Author of indelible ‘Forrest Gump’

FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Winston Groom, the writer whose novel “Forrest Gump” was made into a sixOscarwinning 1994 movie that became a soaring pop cultural phenomenon, has died at age 77.

Groom died in the southern Alabama town of Fairhope, Mayor Karin Wilson said Thursday in a social media post. A local funeral home confirmed the death and said arrangements were pending.

“While he will be remembered for creating Forrest Gump, Winston Groom was a talented journalist & noted author of American history. Our hearts & prayers are extended to his family,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement.

“Forrest Gump” was the improbable tale of a slowwitted but mathematically gifted man who was a participant or witness to key points of 20th century history — from Alabama segregationist Gov. George Wallace’s “stand at the schoolhouse door” to meetings with presidents.

It was the bestknown book by Groom, who grew up in Mobile, Ala., and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1965, according to a biography posted by the university.

Groom served in the Army’s 4th Infantry Division from 1965 to 1969, the university said. His service included a tour in Vietnam — one of the settings for “Forrest Gump.”

He wrote 16 books, fiction and nonfiction. One, “Conversations With the Enemy,” about a American prisoner of war in Vietnam accused of collaboration, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, according to the university.

It was “Forrest Gump” — and the success of the 1994 movie starring Tom Hanks in the role of Gump, as well as Sally Field and Gary Sinise — that earned him widespread fame.

The film dominated the 1995 Academy Awards, winning six Oscars including best picture, best director for Robert Zemeckis and best actor for Hanks.

“It touched a nerve,” Groom told the Tuscaloosa News in 2014.

But the film made major departures from the book. Gump was not a math savant as he was in the book and was a more saintly soul. The film took away Gump’s size — Groom said he envisioned John Goodman playing him — along with his profanity, and most of his sex life.

They “took some of the rough edges off,” Groom told the New York Times in 1994.