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Novelist and screenwriter William Goldman, who wrote the beloved cult classic 

Goldman's son-in-law, Mike Pavol, tells NPR that Goldman died Friday morning in New York City.

His legend was cemented in Hollywood, but Goldman himself was an avowed New Yorker. He was born in Chicago, went to Oberlin College in Ohio, served briefly in the military and got a master's in English from Columbia University in New York.


He launched a successful literary career immediately after graduating from Columbia with his first novel, 

A series of well-received and sometimes bestselling novels followed.
Then, in 1965, Goldman started to shift into movie territory. He helped on the script for 

 (1966). Then he wrote his first-ever original screenplay.
That beginner's stab at screenwriting was none other than 

It sold for the then-record sum of $400,000 (some $3 million in 2018 dollars) and won Goldman an Oscar in 1970 for best original screenplay.

That was just the start. Goldman went on to adapt

Oscar-winning screenplay — and turn his own novels 

into films.
Ten screenplays later, Goldman still didn't see himself as a Hollywood man. "I'm not a screenwriter," he 

. "I'm a novelist who writes screenplays."
But he knew enough to write the definitive guide to screenwriting. 

was published in 1983 and became a bestseller. Screenwriting professor George Huang tells NPR's Neda Ulaby the book "was like the Bible in the industry" — and that the advice in it still holds up today.

And then there was 

The 1987 film, which Goldman adapted from his own novel, performed modestly at the box office upon its initial release. But as the years passed, it found a passionate following. Lines from the movie have woven their way into the fabric of pop culture — "Inconceivable!" "Aaaaas youuuuu wiiiiiish." "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

 of the film on its 30th anniversary last year:



Goldman was a craftsman — a master with high standards. And he was self-deprecating about the value of his own work. "I do not think I write particularly well," he 

(In the same interview, he explained that he didn't work from home, although he could have. Instead he went to an office in New York City five to seven days a week — because "it's essential that I maintain a sense that what I'm doing is as important as what an insurance man or businessman is doing.")

His movie oeuvre impressed everyone except, apparently, himself.


"Goldman said with most of them he could only see his mistakes," Ulaby reports. "He claimed to love only two: 

Arts and Culture

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

Goldman had a successful literary career before he turned to Hollywood, where he made an indelible mark -- as the writer of beloved movies as well as a bestselling guide to screenwriting.

William Goldman, screenwriter and author of 'Princess Bride,' dies at 87

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