Two-Time Oscar-Winning Screenwriter Bo Goldman Dead at 90: ‘It Was an Honor Knowing Him,’ Says Danny DeVito

Bo Goldman, a two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter best known for co-writing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, has died. He was 90 years old.

Director Todd Field, Goldman’s son-in-law, confirmed his death to The New York Times on Wednesday, though he did not provide a cause or further details.

In a statement to PEOPLE, Danny DeVito — who starred in 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which Goldman wrote alongside Lawrence Hauben — said, “Working with Bo was a dream. It was an honor knowing him.”

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Bo Goldman at the 48th Academy Awards on March 29, 1976.

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Born Robert Goldman on Sept. 10, 1932, Goldman grew up in New York City and later attended Princeton University, where he was president of theater troupe the Princeton Triangle Club. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Army for three years.

Goldman began his career in entertainment as a lyricist on Broadway and with work in television, notably serving as a writer and associate producer on the CBS anthology series Playhouse 90 from 1956 to 1959.

He took home an Academy Award in 1976 for Best Adapted Screenplay for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, based on Ken Kesey’s novel of the same name and starring DeVito, 78, alongside Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield and more.

Goldman received his second Oscar, for Best Original Screenplay, for the 1980 film Melvin and Howard.

Other notable projects from the screenwriter include The Rose (1979), Shoot the Moon (1982),Scent of a Woman (1992) and Meet Joe Black (1998).

Bo Goldman and Brad Pitt attend the 50th Annual Writers Guild of America Awards on Feb. 21, 1998, in Beverly Hills, California.

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The latter two films’ director Martin Brest told the Times of Goldman, “People call him the screenwriter’s screenwriter.”

“I called him the man with the X-ray ears, because he had a pitch-perfect recall of the nuances of a comment that someone made to someone 50 years prior — he could reproduce the tone, and the reason he remembered it is because the tone told the whole story,” continued Brest, 71.

“He thought of himself as a filmmaker rather than a writer,” the director added. “He was part of the creation of a film.”

Goldman was predeceased by his wife Mab Ashforth, who died in 2017, as well as son Jesse, who died in 1981, per Variety. He is survived by son Justin, plus daughters Serena, Mia, Diana and Amy, as well as seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, according to the outlet.

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