Screenwriter Calder Willingham Dies

Calder Willingham, the novelist and screenwriter whose first book, “End as a Man,” made him a literary star at 24, died on Sunday at 72 on lung cancer.

Willingham was a part of the widely heralded generation of young writers of naturalistic fiction, including Norman Mailer and James Jones, who came to the fore of American literature in the postwar era.

Although he published 10 novels between 1947 and 1975, he was probably better known in recent years for his work on screenplays for films including “The Graduate” (1967), “Little Big Man” (1970) and “Rambling Rose” (1991), which he adapted from his 1972 novel.