---
name: "Lonne Elder III"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/lonne-elder-iii"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "26 December 1927"
died: "11 June 1996"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-20T05:46:06.081782+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Lonne Elder III

Writer. Born 26 December 1927 in Americus. Died 11 June 1996.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 26 December 1927, Americus
- **Died:** 11 June 1996
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonne_Elder_III, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15629275, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0253039/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1271429

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Sounder*](https://film.one/film/sounder.md) (83)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Lonne Elder III was an American playwright and screenwriter. He wrote the screenplay for the 1972 film *Sounder*, directed by Martin Ritt and based on the novel by William H. Armstrong, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He was the first Black writer nominated in that category.

Elder began his career as an actor, appearing in the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry’s *A Raisin in the Sun*. He later wrote the play *Ceremonies in Dark Old Men*, first produced in 1969 by the Negro Ensemble Company, for which he received a Drama Desk Award and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. He also wrote screenplays including the adaptation for *Bustin’ Loose* (1981) and the television miniseries *A Woman Called Moses* (1978).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com, nytimes.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Sounder* (1972), Fi1m 83, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/sounder.md)

## Complete filmography (8)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Runaway* (1989), Screenplay
- *Thou Shalt Not Kill* (1982), Teleplay, Story
- *Bustin' Loose* (1981), Adaptation
- *A Woman Called Moses* (1978), series, Screenplay
- *Sounder, Part 2* (1976), Screenplay
- *Ceremonies in Dark Old Men* (1975), Theatre Play, Teleplay
- *Sounder* (1972), Screenplay — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/film/sounder.md)
- *Melinda* (1972), as Lt. Daniels · Screenplay

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1973: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Sounder*

### Other awards — 1 won

- Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame 1979: Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/lonne-elder-iii