Editing William Goldman (section)

===''The Princess Bride''===
Goldman's next novel was ''[[The Princess Bride (novel)|The Princess Bride]]'' (1973); he also wrote a screenplay, but it was more than a decade before the film was made. That same year, he contracted a rare strain of pneumonia, which resulted in his being hospitalized and affected his health for months. This inspired him into a burst of creativity, including several novels and screenplays.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andersen |first=Richard |title=William Goldman |publisher=Twayne |year=1979 |page=20}}</ref><ref>Brady p 130</ref>

Goldman's novel writing moved in a more commercial direction following the death of his editor [[Hiram Haydn]] in late 1973.<ref name="shop">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Dennis |url=https://archive.org/details/shoptalkconversa00brow |title=Shoptalk |publisher=Newmarket |year=1992 |page=[https://archive.org/details/shoptalkconversa00brow/page/75 75] |isbn=9781557041289 |url-access=registration}}</ref> This started with the children's book ''[[Wigger (novel)|Wigger]]'' (1974), followed by the thriller ''[[Marathon Man (novel)|Marathon Man]]'' (1974), which he sold to Delacorte as part of a three-book deal worth $2&nbsp;million. He sold movie rights to ''Marathon Man'' for $450,000.<ref name="books">{{Cite news |last=Rosenfield |first=Paul |date=February 18, 1979 |title=Westward They Come, Big Bucks for Big Books |page=n1 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

His second book for Delacorte was the thriller ''[[Magic (novel)|Magic]]'' (1976), which he sold to Joe Levine for $1&nbsp;million. He did the screenplays for the film versions of ''Marathon Man'' (1976) and ''[[Magic (1978 film)|Magic]]'' (1978). He also wrote the screenplay for ''[[The Stepford Wives (1975 film)|The Stepford Wives]]'' (1975), which he says was an unpleasant experience because director [[Bryan Forbes]] rewrote most of it; Goldman tried to take his name off it, but they would not let him.<ref>Brady p 109</ref> He was reunited with  director [[George Roy Hill]] and star [[Robert Redford]] on ''[[The Great Waldo Pepper]]'' (1975), which Goldman wrote from an idea of Hill.