Biography for William Goldman
Date of Birth
12 August 1931, Highland Park, Illinois, USA
Height
6 1" (1.85 m)
Mini Biography
Screenwriter, novelist, playwright, non-fiction author. Born in Highland Park, Illinois, USA, began his career as a novelist in 1957. Started writing screenplays in 1965 with "Masquerade". A two-time Academy Award Winner, he is one of the most successful screenwriters and script doctors in Hollywood.
Mini Biography By:
David Montgomery
Spouse
Ilene Jones
(15 April 1961 - 1991) (divorced) 2 children
Trivia
In 2000, published a sequel to his famous (some would say infamous) 1982 book "Adventures in the Screen Trade", titled "Which Lie Did I Tell".Wrote a script for "Mission: Impossible II."Winner of the 1985 Laurel Award for lifetime achievement in screenwriting.Author of two of the best books ever written about show business, "Adventures in the Screen Trade" and "Hype and Glory." Author of the famous quote about Hollywood, "Nobody Knows Anything."Brother of James GoldmanHis first editions prices vary with condition, but a first edition of Marathon Man can fetch above $100, while The Princess Bride may sell for well over $500.After the breakup of his 27-year marriage, Goldman landed two gigs most middle-aged men would kill for. He became the only man ever to judge both the Cannes Film Festival and the Miss America Pageant in the same year. He documented his experiences in Hype and Glory, a now out-of-print memoir.He leaves his Manhattan apartment in the morning and writes in a nearby office. At around 5:00 p.m., hes more than happy to stop writing, leave the office, and enjoy the rest of the day. "The sooner Im done, the sooner I can go to the movies," he admits.Education: B.A., Oberlin College, 1952; M.A., Columbia University, 1956He was an uncredited screenwriter on the 1993 Arnold Schwarzenegger film "Last Action Hero."Goldman was recruited as a Hollywood screenwriter after the publication of his novel "Boys and Girls Together," still in print after 40 years. An earlier novel of his, "Soldier in the Rain," already had been bought by Hollywood and served as the basis of the 1963 film starring Steve McQueen and Jackie Gleason.Rumored to be the true author of the Academy Award-winning screenplay of Good Will Hunting (1997). Goldman denied authorship at a Writers Guild of America meeting. In other comments, Goldman has said that he merely met with co-authors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for one day to offer encouragement and a little advice, specifically to eliminate a subplot dealing with the FBI, as the screenplay already was in fine form.He knew hed succeed as a screenwriter as soon as he wrote the opening scene in "Harper" (1966) in which Harper is forced to recycle used coffee grounds for his morning cup of coffee. Harpers dismay at the result, as realized by Paul Newman on screen, immediately created empathy between the character and the audience. Ironically, that opening sequence was the last thing he wrote for that script.Goldman believed that "Rocky" beat "All the Presidents Men" (1976) for the 1976 Best Picture Academy Award due its spectacular box office run and the fact that Hollywood loved the real-life, Lana Turner-esque story of Sylvester Stallones emergence into superstardom from obscurity. Goldman believes that if the Hollywood community knew about Stallones hubris, it would not have voted his film the Oscar.Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988Turned down the opportunity to write Godfather (1972) and Superman (1978).Daughters Jenny Rebecca Goldman (born 1962) and Susanna Goldman (born 1965).
Personal Quotes
[about Hollywood:] "Nobody knows anything."[On the significance of the movie "All the Presidents Men" (1976)] "No less acute [an] observer of American politics than Governor Reagan of California said that he thought the movie eventually cost Gerald Ford the presidency against Jimmy Carter, because the films release in April 1976 and its long run flushed to the surface again all the realities of Watergate that the Republicans had tried so hard to bury. We are talking then about a movie that may be one of the few that just might have changed the entire course of American history."[on Sidney Lumet] Lumet never keeps anybody waiting -- no director has earned a larger reputation for efficiency and organization.[on Alan Pakula] Alan is a gentleman. We had mutual acquaintances in the business and they said nothing but good things about him as a human being. Neither can I. He is well educated and serious about his work.[on Richard Attenborough] By far the finest, most decent human being Ive ever met in the picture business.[on Woody Allen] Most stars like to be thought of as being private people, being shy. We even grant those attributes to Woody Allen, this in spite of the fact that he must be the most visible celebrity in New York.[on Norman Jewison] A tough, feisty, no-nonsense director.
Salary
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
$400,000
