Charles Webb was best known for his debut novel “The Graduate,” which was adapted famously into a film starring Dustin Hoffman.
- Died: Tuesday, June 16, 2020. (Who else died on June 16?)
- Details of Death: Died at the age of 81 in England, confirmed by his friend Jack Malvern to the Washington Post.
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“The Graduate”
Webb’s debut novel “The Graduate” was published in 1963 when he was 24. He was brought up in a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles and attended a small Eastern college and rebeled against conformity like the lead character Benjamin Braddock, but he said the affair with an older woman named Mrs. Robinson in the story was not autobiographical. Webb sold the rights to the novel for the film adaptation for $20,000 without any share in the movie’s profits. Mike Nichols directed “The Graduate,” which starred Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft and is considered a classic. Webb and his longtime partner Eve had no interest in money, giving away most of their possessions and living for a while in a VW bus. He continued to write novels, his last being the sequel to “The Graduate” called “Home School”, released in 2007 to mixed reviews.
Distancing himself from “The Graduate”
“It’s something that I cannot shake,” he once said of the novel. “It has defined my whole life. I just want to run away.” – according to the Washington Post
Full Obituary: Washington Post
