The Horse Whisperer author Nicholas Evans has passed away at age 72.

“The Horse Whisperer,” a 1995 book that went on to sell more than 15 million copies worldwide, was adapted into a Robert Redford-starring 1998 movie.

 

(AP) LONDON — The Horse Whisperer” bestseller’s British author Nicholas Evans passed away on Monday at the age of 72, according to his agents.

Evans had a heart attack on August 9 and passed away “suddenly,” according to United Agents.

 

“The Horse Whisperer,” Evans’ first book, was published in 1995 and has already sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. A Hollywood film with Robert Redford as the titular character and Scarlett Johansson playing young rider Grace MacLean in her breakthrough role was made on the true tale of a trainer hired to help a wounded adolescent and her horse recover.

 

Evans, who was born in Worcestershire, England, in 1950, attended Oxford University where he studied law and worked as a journalist in the 1970s.

Before starting to write his first novel, he had experience as a screenwriter and producer of television documentaries. The Loop, The Smoke Jumper, The Divide, and The Brave are some of his other books.

 

After cooking and consuming deadly mushrooms that he had harvested in Scottish forests in 2008, Evans developed a terrible illness. He and his family had to stay in the hospital for kidney treatments.