Screenwriter of some renowned movies.
William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 15, 2018)[1][2] was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist, before turning to writing for film. He won two Academy Awards for his screenplays, first for the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and again for All the President's Men (1976), about journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, who broke the Watergate scandal of President Richard Nixon for the Washington Post. Both films starred Robert Redford.
His other notable works include his thriller novel Marathon Man and comedy-fantasy novel The Princess Bride, both of which Goldman adapted for film.
Author Sean Egan has described Goldman as "one of the late twentieth century’s most popular storytellers."[3]
According to his memoir, Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983), Goldman began writing when he took a creative-writing course in college. His grades in the class were "horrible".[8] An editor of Oberlin's literary magazine, he would submit short stories to the magazine anonymously; he recalls that the other editors, upon reading his submissions, remarked "We can't possibly publish this shit."[8] He did not originally intend to become a screenwriter. His main interests were poetry, short stories, and novels. In 1956 he completed an MA thesis at Columbia University on the comedy of manners in America.[9]
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His brother, [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Goldman]James Goldman, who died in 1998, was a playwright and screenwriter. They shared an apartment in New York with their friend John Kander (also Oberlin and Columbia MA) and helped out Kander, a composer, by writing the libretto for his dissertation. All three later won separate Academy Awards (Kander was the composer of Cabaret, Chicago, and a dozen other famous musicals).[8]
On 25 June 1956 Goldman started writing what became his first novel, The Temple of Gold. It was written in less than three weeks.[10] He sent the novel to an agent, Joe McCrindle, who agreed to represent Goldman; McCrindle submitted the novel to Knopf, who agreed to publish once Goldman doubled the novel in length. It sold well enough in paperback to launch Goldman on his career.[11]
After a 50-week break, Goldman wrote his second novel, Your Turn to Curtsy, My Turn to Bow (1958), in a little over a week. It was followed by Soldier in the Rain (1960), based on Goldman's time in the military; it sold well in paperback and was turned into a film (Goldman had no involvement in the screenplay).
Goldman began writing a long novel, which became Boys and Girls Together. He found during writing that he suffered writer's block. He and his brother received a grant to accompany a production of the musical Tenderloin (1960), on which they did some rewriting. Goldman and his brother then collaborated on an original play, Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole (1961), and a musical (written with John Kander), A Family Affair (1962). Both had only short runs.
His writer's block on Boys and Girls Together continued, but Goldman then had an idea for another novel, No Way to Treat a Lady (1964). He wrote it in two weeks, and it was published under a pseudonym, Harry Longbaugh (a variant spelling of the Sundance Kid's real name). It was later made into a movie. Goldman then finished Boys and Girls Together, which became a best seller.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Goldman returned to novels, writing The Thing of It Is... (1967). He went to teach at Princeton, and wanted to write something but could not come up with an idea for a novel. So he decided to write his first original screenplay, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which he had been researching for eight years. He sold it for $400,000, then the highest price ever paid for an original screenplay.[8] The resulting movie was a massive critical and commercial success and earned Goldman an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
The money enabled Goldman to take some time off and research a non-fiction book on Broadway, The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway (1969).[13]
He adapted a book, In the Spring the War Ended, into a screenplay but it was not filmed. Neither were scripts he did of The Thing of It Is and Papillon. He returned to novels with Father's Day (1971), a sequel to The Thing of It Is... He also wrote the screenplay for The Hot Rock (1972).
The Princess Bride
Goldman's next novel was The Princess Bride (1973) which became perhaps his most beloved work. Goldman also wrote a screenplay but it took many years before a film was made.
In 1973, Goldman contracted a rare strain of pneumonia which resulted in his being hospitalized and affected his health for months. This inspired him into a burst of creativity, including several novels and screenplays.[14]
He says his novel writing moved in a more commercial direction following the death of his editor Hiram Haydn in late 1973.[15] This started with a children's book, Wigger (1974), but then he wrote a thriller, Marathon Man (1974), which he sold to Delacorte as part of a three book deal worth $2 million. He sold movie rights to Marathon Man for $450,000.[16]
His second book for Delacorte was Magic (1976), a thriller, which sold to Joe Levine for $1 million. He did screenplays for the films of Marathon Man (1976) and Magic (1978).
He also wrote screenplays for The Stepford Wives (1975), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), All the President's Men (1976) and A Bridge Too Far (1977). He wrote a promotional book Story of A Bridge Too Far (1977). He signed a three-film contract with Joe Levine worth $1.5 million.[16]
All the President's Men
Goldman wrote the famous line "Follow the money" for the screenplay of All the President's Men; while the line is often attributed to Deep Throat, it is not found in Bob Woodward's notes nor in Woodward and Carl Bernstein's book or articles.[17] However, the book does have the far less-quotable line from Woodward to Senator Sam Ervin, who was about to begin his own investigation: "The key was the secret campaign cash, and it should all be traced..."[18]
Goldman was unhappy with the movie; The Guardian says that he changes the subject when asked about the movie, but suggests that his displeasure may be because he was pressured to add a romantic interest to the film.[8] In his memoir, Goldman says of the film that if he could live his life over, he would have written the same screenplays, "Only I wouldn't have come near All the President's Men."[19] He said that he has never written as many versions of a screenplay as he did for that movie.[19] Speaking of his choice to write the script, he said "Many movies that get made are not long on art and are long on commerce. This was a project that seemed it might be both. You don't get many and you can't turn them down."[10]
In Michael Feeney Callan's book Robert Redford: The Biography, Redford is reported as stating that Goldman did not actually write the screenplay for the movie,[20] a story that was excerpted in Vanity Fair.[21] Written By magazine conducted a thorough investigation of the screenplay's many drafts and concluded, "Goldman was the sole author of All The President's Men. Period."[19]
He wrote a novel about Hollywood, Tinsel (1979), which sold well. He had enjoyed working with Joseph E. Levine on Bridge and Magic and signed a three-picture deal with him; only two scripts resulted, The Sea Kings and Year of the Comet. A script about Tom Horn, Mr. Horn (1979), was filmed for TV.[22]
Goldman was the original screenwriter for the film version of Tom Wolfe's novel The Right Stuff; director Philip Kaufman wrote his own screenplay without using Goldman's material, because Kaufman wanted to include Chuck Yeager as a character; Goldman did not.[13]
He wrote a number of other unfilmed screenplays around this time, including The Ski Bum; a musical adaptation of Grand Hotel; and Rescue, the story of the rescue of Electronic Data Systems employees during the Iranian Revolution.
More at Wikipedia.
William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 15, 2018)[1][2] was an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist, before turning to writing for film. He won two Academy Awards for his screenplays, first for the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and again for All the President's Men (1976), about journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, who broke the Watergate scandal of President Richard Nixon for the Washington Post. Both films starred Robert Redford.
His other notable works include his thriller novel Marathon Man and comedy-fantasy novel The Princess Bride, both of which Goldman adapted for film.
Author Sean Egan has described Goldman as "one of the late twentieth century’s most popular storytellers."[3]
According to his memoir, Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983), Goldman began writing when he took a creative-writing course in college. His grades in the class were "horrible".[8] An editor of Oberlin's literary magazine, he would submit short stories to the magazine anonymously; he recalls that the other editors, upon reading his submissions, remarked "We can't possibly publish this shit."[8] He did not originally intend to become a screenwriter. His main interests were poetry, short stories, and novels. In 1956 he completed an MA thesis at Columbia University on the comedy of manners in America.[9]
[/url]
His brother, [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Goldman]James Goldman, who died in 1998, was a playwright and screenwriter. They shared an apartment in New York with their friend John Kander (also Oberlin and Columbia MA) and helped out Kander, a composer, by writing the libretto for his dissertation. All three later won separate Academy Awards (Kander was the composer of Cabaret, Chicago, and a dozen other famous musicals).[8]
On 25 June 1956 Goldman started writing what became his first novel, The Temple of Gold. It was written in less than three weeks.[10] He sent the novel to an agent, Joe McCrindle, who agreed to represent Goldman; McCrindle submitted the novel to Knopf, who agreed to publish once Goldman doubled the novel in length. It sold well enough in paperback to launch Goldman on his career.[11]
After a 50-week break, Goldman wrote his second novel, Your Turn to Curtsy, My Turn to Bow (1958), in a little over a week. It was followed by Soldier in the Rain (1960), based on Goldman's time in the military; it sold well in paperback and was turned into a film (Goldman had no involvement in the screenplay).
Goldman began writing a long novel, which became Boys and Girls Together. He found during writing that he suffered writer's block. He and his brother received a grant to accompany a production of the musical Tenderloin (1960), on which they did some rewriting. Goldman and his brother then collaborated on an original play, Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole (1961), and a musical (written with John Kander), A Family Affair (1962). Both had only short runs.
His writer's block on Boys and Girls Together continued, but Goldman then had an idea for another novel, No Way to Treat a Lady (1964). He wrote it in two weeks, and it was published under a pseudonym, Harry Longbaugh (a variant spelling of the Sundance Kid's real name). It was later made into a movie. Goldman then finished Boys and Girls Together, which became a best seller.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Goldman returned to novels, writing The Thing of It Is... (1967). He went to teach at Princeton, and wanted to write something but could not come up with an idea for a novel. So he decided to write his first original screenplay, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which he had been researching for eight years. He sold it for $400,000, then the highest price ever paid for an original screenplay.[8] The resulting movie was a massive critical and commercial success and earned Goldman an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
The money enabled Goldman to take some time off and research a non-fiction book on Broadway, The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway (1969).[13]
He adapted a book, In the Spring the War Ended, into a screenplay but it was not filmed. Neither were scripts he did of The Thing of It Is and Papillon. He returned to novels with Father's Day (1971), a sequel to The Thing of It Is... He also wrote the screenplay for The Hot Rock (1972).
The Princess Bride
Goldman's next novel was The Princess Bride (1973) which became perhaps his most beloved work. Goldman also wrote a screenplay but it took many years before a film was made.
In 1973, Goldman contracted a rare strain of pneumonia which resulted in his being hospitalized and affected his health for months. This inspired him into a burst of creativity, including several novels and screenplays.[14]
He says his novel writing moved in a more commercial direction following the death of his editor Hiram Haydn in late 1973.[15] This started with a children's book, Wigger (1974), but then he wrote a thriller, Marathon Man (1974), which he sold to Delacorte as part of a three book deal worth $2 million. He sold movie rights to Marathon Man for $450,000.[16]
His second book for Delacorte was Magic (1976), a thriller, which sold to Joe Levine for $1 million. He did screenplays for the films of Marathon Man (1976) and Magic (1978).
He also wrote screenplays for The Stepford Wives (1975), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), All the President's Men (1976) and A Bridge Too Far (1977). He wrote a promotional book Story of A Bridge Too Far (1977). He signed a three-film contract with Joe Levine worth $1.5 million.[16]
All the President's Men
Goldman wrote the famous line "Follow the money" for the screenplay of All the President's Men; while the line is often attributed to Deep Throat, it is not found in Bob Woodward's notes nor in Woodward and Carl Bernstein's book or articles.[17] However, the book does have the far less-quotable line from Woodward to Senator Sam Ervin, who was about to begin his own investigation: "The key was the secret campaign cash, and it should all be traced..."[18]
Goldman was unhappy with the movie; The Guardian says that he changes the subject when asked about the movie, but suggests that his displeasure may be because he was pressured to add a romantic interest to the film.[8] In his memoir, Goldman says of the film that if he could live his life over, he would have written the same screenplays, "Only I wouldn't have come near All the President's Men."[19] He said that he has never written as many versions of a screenplay as he did for that movie.[19] Speaking of his choice to write the script, he said "Many movies that get made are not long on art and are long on commerce. This was a project that seemed it might be both. You don't get many and you can't turn them down."[10]
In Michael Feeney Callan's book Robert Redford: The Biography, Redford is reported as stating that Goldman did not actually write the screenplay for the movie,[20] a story that was excerpted in Vanity Fair.[21] Written By magazine conducted a thorough investigation of the screenplay's many drafts and concluded, "Goldman was the sole author of All The President's Men. Period."[19]
He wrote a novel about Hollywood, Tinsel (1979), which sold well. He had enjoyed working with Joseph E. Levine on Bridge and Magic and signed a three-picture deal with him; only two scripts resulted, The Sea Kings and Year of the Comet. A script about Tom Horn, Mr. Horn (1979), was filmed for TV.[22]
Goldman was the original screenwriter for the film version of Tom Wolfe's novel The Right Stuff; director Philip Kaufman wrote his own screenplay without using Goldman's material, because Kaufman wanted to include Chuck Yeager as a character; Goldman did not.[13]
He wrote a number of other unfilmed screenplays around this time, including The Ski Bum; a musical adaptation of Grand Hotel; and Rescue, the story of the rescue of Electronic Data Systems employees during the Iranian Revolution.
More at Wikipedia.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.