威廉·戈德曼

威廉·戈德曼（英语：William Goldman，1931年8月12日—2018年11月16日）是一位美国小说作者、剧作者和影视编剧。他在1950年代以写小说成名，之后转向电影剧本创作。戈德曼两次因剧本赢得奥斯卡金像奖，第一次是西部片《虎豹小霸王》（1969），第二次是政治惊悚片《惊天大阴谋》（1976）。两部电影都有罗伯特·雷德福参与主演。

William Goldman (August 12, 1931 – November 16, 2018) was an American novelist, screenwriter and playwright who wrote 16 novels and numerous screenplays in a career spanning seven decades. He received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and Best Screenplay from the BAFTAs and Golden Globes for his first original screenplay, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and he received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for All the President's Men (1976). Both of these films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, along with The Princess Bride (1987) which he adapted from his 1973 novel, and all three were included on the 2006 list by the Writers Guild of America of the 101 Greatest Screenplays. Among his other accolades were three Writers Guild of America Awards, including the 1985 Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement, two Edgar Awards for Best Motion Picture Screenplay, and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

Goldman collaborated twice each with George Roy Hill, Peter Yates, Rob Reiner and Simon West, and thrice with Richard Attenborough. He adapted his novels Marathon Man (1974, filmed in 1976), Magic (1976, filmed in 1978), and Heat (1985, filmed in 1986 and as Wild Card in 2015.) His screenplays for Misery (1990), Hearts in Atlantis (2001), and Dreamcatcher (2003) were all adapted from works by Stephen King, and he later adapted Misery for the stage in 2012. His other produced plays, Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole (1961) and A Family Affair (1962) were collaborations with his brother James Goldman, also an Academy Award-winning writer. Goldman's other screenplays include The Stepford Wives (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Chaplin (1992) and The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), and he was an uncredited script doctor on Twins (1988), A Few Good Men (1992), Indecent Proposal, Last Action Hero (both 1993), and Fierce Creatures (1997). In his later years he served as a mentor to a number of writers, including A Few Good Men writer Aaron Sorkin. His nonfiction books include The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway (1969), the memoirs Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983) and Which Lie Did I Tell? (2000), and the essay collection The Big Picture (2001).

Though Goldman was self-effacing of his own work, Sean Egan said his achievements were made "without ever lunging for the lowest common denominator. Although his body of work has been consumed by millions, he has never let his populism overwhelm a glittering intelligence and penchant for upending expectation."

Early life and education

Goldman was born in Chicago on August 12, 1931, the second son of Marion (née Weil; 1904–1993) and Maurice Clarence Goldman (1893–1947). He grew up in Highland Park, Illinois in a Jewish family. Goldman's father was a successful businessman, working in Chicago and in a partnership, but he suffered from alcoholism, which cost him his business. He "came home to live and he was in his pajamas for the last five years of his life," according to Goldman. His father died by suicide while Goldman was still in high school. It was a 15-year-old Goldman who discovered the body. His mother was deaf, which created additional stress in the home.

Education and military service

Goldman attended Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and he began to write when he took a creative-writing course there, according to his memoir Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983). His grades in the class were "horrible". He was an editor of Oberlin's literary magazine, and he submitted his short stories to it anonymously. He recalls that the other editors read his submissions and remarked, "We can't possibly publish this shit."

Goldman graduated from college in 1952 during the Korean War, and he was soon drafted into the Army. He was assigned as a clerk in the Pentagon Defense headquarters because he knew how to type, and he was discharged with the rank of corporal in September 1954.