Goldman wrote the screenplay for a 1968 film adaptation of Lion in Winter, directed by Anthony Harvey. The cast includes Peter O'Toole as King Henry, Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Anthony Hopkins as Richard Plantagenet. Goldman won an Academy Award for best screenplay for Lion in Winter, while Hepburn won the Academy Award for best actress.

Goldman's original screenplay adaptation of Lion in Winter was filmed as a made-for-television movie, broadcast on Showtime Network in 2004, starring Glenn Close as Eleanor and Patrick Stewart as Henry.