Another tragic death echoes across Hollywood as author Charles Webb, responsible for scribing the critically-acclaimed novel The Graduate that would inspire the classic eponymous 1967 film reportedly passed away according to Deadline.
The author’s death was confirmed on June 16 but was not issued to the public until a week later. Webb was residing in Eastbourne, England were he suffered from blood condition according a statement from a fellow colleague, Jack Malvern.
The Graduate saw its publication in 1963 and was later adapted into a film in 1967 directed by Mike Nichols which starred Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft. Both incarnations feature a young man named Benjamin Braddock fresh off of graduation engaging in an affair with the wife of his father’s business colleague. The film was a critical and commercial success and was highly faithful to its source material.
Webb would eventually see his later novels become adapted into films such as The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker and New Cardiff, in which the latter was adapted into a 2003 romantic comedy titled Hope Springs.
Over 40 years later, Webb would eventually publish a sequel to The Graduate in 2007 entitled Home School, however a film adaptation was never made as the author confirmed that the novel was written for monetary purposes only.