William Goldman, famed screenwriter of 'Butch Cassidy,' 'All The President's Men,' dead at 87

William Goldman died Thursday night, close friends and family of the screenwriter told Deadline. He was 87.

Goldman, who twice won screenwriting Oscars for "All The President’s Men" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," passed away Thursday night in his Manhattan home, surrounded by family and friends. His health had been failing for some time, and over the summer his condition deteriorated.

From his scripting work to his books like "Adventures in the Screen Trade," Goldman began as a novelist and transitioned to writing scripts with Masquerade in 1965.

While his greatest hits were the indelible pairing of Robert Redford with Paul Newman in the George Roy Hill-directed "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," and Redford and Dustin Hoffman in the Alan Pakula-directed toppling of President Richard Nixon drama, "All The President’s Men," he wrote the scripts for many other great movies. The list includes the Hoffman-starring "Marathon Man" and "The Princess Bride," "Flowers For Algernon," "The Stepford Wives," "The Great Waldo Pepper," "A Bridge Too Far," "Chaplin and Misery."

He also did a lot of behind the scenes script doctoring where he didn’t take a screen credit, on films that included "A Few Good Men" and "Indecent Proposal."

Beyond that, Goldman was a renowned script doctor and memoirist. His travelogue through the movie business, Adventures In The Screen Trade was a primer for wannabe screenwriters and for journalists covering them.