FAIRHOPE, Ala. ā Winston Groom, the writer whose novel āForrest Gumpā was made into a six-Oscar winning 1994 movie that became a soaring pop cultural phenomenon, has died at age 77.
Mayor Karin Wilson of Fairhope, Alabama, said in a message on social media that Groom had died in that south Alabama town. A local funeral home also confirmed the death and said arrangements were pending.
āWhile he will be remembered for creating Forrest Gump, Winston Groom was a talented journalist & noted author of American history. Our hearts & prayers are extended to his family,ā Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement.
āForrest Gumpā was the improbable tale of a slow-witted but mathematically gifted man who was a participant or witness to key points of 20th century history ā from Alabama segregationist Gov. George Wallace's āstand at the schoolhouse door," to meetings with presidents.
It was the best known book by Groom, who grew up in Mobile, Alabama, and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1965, according to a biography posted by the university.
Groom served in the Armyās Fourth Infantry Division from 1965 to 1969, the university said. His service included a tour in Vietnam ā one of the settings for āForrest Gump.ā
He wrote 16 books, fiction and nonfiction. One, āConversations with the Enemy,ā about a American prisoner of war in Vietnam accused of collaboration, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, according to the university.
It was āForrest Gumpā ā and the success of the 1994 movie starring Tom Hanks in the iconic role of Gump, as well as Sally Field and Gary Sinise ā that earned him widespread fame and some financial success.
The novel is considerably different from the film. Don Noble, University of Alabama professor emeritus of English, and a 40-year friend of Groomās told The Tuscaloosa News that the novel was ādarkerā and āricherā than the movie.
āYou can make a lot of money as a comic writer, but you canāt get no respect,ā Noble said. āBut āForrest Gumpā is really actually quite a fine novel. Itās more subtle and more complicated ... richer than the movie.ā
The movie, which also starred Robin Wright and Mykelti Williamson, became deeply embedded in the American psyche and has remained an enduring television staple and huge cultural phenomenon since.
āIt touched a nerve,ā Groom told the Tuscaloosa News in 2014.
The film dominated the 1995 Academy Awards, winning six Oscars including best picture, best director for Robert Zemeckis and best actor for Hanks.
It was 1994ās No. 2 grossing film at the box office, second only to āThe Lion King.ā
The basic outlines of Gumpās life are the same as they are in the book: Gump plays football under Paul āBearā Bryant at the University of Alabama, serves in Vietnam and starts a major shrimp business.
But the film made major departures. Gump was not a math savant as he was in the book, and was a more saintly soul. The film took away Gumpās size -- Groom said he envisioned John Goodman playing him -- along with his profanity, and most of his sex life.
They ātook some of the rough edges off,ā Groom told the New York Times in 1994.
Groom also wrote nonfiction on diverse subjects including the Civil War, World War I and Alabama's Crimson Tide football.
In 2005, Groom released ā1942: The Year That Tried Menās Souls,ā which chronicled the first year of U.S. involvement in World War II.
In 2009 he released āVicksburg 1863,ā an account of the Union siege that brought a novelistās touch to historical figures like Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman and Jefferson Davis, president of the confederacy.
His most recent novel, El Paso, was published in 2016.
Groom got $350,000 for the rights to āForrest Gumpā plus 3% of the net profit of the movie. But he got into a serious dispute with Paramount Pictures when they told him a film that had earned over $600 million was in the red after expenses.
But years later he wasnāt bitter.
āThey did an excellent job,ā he told the Tuscaloosa News. āI would have probably preferred my version of it, but that thing never would have opened.ā
The book became a major bestseller in the wake of the film, and Groom got a much better deal for the follow-up novel, 1995ās āGump and Co.ā
āIām happy as a pig in sunshine,ā he told the Mobile Register.
Nonetheless, sequel-addicted Hollywood somehow never made the new movie.
The Associated Press
