Writer Winston Groom, whose novel Forrest Gump was made into the hugely successful Oscar-winning 1994 film starring Tom Hanks, has died aged 77.
The book, about the childlike optimism of a slow-thinking but kind-hearted man, won six Oscars including the best film and actor, plus three Golden Globes. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and also starring Sally Field and Robin Wright, it made $683m (£526m).
After gaining his degree, he was in the US Army, which included a tour of duty in the Vietnam War, before working as a reporter. He wrote Forrest Gump in 1985 and it was published the following year.
The film, seen through the eyes of Forrest Gump, has the presidencies of Kennedy and Johnson as a backdrop, along with the Vietnam War and Watergate. Groom went on to write a follow-up in 1995 called Gump and Co and also wrote non-fiction including a book on the American Civil War.
