On This Day – August 12th

Born on August 12th 1931, William Goldman is an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter.

He came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist, before turning to writing for film.

Two of his screenplays have won Academy Awards; first the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and then All the President's Men (1976), the story of the journalists who broke the Watergate scandal of President Richard Nixon. Both films starred Robert Redford.

His other notable works include his thriller novel Marathon Man, which in 1976 was made into a film of the same name starring Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, and Roy Scheider and directed by John Schlesinger.

He is also affectionately known for his comedy-fantasy novel The Princess Bride, which he also adapted for film in 1987 and which starred Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant, and Christopher Guest.

In the Princess Bride the protagonist, Westley, challenges the villain, Vizzini to a battle of wits: Two goblets of wine are placed before the two men, one of which is laced with iocane powder which is odourless, tasteless, dissolves instantly in liquid, and is among the more deadlier poisons known to man. The challenge is for Vizzini to decide from which goblet each will drink, and therefore who dies.

Westley Triumphs – but how could he have been certain to survive?

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