---
name: "Terry Southern"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/terry-southern"
fi1m_id: "terry-southern"
imdb_id: "nm0816143"
tmdb_id: 8950
wikidata_id: "Q591270"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "1 May 1924"
died: "29 October 1995"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 84
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-10-03T21:28:34.390736+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."
---

# Terry Southern

## Identity

Terry Southern

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/terry-southern
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** terry-southern
- **IMDb ID:** nm0816143
- **TMDB ID:** 8950
- **Wikidata ID:** Q591270
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Southern, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q591270, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0816143/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8950

Writer. Born 1 May 1924 in Alvarado, Texas, USA. Died 29 October 1995.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 1 May 1924, Alvarado, Texas, USA
- **Died:** 29 October 1995
- **Active:** 1964–1969
- **Academy Awards:** 2 Oscar nominations
- **Average Fi1m score:** 84, as writer, over 2 titles
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Southern, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q591270, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0816143/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8950

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Easy Rider*](https://film.one/film/easy-rider.md) (76)

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

## Biography

Terry Southern (1924–1995) was an American novelist and screenwriter. He was born in Alvarado, Texas, and died in New York. He is best known for his work on the screenplay for *Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb* (1964), written with Stanley Kubrick and Peter George.

Southern also wrote screenplays for *Easy Rider* (1969), *Barbarella* (1968), *The Cincinnati Kid* (1965) and *The Loved One* (1965). His novels include *Candy* (1958, with Mason Hoffenberg) and *The Magic Christian* (1959). He studied at Northwestern University and the Sorbonne, and served in the US Army during the Second World War.

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

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Easy Rider* (1969), Fi1m 76, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/easy-rider.md)
- *Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb* (1964), Fi1m 93, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/dr-strangelove-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-bomb.md)

## Complete filmography (14)

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

- *National Theatre Live: Dr. Strangelove* (2025), Original Film Writer
- *The Telephone* (1988), Writer
- *End of the Road* (1970), as Mr. Caruso · Screenplay, Producer
- *The Magic Christian* (1969), Screenplay, Novel
- *Easy Rider* (1969), Writer — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/easy-rider.md)
- *Candy* (1968), Novel
- *Barbarella* (1968), Screenplay
- *Don't Make Waves* (1967), Screenplay
- *The Cincinnati Kid* (1965), Screenplay
- *The Loved One* (1965), Screenplay
- *The Collector* (1965), as Additional Writing
- *Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb* (1964), Screenplay — Fi1m 93, [page](https://film.one/film/dr-strangelove-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-bomb.md)
- *Emperor Jones* (1958), Adaptation
- *Armchair Theatre* (1956), series, Writer

## Gallery

- ![Terry Southern](https://film.one/media/person/59371/gallery-e99b2b8d4c93.jpg) Terry Southern — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Terry_Southern_American_novelist%2C_essayist%2C_screenwriter_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Backdrop from the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. Taken in the Beatles Museum in Liverpool UK. (2011)](https://film.one/media/person/59371/gallery-9cddde61e462.jpg) Backdrop from the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. Taken in the Beatles Museum in Liverpool UK. (2011) — Ronald Saunders from Warrington, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Flickr_-_ronsaunders47_-_The_Beatles-Sgt_Pepper_backdrop..jpg/1280px-Flickr_-_ronsaunders47_-_The_Beatles-Sgt_Pepper_backdrop..jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 1970: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Easy Rider*
- 1965: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Dr. Strangelove*

### Other awards — 2 won

- Hugo Awards 1965: Best Dramatic Presentation (won), for *Dr. Strangelove*
- O. Henry Award 1963: O. Henry Award (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/terry-southern