16 Facts About Winston Groom

Winston Groom is best known for his best-selling novel Forrest Gump, which became a 1990s cultural phenomenon after being adapted as the film of the same name directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks.

Winston Groom wrote a total of fifteen nonfiction works on such varied subjects as the American Civil War and World War I, including five multiple biographies.

Winston Groom's family returned to Mobile, Alabama, where the senior Groom practiced law.

Winston Groom was raised in Mobile County, Alabama, where he attended the private University Military School.

Winston Groom attended the University of Alabama, where he became a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity and the Army ROTC.

Winston Groom graduated with Omicron Delta Kappa honors in 1965.

Winston Groom served in the US Army from 1965 to 1967, including a tour of duty in the Vietnam War.

Winston Groom resigned and moved to New York to pursue a career in writing novels.

In 1985, Winston Groom moved back to Mobile, Alabama, where he began to work on the novel Forrest Gump.

Winston Groom wrote the novel in six weeks; it was published in 1986.

Winston Groom was paid $350,000 for the movie rights to the book, but disputed accounting by Paramount Pictures related to profits from the film.

Winston Groom contended the company used Hollywood accounting methods to deflate profitability numbers; as a result, Groom received no share of the profits, although he held a three percent net profit share.

Winston Groom eventually settled with Paramount in 1995 in an agreement that included a seven-figure sum for the film rights to Gump and Co.

In 2016, Winston Groom published El Paso, his first novel in nearly 20years.

At the time of his death in 2020, Winston Groom was waiting for publication of The Patriots, his biography of American leaders John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson.

Winston Groom died from a suspected heart attack at his home in Fairhope on September 17,2020, at age 77.