LOSING A LEGEND
‘PRINCESS BRIDE,’ ‘BUTCH & SUNDANCE’ SCREENWRITER DIES
Two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman put his oft-quoted words in thte mouths of Butch and Sundance. Woodward and Bernstein. Dustin Hoffman and Sir Laurence Olivier.
The acclaimed author and cinematic savant died early Friday in Manhattan from complications of colon cancer and pneumonia, prompting an outpouring of praise from his legions of friends and fans. Goldman was 87.
“One of the greatest and most successful screenwriters ever,” said director Ron Howard. “I was lucky as hell to count Bill as a mentor and a friend.”
Goldman’s enviable list of box office winners included “All the President’s Men,” “The Princess Bride,” “Marathon Man,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “Misery.”
When “Cassidy” debuted in 1969, Goldman collected a then-record $400,000 for the script. The movie, with Paul Newman and Robert Redford, eventually grossed $102 million.
He won a screenwriting Oscar for the film, and collected another for “All the President’s Men.”
Kathy Bates won for best actress in 1990 for “Misery,” adapted by Goldman from the Stephen King novel.
Despite the box office success, Goldman refused to relocate to Hollywood from his Manhattan home. He even fired a quotable shot across the movie industry bow in his autobiographical book “Adventures in the Screen Trade,” dismissing the studios’ constant testing and tweaking of films — only to see many tank upon release.
“Nobody,” he famously wrote, “knows anything.”
The Illinois native first worked with Newman on “Harper,” adapting one of his own books in 1966. His scripts were typically rife with indelible dialogue that has now outlived him:
“Follow the money,” from Deep Throat in “All the President’s Men.”
Newman’s Cassidy, responding to his sidekick’s confession that he can’t swim as they ponder jumping from a cliff to the river below: “Why, you crazy — the fall will probably kill ya!”
And the vengeance-obsessed son of “The Princess Bride,” the quirky Goldman fairy take that he adapted for the screen: “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!”
Redford teamed with Goldman on a number of movies, including “Indecent Proposal,” “The Hot Rock,” “A Bridge Too Far” and “The Great Waldo Pepper.”
Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin recalled Goldman as an inspiration for an entire generation of movie writers.
“He wrote so many unforgettable movies… and while I’ll always wish he’d written one more, I’ll always be grateful for what he left us,” he said.