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===Paris, 1948-52===
===Paris, 1948-52===
Southern left the USA September 1948, using a [[G.I. Bill]] grant to travel to [[France]], where he studied at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]. His four-year stint in Paris was a formative influence, both on his development as a writer and on the evolution of his "hip" persona, and he made many important friendships and social contacts. He became friends with [[Mason Hoffenberg]] (with whom he subsequently co-wrote his first novel, ''[[Candy (novel)|Candy]]''), [[Alexander Trocchi]], [[Mordecai Richler]], [[Aram Avakian]] (brother of [[Columbia Records]] jazz producer [[George Avakian]]), poet [[James Baldwin]] and jazz musician [[Allan Eager]], met [[Jean Cocteau]], [[Jean Paul Satre]] and [[Albert Camus]], frequented the [[Paris Cinematheque]] and saw jazz performances by leading [[bebop]] musicians including [[Charlie Parker]], [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Bud Powell]], [[Thelonious Monk]] and [[Miles Davis]]. During this time, as well as ''Candy'', he wrote some of his best short stories, including "The Automatic Gate" and "You're Too Hip, Baby". His story, "The Sun and the Still Born Stars" was the very first short story published in the ''[[Paris Review]]''. Southern became closely identified with the ''Paris Review'' and its founders, [[Peter Matthiessen]], [[Harold L. Humes|H.L. "Doc" Humes]] and [[George Plimpton]], and he formed a lifelong friendship with Plimpton.<ref>Lee Hill: ''A Grand Guy: The Life and Art of Terry Southern'' (Bloombsury, 2001), pp.27-49</ref>
Southern left the USA September 1948, using a [[G.I. Bill]] grant to travel to [[France]], where he studied at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]. His four-year stint in Paris was a crucial formative influence, both on his development as a writer and on the evolution of his "hip" persona, and during this period he made many important friendships and social contacts as he became a central player in the expatriate American café society. He became close friends with [[Mason Hoffenberg]] (with whom he subsequently co-wrote his first novel, ''[[Candy (novel)|Candy]]''), [[Alexander Trocchi]], [[John Marquand]], [[Mordecai Richler]], [[Aram Avakian]] (brother of [[Columbia Records]] jazz producer [[George Avakian]]), poet [[James Baldwin]] and jazz musician [[Allan Eager]], and also encountered [[Jean Cocteau]], [[Jean Paul Satre]] and [[Albert Camus]]. He frequented the [[Paris Cinematheque]] and saw jazz performances by leading [[bebop]] musicians including [[Charlie Parker]], [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Bud Powell]], [[Thelonious Monk]] and [[Miles Davis]]. During this time, as well as ''Candy'', he wrote some of his best short stories, including "The Automatic Gate" and "You're Too Hip, Baby". His story, "The Sun and the Still Born Stars" was the very first short story published in the ''[[Paris Review]]''. Southern became closely identified with the ''Paris Review'' and its founders, [[Peter Matthiessen]], [[Harold L. Humes|H.L. "Doc" Humes]] and [[George Plimpton]], and he formed a lifelong friendship with Plimpton. He met [[Pud Gadiot]] during 1952 and a romance soon blossomed; they married soon after, just before returning to the U.S.<ref>Lee Hill: ''A Grand Guy: The Life and Art of Terry Southern'' (Bloombsury, 2001), pp.27-49</ref>


===Greenwich Village, 1953-56===
===Greenwich Village, 1953-56===

Revision as of 22:04, 21 June 2007

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.

Biography

Born in Alvarado, Texas, Southern left Southern Methodist University to serve as a Lieutenant in the US Army during World War II, returning to the States to study at Northwestern University, where he graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1948.

Paris, 1948-52

Southern left the USA September 1948, using a G.I. Bill grant to travel to France, where he studied at the Sorbonne. His four-year stint in Paris was a crucial formative influence, both on his development as a writer and on the evolution of his "hip" persona, and during this period he made many important friendships and social contacts as he became a central player in the expatriate American café society. He became close friends with Mason Hoffenberg (with whom he subsequently co-wrote his first novel, Candy), Alexander Trocchi, John Marquand, Mordecai Richler, Aram Avakian (brother of Columbia Records jazz producer George Avakian), poet James Baldwin and jazz musician Allan Eager, and also encountered Jean Cocteau, Jean Paul Satre and Albert Camus. He frequented the Paris Cinematheque and saw jazz performances by leading bebop musicians including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis. During this time, as well as Candy, he wrote some of his best short stories, including "The Automatic Gate" and "You're Too Hip, Baby". His story, "The Sun and the Still Born Stars" was the very first short story published in the Paris Review. Southern became closely identified with the Paris Review and its founders, Peter Matthiessen, H.L. "Doc" Humes and George Plimpton, and he formed a lifelong friendship with Plimpton. He met Pud Gadiot during 1952 and a romance soon blossomed; they married soon after, just before returning to the U.S.[1]

Greenwich Village, 1953-56

In 1953 the Southerns returned to the USA and settled in Greenwich Village in New York City.

In 1958 his first novel, Flash and Filigree, was brought out by Andre Deutsch, soon followed by The Magic Christian (1959). In 1958, Candy, written by Southern in collaboration with Mason Hoffenberg, was published by Olympia Press under the pseudonym Maxwell Kenton. Southern and Beat poet Gregory Corso helped convince Olympia publisher Maurice Girodias to first publish the controversial novel Naked Lunch by then-little-known author William S. Burroughs.

On the recommendation of British actor Peter Sellers, director Stanley Kubrick asked Southern to help revise the screenplay of Dr. Strangelove (1964). Kubrick's first draft of the script was based on the novel Red Alert (1958) by Peter George. Kubrick, Southern and George shared the screenplay credits, but most of the dark and satiric dialogue was written by Southern. According to Art Miller, an independent producer who hired Southern to write the screenplay for a never-completed comic film about the bumbling Watergate burglars, Southern told him that the best example of his writing in "Dr. Strangelove" was the classic scene in which B-52 pilot T.J. "King" Kong, played by Slim Pickens, reads off a list of the contents of a survival kit to his crew, concluding that a man could have a great weekend in Las Vegas with some of the items (condoms). According to Miller, Peter Sellers quietly paid Southern tens of thousands of dollars to create some of the best-known comedy bits for Sellers' beloved character Inspector Clouseau in the "Pink Panther" film series.

After the film went into wider release in January 1964 Southern was the subject of considerable media coverage, and was erroneously given primary credit for the screenplay[2], a misperception he apparently did little to correct. This reportedly angered both Kubrick -- who was notorious for his unwillingness to share writing credits[3] -- and Peter George, who was moved to pen a complaint to Life magazine in response to a lavish photo essay on Southern published in the 8 May 1964 edition. Stung by the article's assertion that Southern was responsible for turning the formerly "serious script" into an "original irrevert satirical film", a rightly aggrieved George pointed out that he and Kubrick had been worked together on the script for ten months, whereas Southern was only "briefly employed (November 16 to December 28, 1962) to do some additional writing".[4].

Dr Strangelove was the turning point in Southern's career -- it opened the doors to further film work and also allowed him to greatly increase his fee, from the reported $2000 he received for Dr Strangelove to as much as $100,000 thereafter[5]. During the latter half of the sixties Southern worked on the screenplays of The Loved One (film) (1965) The Collector (1965) The Cincinnati Kid (1966) Casino Royale (1967) and Barbarella (1967). In 1968 Southern wrote the script for Easy Rider, generously sharing writing credit with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda. The character of the small-town lawyer played by Jack Nicholson was originally written by Southern for actor Rip Torn.

In 1968 the film version of Candy, adapted by Buck Henry (who has an uncredited cameo), was released starring Ewa Aulin, Richard Burton, Marlon Brando, John Astin, Ringo Starr, Walter Matthau, et al.

The film of The Magic Christian came out in 1969 starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, with guest stars: Christopher Lee, Raquel Welch, Roman Polanski, Yul Brynner, et al. John Cleese and Graham Chapman of Monty Python's Flying Circus also appeared and contributed, as did Sellers, to Southern's script.

Southern later covered the infamous Rolling Stones 1972 American Tour for Saturday Review. Hired by Michael O'Donoghue to write for Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s, Southern taught screenwriting at New York University and Columbia University from the late 80s until his death in 1995 at the age of 71. His final novel, Texas Summer, was published in 1992 by Richard Seaver.

In early 2003 Southern's archives of manuscripts, correspondence and photographs were acquired by the New York Public Library. The archives include correspondence and other items from George Plimpton, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Frank O'Hara, Larry Rivers, William Styron, V. S. Pritchett, Gore Vidal, Abbie Hoffman, and Edmund Wilson, as well as John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and the Rolling Stones. Fittingly, the announcement of this acquisition was made on April 1.

A film adaptation of Southern's 1970 novel Blue Movie is currently in production from director Michael Dowse and producer Marc Toberoff, to be released by Vertigo Films.

Works

Books

Screenplays

Film appearances

Album cover photo

Quotes

References

  1. ^ Lee Hill: A Grand Guy: The Life and Art of Terry Southern (Bloombsury, 2001), pp.27-49
  2. ^ Hill, p.124
  3. ^ Hill, p.126
  4. ^ Hill, p.124-125
  5. ^ Hill, p.127

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Terry_Southern&oldid=139766814"