Terry Southern

Terry Southern was a master of satirical novels and screenplays. He initially made a name for himself when he co-wrote the controversial novel Candy with Mason Hoffenberg in the late 1950s. The story was a rollicking update of Voltaire's Candide that centered on a curious college girl whose exploration of the world and her own sexuality gets her into many erotic situations. As a scriptwriter, Southern was responsible for writing and co-writing scripts for such memorable films as the Academy Award-nominated script for Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) with Peter George and director Stanley Kubrick, The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Barbarella (1968) and Easy Rider -- for which he shared a second Oscar nomination with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in 1969. Before becoming a professional writer, Southern attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He then served in the Army during WWII. Afterward, he used his G.I. Bill money to study at Northwestern University and at the Sorbonne in Paris. Southern would remain in the City of Light, spending time with expatriate American writers until 1955. Candy was initially published in Paris in 1958. A few years later, the erotic novel was released stateside where it spent over a year as a best-seller. However, because the book was not registered for copyright in the U.S., Southern never received a penny in royalties. Other notable Southern screenplays include The Magic Christian (1969), starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, and Southern's adaptation of John Barth's grim novel End of the Road (1970).

~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide