William Goldman

William Goldman, screenwriter, 77 George Hamilton, actor, 69 Mark Knopfler, guitarist (Dire Straits), 59 Pat Metheny, jazz guitarist, 54 Suzanne Vega, singer, 49 Pete Sampras, tennis player, 37 Rebecca Gayheart, actress, 36 Casey Affleck,...

You don't hear much about James Thurber (1894-1961) anymore, and it's not just because the glory days of the New Yorker as a humor magazine are many decades in the past. His work is perennially in print, and his "Writings and Drawings" have merited a...

Many who came of age with the 1969 movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" can still quote by heart lines from its William Goldman screenplay. Here are some of the best: Butch: What happened to the old bank? It was beautiful. Guard: People kept...

"Most of what follows is true." That's the opening of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," the 1969 movie about two bandits born as the sun was setting over the mesas and buttes of the old Wild West. Morally ambiguous, the movie struck a chord with...

Ever since Brian De Palma's version of Stephen King's novel "Carrie" captured the imagination of moviegoers and critics 31 years ago, numerous other King books and short stories have been translated to the big and small screens. Tuesday, the latest...

Romney in retrospect Re "Open road for McCain as Romney steps aside," Feb. 8 In another time, it would not be as important for the Republicans to have a strong candidate. This time it is, and Sen. John McCain is not the right candidate. His liberal to...

WHEN was the last time you heard anyone get excited about a new film critic? That was my reaction when "Michael Clayton" director Tony Gilroy began raving to me about the review he'd seen on YouTube. "It was terrific," he said. "I sent it to George...

Ten days from the start of the network upfronts, a healthy amount of buzz is beginning to coalesce around several pilots. Predicting what will actually end up on the nets' schedules is, at best, an inexact science -- to quote screenwriter William...

Though the Sundance Film Festival takes understandable pains to distance itself from Hollywood, it becomes more apparent every year that William Goldman's great rule of studio filmmaking applies to the independent world as well: Nobody knows anything....

"Nobody knows anything." William Goldman lobbed that dictum at the screen trade, but it just as easily applies to the just-concluded 2006-07 Broadway season. Goldman's contention that producers haven't a clue as to what will resonate with critics and the...

Conventional wisdom holds that "The Departed," by winning four Oscars, including best picture and director, was the big winner Sunday night at the Academy Awards. But for my money, the evening's truly triumphant were the screenwriters. Going beyond even...

Scriptland is a new weekly feature on the work and professional lives of screenwriters. * There are few bets with longer odds than making a living as a screenwriter. And then there's Allan Loeb. A compulsive gambler since age 10, he's currently riding...