---
name: "William Hjortsberg"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/william-hjortsberg"
fi1m_id: "william-hjortsberg"
imdb_id: "nm0387132"
tmdb_id: 9167
wikidata_id: "Q552955"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "23 February 1941"
died: "22 April 2017"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-04T19:25:54.400184+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# William Hjortsberg

## Identity

William Hjortsberg

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/william-hjortsberg
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** william-hjortsberg
- **IMDb ID:** nm0387132
- **TMDB ID:** 9167
- **Wikidata ID:** Q552955
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hjortsberg, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q552955, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0387132/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9167

Writer. Born 23 February 1941 in New York City, New York, USA. Died 22 April 2017.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 23 February 1941, New York City, New York, USA
- **Died:** 22 April 2017
- **Also known as:** William "Gatz" Hjortsberg, Gatz Hjortsberg
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hjortsberg, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q552955, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0387132/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9167

## Biography

William Hjortsberg, also known as Gatz Hjortsberg, was an American novelist and screenwriter. He wrote the screenplay for the 1985 fantasy film *Legend*, directed by Ridley Scott.

His novel *Falling Angel* (1978) formed the basis for the 1987 film *Angel Heart*. Hjortsberg was born in New York City on 23 February 1941 and died in Livingston, Montana, on 22 April 2017. He attended Dartmouth College and the Yale School of Drama, where he met the writer Thomas McGuane, and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. He lived for many years in Montana and published ten books, including the 2012 biography *Jubilee Hitchhiker: The Life and Times of Richard Brautigan*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, deadline.com, hollywoodreporter.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Legend* (1985), Fi1m 61, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/legend.md)

## Complete filmography (4)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Angel Heart* (1987), Novel
- *Legend* (1985), Writer — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/film/legend.md)
- *The Georgia Peaches* (1980), Teleplay
- *Thunder and Lightning* (1977), Writer

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/william-hjortsberg