William Goldman

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William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter.

He first came to fame in the 1950s as a novelist before turning to screenwriting.

He received Academy Awards for his screenplays Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and All the President's Men (1976).

His other books include Marathon Man's thriller and The Princess Bride, which he adapted for the film versions. Goldman has been described by author Sean Egan as "one of the twentieth century's most popular storytellers."

Early life

Goldman was born in Chicago in 1931 and grew up in Highland Park, Illinois, with the second son of Marion (née Weil) and Maurice Clarence Goldman. Goldman's father was a good businessman, serving in Chicago and in a joint venture, but he was plagued by alcoholism, which cost him his company. According to Goldman, he returned to live and was in his pajamas for the first five years of his life. When Goldman was still in high school, his father committed suicide. His mother was deaf, which brought additional anxiety in the household.

In 1952, Goldman earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College. Since the Korean War was underway, he was drafted into the Army shortly thereafter. Since he knew how to type, he was given the position of a clerk in the Pentagon's Defense Department. In September 1954, he was dismissed with the rank of corporal. He returned to graduate studies under the GI Bill, earning a Master of Arts degree at Columbia University after graduating in 1956. He was writing short stories in the evenings but didn't manage to get them published.

Personal life

He was married to Ilene Jones from 1961 to 1991; the couple had two children, Jenny and Susanna. Ilene, a native of Texas, modeled for Neiman Marcus; Ilene's brother was actor Allen Case.

Miguel de Cervantes, Anton Chekhov, Somerset Maugham, Irwin Shaw, and Leo Tolstoy were among his favorite writers, according to Goldman.

He was a lifetime fan of the New York Knicks and had season tickets to Madison Square Garden for more than 40 years. In which he addressed Dave DeBusschere's career, he wrote a writing section to Bill Simmons' best-selling book about the NBA's history.

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Career

Goldman began to write after taking a creative-writing course in college, according to his memoir Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983). His classmate's grades were "horrible." He was the editor of Oberlin's literary journal. He anonymously submitted his short stories to the magazine; he recalls that the other editors read his submissions and remarked, "We can't even publish this shit." He did not set out to be a screenwriter. Poetry, short stories, and novels were among his main passions. He did a master's thesis at Columbia University in 1956 on the comedy of manners in America.

James Goldman, his older brother, was a playwright and screenwriter. They and their friend John Kander rented an apartment in New York. Kander, who was also an alumnus of Oberlin, was working on his music PhD, and the Goldman brothers wrote the libretto for his dissertation. Kander was the producer of more than a dozen musicals, including Cabaret and Chicago, and all three of them received Academy Awards. Goldman's first book, The Temple of Gold, was published on June 25, 1956, and he completed it in less than three weeks. McCrindle, the agent who promised to represent him, was sent the manuscript by McCrindle; McCrindle wrote it for Knopf, who promised to publish it if he doubled the length. Goldman's career was launched after it was sold in paperback enough to launch it. In less than a week, he wrote his second book Your Turn to Curtsy, My Turn to Bow (1958). Soldier in the Rain (1960), based on Goldman's service time, was followed by Soldier in the Rain (1960). It did well in paperback and was turned into a film, but Goldman was not involved in the script.

A grant was given to Goldman and his brother to do some rewriting on the musical Tenderloin (1960). They then collaborated on Blood, Sweat, Stanley Poole (1961), and A Family Affair (1962), written with John Kander. Both plays had short runs.

Boys and Girls Together began in Goldman's books but discovered that he had writer's blockage. His writer's block continued, but he had an idea for a book No Way to Treat a Lady (1964), based on the Boston Strangler. He wrote it in two weeks and revealed it under the pseudonym Harry Longbaugh, a variant spelling of the Sundance Kid's real name that Goldman had been researching since the late 1950s. Boys and Girls Together, which became the best seller in the world, was followed by him.

Cliff Robertson read an early draft of No Way to Treat a Lady and recruited Goldman to translate the short story Flowers for Algernon for the film. Robertson suggested that he do some rewriting on the spy spoof Masquerade (1965), in which Robertson appeared. The Goldman did that, and then finished the Algernon script. Robertson, on the contrary, loot it and recruited Stirling Silliphant instead to work on what became Charly (1968).

Elliot Kastner, a producer, had optioned the film rights to Boys and Girls Together. Goldman suggested that Kastner film the Lew Archer novels of Ross Macdonald and offer to do an adaptation. Kastner agreed, and Goldman selected The Moving Target. The result was Harper (1966) starring Paul Newman, which was a big hit.

Goldman returned to literature by writing The Thing of It Is (1967). He taught at Princeton and wanted to write something, but he couldn't come up with a plot. Rather, he wrote Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, his first original screenplay, which he had been researching for eight years. He sold it for $400,000, the highest price ever paid for an original screenplay at that time. The film was released in 1969, marking Goldman's Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The funds prompted Goldman to take some time off and research the nonfiction. The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway (1969)

In the Spring of War Ended, Goldman turned Steven Linakis' book In the Spring of the War Ended into a screenplay, but it wasn't shot. Neither were scripts of The Thing of It Is, which came close to being made many times in the early '70s and Papillon, on which Goldman worked for six months and three drafts; but no evidence of Goldman's work was used. With Father's Day (1971), a sequel to The Thing of It Is, he returned to literature. He also wrote The Hot Rock (1972)'s screenplay.

The Princess Bride (1973), Goldman's next book, was released in 1979; he also wrote a screenplay, but it was more than a decade before the film was released. He contracted a rare strain of pneumonia in the same year, which resulted in his hospitalization and affected his health for months. This led to a burst of creativity, including many novels and screenplays.

Following Hiram Haydn's death in late 1973, Goldman's novel writing turned in a more commercial direction. This began with the children's book Wigger (1974), followed by the epic Marathon Man (1974), which he sold to Delacorte as part of a three-book deal worth $2 million. Marathon Man's movie rights were sold for $450,000.

Magic (1976), Delacorte's second book, was sold to Joe Levine for $1 million. He wrote screenplays for the film versions of Marathon Man (1976) and Magic (1978). He also wrote the screenplay for The Stepford Wives (1975), which he describes as an uncomfortable time because director Bryan Forbes rewrote the bulk of it; Goldman attempted to delete his name from the film, but they wouldn't allow him to. He was revived with director George Roy Hill and actor Robert Redford on The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), which Goldman based on a rough idea of Hill's.

All the President's Men (1976), Redford recruited Goldman to write the script.

Although the line is often attributed to Deep Throat, Goldman's book or articles does not include this phrase; in Bob Woodward's notes, or in Woodward and Carl Bernstein's book or articles, it is not found in Goldman's notes or in Carl Bernstein's book or articles. Woodward to Senator Sam Ervin, who was about to begin his own probe, has the far less quotable line: "The main was the unknown campaign money, and it should all be traced."

The goldman was dissatisfied with the film. When asked about the film, the Guardian says he changes the subject, but that it could have been compelled to bring a romantic interest to the film. In his memoir, Goldman says that if he had lived his life over, he would have written the same screenplays as he did "I would not have come near All the President's Men." He said he had never written so many versions of a screenplay as he did for that one. "Many films that are produced are not long on art and are long on industry," he said of his choice to write the script. This seemed to be both a design and a function. You don't get many, and you can't turn them down."

Redford is described as saying that Goldman did not actually write the screenplay for the film in Michael Feeney Callan's book Robert Redford: The Biography, a tale that was excerpted in Vanity Fair. "Goldman was the sole author of All The President's Men," a journalist wrote an extensive review of the screenplay's many drafts and concluded that "Goldman was the sole author of All The President's Men." "Persecutors" came to an end.

Since being recruited by Joseph E. Levine to write A Bridge Too Far (1977), based on Cornelius Ryan's book, Goldman had a happier experience. As a tribute to Levine, Goldman wrote Story of a Bridge Too Far (1977) and signed a three-film deal with the producer worth $1.5 million.

He wrote a book about Hollywood, Tinsel (1979), which was a huge success. He wrote two more films for Levine, The Sea Kings, and Year of the Comet, but not a third. Tom Horn's script was written for television; Mr. Horn (1979), which was filmed for television, was filmed for film.

Goldman was the original screenwriter for Tom Wolfe's book The Right Stuff, and director Philip Kaufman created his own screenplay without using Goldman's text because Kaufman wanted to include Chuck Yeager as a character; Goldman did not.

During the Iranian Revolution, he wrote a number of other screenplays around this period, including The Ski Bum (1932), a musical adaptation of Grand Hotel (1932) that was to be directed by Norman Jewison; and Rescue, the story of Electronic Data Systems employees' rescue during the Iranian Revolution. None of them were made into films.

Goldman discovered himself in less demand as a screenwriter after several of his screenplays were not shot. In the first sentence of the book, he wrote a memoir about his work in Hollywood, Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983), which sums up the entertainment industry, "Nobody knows anything."

He concentrated on novels (1982), Control (1982), The Silent Gondoliers (1983), The Color of Light (1984), Heat (1985), and Brothers (1986). Goldman's last published book, a sequel to Marathon Man, was the former.

Goldman credited his return to Hollywood to his relationship with talent agent Michael Ovitz of the Creative Artists Agency. He began to work on Memoirs of an Invisible Man, but he had to leave the project early.

Goldman's fame was rekindled; he wrote the scripts for Film versions of Heat (1986) and The Princess Bride (1987). Rob Reiner of Castle Rock, which retained Goldman to write the screenplay for Rob Reiner's 1990 adaptation of Stephen King's book Misery, "one of [King's] least adaptable books." Kathy Bates, the film's producer, received an Academy Award for her work with journalists and the box office, as it was a hit with critics and in the box office.

Goldman continued to write nonfiction on a daily basis. Wait Till Next Year (1988) and an account of his time as a judge at both the Cannes Film Festival and the Miss America Pageant, Hype, and Glory (1990).

Goldman began working as a "script doctor" in films including Twins (1988), A Few Good Men (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993), Malice (1995), and Extreme Measures. The bulk of these films were directed by Castle Rock.

He appeared in numerous other films, including Year of the Comet (1992), which was later shot by Castle Rock, but it wasn't a hit; The Chamber (1996), an original script based on a true tale; and The General's Daughter (1999), by Nelson DeMille;

Which Lie Did I Tell Goldman's Another Volume of Memories Which Lie Did I Tell? The Big Picture: Who Killed Hollywood? (2000) and a collection of his essays. (2001) and Other Essays (2001).

Hearts in Atlantis (2001) and Dreamcatcher (2003), two Stephen King novels, are among his later screenplay credits. He turned Misery into a stage play, which made its Broadway debut in 2015 with Bruce Willis and Laurie Metcalf in a revival starring Bruce Willis and Laurie Metcalf.

As Wild Card (2015), starring Jason Statham, Heat's script was filmed for Heat.

"It's a testament to how brilliant William Goldman is at his best that I actually had to consider seriously about what to choose for his 'Must See' cinematic work," IGN's feature on Goldman said. The site referred to his script for All the President's Men as a "model of storytelling clarity...and artful manipulation."

"William Goldman, a very skilled storyteller, wrote several of the best films of the past 18 years, including Marathon Man, part of All the President's Men," Art Kleiner wrote in 1987, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

Three of Goldman's scripts have been included in the Writers Guild of America's 101 Greatest Screenplays list.

William Goldman: The Reluctant Storyteller (2014), Sean Egan said Goldman's accomplishments were made "without ever lunging for the lowest common denominator." Although his body of work has been consumed by millions, he has never allowed his populism to overrule a dazzling intelligence and penchant for upending hope."

In 2000, Goldman said of his writing:

"I [don't] like my writing," Goldman wrote about his writing. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid wrote a book called The Princess Bride, and that are the only two things I've ever written, not that I'm proud of, but that I can look at without humiliation."

He received two Academy Awards, one for Best Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the other for Best Adapted Screenplay for All the President's Men. In 1967, he received two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay: for Harper and Magic (which was based on his 1976 novel) in 1979. From the Writers Guild of America in 1985, he received the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement.

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