| |
Double Oscar winner William Goldman, whose writing revitalised the New Hollywood of the sixties and seventies and went on to influence movies till his passing, has died, it has been announced; he was suffering from cancer. He began as a novelist when Hollywood came calling, and in the sixties produced screenplays for caper Masquerade and Paul Newman's private eye flick Harper, but when Newman decided to star in Goldman's next project, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the writer never looked back.
The seventies were no less successful to varying degrees, with The Hot Rock, The Stepford Wives, The Great Waldo Pepper, Watergate drama All the President's Men (one of Goldman's masterpieces, no matter the stress it caused him), Marathon Man, A Bridge Too Far, and horror Magic; not all hit big, but all have their fans. He continued penning novels and non-fiction, including one of the classic commentaries on the film business, Adventures in the Screen Trade, and returned to movies from the late eighties with Heat, much-beloved The Princess Bride, Stephen King adaptation Misery, Chaplin, Maverick, The Ghost and the Darkness, Absolute Power, two more Kings with Hearts in Atlantis and the genuinely bizarre Dreamcatcher, and Jason Statham vehicle Wild Card.
Much sought after for advice, despite his famous maxim "nobody knows anything", his assistance was invaluable, and his writing among the best American cinema has ever enjoyed. |
 |
