was evident in Dr. Strangelove, The Cincinnati Kid and Easy Rider. His work on Easy Rider helped create the independent film movement of the 1970s, in opposition to Hollywood film studios.
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Works
Books
- 1958 – Flash and Filigree
- 1958 – Candy (with Mason Hoffenberg)
- 1959 – The Magic Christian
- 1960 – Writers in Revolt (co-editor with Alexander Trocchi and Richard Seaver)
- 1965 – Journal of The Loved One (with photographs by William Claxton)
- 1967 – Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes (essays and short fiction)
- 1970 – Blue Movie
- 1992 – Texas Summer
Screenplays
- 1964 – Dr. Strangelove (with Stanley Kubrick and Peter George) (Academy Award nomination for screenwriting)
- 1965 – The Loved One (film) (with Christopher Isherwood)
- 1965 – The Collector (rewrite; uncredited)
- 1966 – The Cincinnati Kid (dialogue rewrite of Ring Lardner Jr. script)
- 1967 – Barbarella
- 1968 – Easy Rider (Academy Award nomination for screenwriting)
- 1969 – End Of The Road
- 1969 – The Magic Christian
- 1975 – Stop Thief! (teleplay; with William Claxton)
- 1986 – The Telephone (with Harry Nilsson)
Film appearances
- The Man Who Fell to Earth (journalist at launchpad)
- Burroughs (in orgone box with William S. Burroughs)
- Cocksucker Blues documentary with the Rolling Stones
Album cover photo
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (man in sunglasses)