2026 Reading Challenge
William Goldman

William Goldman’s Followers (2,665)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo

Add New
Videos

Meet William Goldman
Add a comment

More videos…

William Goldman


Born
in Highland Park, Illinois, The United States
August 12, 1931

Died
November 16, 2018

Website

Genre
Literature & Fiction, Biographies & Memoirs, Screenplays & Plays

Influences
Irwin Shaw, Ingmar Bergman, Ross Macdonald, Ira Levin, Stephen King ...more


Goldman grew up in a Jewish family in Highland Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and obtained a BA degree at Oberlin College in 1952 and an MA degree at Columbia University in 1956.His brother was the late James Goldman, author and playwright.

William Goldman had published five novels and had three plays produced on Broadway before he began to write screenplays. Several of his novels he later used as the foundation for his screenplays.

In the 1980s he wrote a series of memoirs looking at his professional life on Broadway and in Hollywood (in one of these he famously remarked that "Nobody knows anything"). He then returned to writing novels. He then adapted his novel The Princess Bride to the screen, which marked his re-entry into screenwriti ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 4.26 · 991,116 ratings · 32,962 reviews · 88 distinct works • Similar authors
The Princess Bride
4.27 avg rating — 946,613 ratings — published 1973 — 225 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Marathon Man
4.11 avg rating — 21,674 ratings — published 1974 — 6 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Adventures in the Screen Tr...
4.13 avg rating — 8,392 ratings — published 1983 — 2 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Which Lie Did I Tell?: More...
4.03 avg rating — 2,814 ratings — published 2000 — 21 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Magic
3.70 avg rating — 2,119 ratings — published 1976 — 35 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Silent Gondoliers
3.86 avg rating — 1,886 ratings — published 1983 — 13 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Temple of Gold
3.83 avg rating — 1,229 ratings — published 1957 — 21 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Boys and Girls Together
3.68 avg rating — 1,043 ratings — published 1964 — 27 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Butch Cassidy and the Sunda...
4.29 avg rating — 550 ratings — published 1968 — 15 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Colour of Light
3.87 avg rating — 564 ratings — published 1984 — 15 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
More books by William Goldman…

Series by William Goldman

Marathon Man Brothers
(2 books)
by
4.09 avg rating — 22,257 ratings

Related News

Looking for a new thrill? A twisty page-turner? Well, the hottest new mysteries and thrillers published so far this year promise to keep...
Read more...
91 likes · 13 comments
Quotes by William Goldman  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”
― William Goldman, Four Screenplays with Essays: Marathon Man - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - The Princess Bride - Misery
tags: life, pain
6213 likes
Like

“When I was your age, television was called books.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
tags: book, fantasy, humour
3007 likes
Like

“Life isn't fair, it's just fairer than death, that's all.”
― William Goldman, The Princess Bride
tags: life
2132 likes
Like

Polls

July 2022 Revisit the Shelf Poll

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1920) pp. 293, last read July 2015
 
  51 votes, 20.6%

Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1601) 289 pp., last read Sept 2018
 
  45 votes, 18.1%

The Princess Bride by William Goldman (1973) 456 pp., last read June 2019
 
  42 votes, 16.9%

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (1873) 252 pages, last read Dec 2013
 
  34 votes, 13.7%

The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde 126p (1887) Last read Feb 2015
 
  33 votes, 13.3%

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells (1898) 192 pp., last read March 2012
 
  24 votes, 9.7%

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (1930) 213 pp. last read Feb 2019
 
  19 votes, 7.7%

248 total votes
More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics posts views last activity  
Glens Falls (NY) ...: What are U reading these days? (Part One) (begun 11/22/08) 108 110 Feb 18, 2009 08:17AM  
Fantasy Book Club: This topic has been closed to new comments. What are you reading in March? 72 378 Mar 29, 2009 05:36PM  
Meggie & Mo's Boo...: This topic has been closed to new comments. * Book List 3 206 Sep 29, 2009 11:56PM  
Pick-a-Shelf: Lyn's OSD Plan 3 33 Oct 23, 2009 02:19PM