He was The Man.
If he had only given us Butch Cassidy, we would have been gratified, but there was more (The Princess Bride) and more (All the President's Men) and more (Marathon, Misery) plus the first and perhaps greatest of contemporary books about the craft: Who among you reading this post has not perused Adventures in the Screen Trade?
Goldman famously claimed "Nobody knows anything" (though - watch me rewrite William Goldman! - I've come to think, after decades in the industry, that "Nobody knows everything" is more accurate) but Goldman did know something, for sure.
[NOTE: An earlier version of this post reprinted a "10 Commandments of Screenwriting" long-attributed to William Goldman. I've learned from a reputable source that they were actually written by (gulp) Robert McKee, so I've removed them. Apologies!]
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