Bo Goldman

There are but a few select screenwriters who are spoken of with the kind of reverence usually reserved for film Directors - 'Robert Towne' (qv), 'Alvin Sargent' (qv) and 'Bo Goldman' (qv). Goldman is a screenwriter's screenwriter, and one of the most honored in motion picture history. The recipient of two Academy 'Awards' (qv), a New York Film Critics Award, two Writers Guild 'Awards' (qv), three Golden Globes, additional Academy Award and Writers Guild nominations and, ultimately, the Guild's life achievement Award - The Laurel.Born in New York City, Goldman was educated at Exeter and Princeton where he wrote, produced, composed the lyrics and was president of the famed Triangle show, a proving ground for 'James Stewart' (qv) and director 'Joshua Logan' (qv). On graduation, he went directly to Broadway as the lyricist for "First Impressions", based on 'Jane Austen' (qv)'s "Pride and Prejudice", produced by composer 'Jule Styne' (qv) and directed by 'Abe Burrows' (qv), starring 'Hermione Gingold' (qv), 'Polly Bergen' (qv) and 'Farley Granger' (qv).Moving into television, Goldman was mentored by the redoubtable 'Fred Coe' (qv) (the "'D.W. Griffith' (qv) of dramatic television") and became part of the twilight of The Golden Age, associate producing and script editing Coe's prestigious _Playhouse 90 (1956)_ (qv)'s, "The Days of Wine and Roses", "A Plot to Kill Stalin" and 'Horton Foote' (qv)'s "Old Man". Goldman went on to himself produce and write for Public Television on the award-winning NET Playhouse. During this period, Goldman first tried his hand at screen-writing, resulting in an early version of _Shoot the Moon (1982)_ (qv) which stirred the interest of Hollywood and became his calling card.After reading _Shoot the Moon (1982)_ (qv), 'Milos Forman' (qv) asked Goldman to write the screenplay for _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)_ (qv). Goldman's first produced film won all five top Academy 'Awards' (qv) including Best Screenplay for Goldman. "Cuckoo's Nest" was the first film to win the top five awards since 'Frank Capra' (qv)'s _It Happened One Night (1934)_ (qv). Goldman also received the Writers Guild Award and the Golden Globe Award for his work on the film.He next wrote _The Rose (1979)_ (qv), which was nominated for four Academy 'Awards' (qv), followed by his original screenplay, _Melvin and Howard (1980)_ (qv), which garnered Goldman his second Oscar, second Writers Guild Award and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Screenplay of the Year.Goldman's first screenplay, _Shoot the Moon (1982)_ (qv), that started it all, was then filmed by 'Alan Parker' (qv), starring 'Diane Keaton' (qv) and 'Albert Finney' (qv), the film received international acclaim and was embraced by America's most respected film critics including 'Pauline Kael' (qv) and 'Richard Schickel' (qv). For _Shoot the Moon (1982)_ (qv), Goldman earned his third Writers Guild nomination.Over the next few years, he contributed uncredited work to countless scripts, including 'Milos Forman' (qv)'s _Ragtime (1981)_ (qv), starring 'James Cagney' (qv) and 'Donald O'Connor' (qv), _The Flamingo Kid (1984)_ (qv), starring 'Matt Dillon' (qv), and 'Warren Beatty' (qv)'s _Dick Tracy (1990)_ (qv).Goldman tried his hand at directing an adaptation of 'Susan Minot' (qv)'s novel "Monkeys", and a re-imagining of 'Ingmar Bergman' (qv)'s _Wild Strawberries (1957)_ (qv) (aka "Wild Strawberries") as a vehicle for 'Gregory Peck' (qv), but for budgetary and scheduling reasons, both movies lost their start dates. Goldman returned solely to screen-writing with _Scent of a Woman (1992)_ (qv), starring 'Al Pacino' (qv). Goldman was honored with his third Academy Award nomination and his third Golden Globe Award. He followed this with 'Harold Becker' (qv)'s _City Hall (1996)_ (qv), starring 'Al Pacino' (qv) and 'John Cusack' (qv), and then co-wrote _Meet Joe Black (1998)_ (qv), starring 'Brad Pitt' (qv) and 'Anthony Hopkins' (qv).More recently, Goldman did a page one uncredited rewrite of _The Perfect Storm (2000)_ (qv). It was Goldman's script that green lit the movie at Warner Bros. and convinced 'George Clooney' (qv) to star in the film, which went on to earn $327,000,000.In 2005, he helped prepare the shooting script for 'Milos Forman' (qv)'s _Goya's Ghosts (2006)_ (qv), produced by 'Saul Zaentz' (qv) and starring 'Natalie Portman' (qv) and 'Javier Bardem' (qv).He wrote a script for a remake of 'Jules Dassin' (qv)'s _Rififi (1955)_ (qv) (aka Rififi), for director 'Harold Becker' (qv), starring 'Al Pacino' (qv).Goldman is married to 'Mab Ashforth' (qv), and is the father of six children, seven grandchildren and one great grandchild. He resides in Rockville, Maine.::Larry McVey