David Zelag Goodman

Born on January 15, 1930, New Yorker David Zelag Goodman came from a family of Jewish immigrants. His parents wanted him to be a rabbi, but he finally decided on the secular life, and ended up studying Drama at Yale University.

After finishing his studies, he began to write theater texts, and achieved great success in an “Off Broadway” theater with “High Named Today”, a play with a pacifist message. He got his start in film writing the obscure action film The Stranglers of Bombay , by Terence Fisher . Later he went to television, signing numerous episodes of The Untouchables , and also other series.

In 1970 he returned to the cinema with Lovers and Other Strangers , for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, since it was based on a play. Later he wrote Straw Dogs , by Sam Peckinpah , which was controversial for its violence, and which has recently been the subject of a new version. Goodman became good friends with Dustin Hoffman , the lead.

Later he wrote films such as Goodbye, Doll , March or Die and the memorable thriller The Eyes of Laura Mars . After several writers withdrew from Logan’s Run because they were unable to finish the work, the production company hired Goodman, who completely rewrote the entire thing, ending up credited as the film’s sole writer.

In the 1980s he retired from cinema after A Man, a Woman, a Son , in which Martin Sheen starred . Subsequently he wrote the telefilm Monte Walsh , and a script for an action film, Cover , which is currently in pre-production.