Misplaced Pages

Paul D. Zimmerman (July 3, 1938 in New York City, New York – March 2, 1993 in Princeton, New Jersey) was a screenwriter, film critic and activist.

Biography

He was a film critic for Newsweek magazine from 1967 to 1975, and wrote for television shows including Sesame Street, but is best known for writing The King of Comedy (1982), directed by Martin Scorsese. He was the co-writer of Lovers and Liars (1979) and Consuming Passions (1988). Zimmerman was the author of many other screenplays, mostly unproduced, as well as three books:

• The Marx Brothers at the Movies (1968)
• The Year the Mets Lost Last Place (1969)
• The Open Man: The Championship Diary of the N.Y. Knicks (1970)

Active in the Nuclear Freeze movement, he founded the Bucks Alliance for Nuclear Disarmament, funded by the proceeds from a sold-out premiere he organised for King of Comedy. In 1984, he managed to become a member of the Pennsylvania delegation to the Republican Party convention in order to be the only delegate to vote against Ronald Reagan.

Zimmerman died of colon cancer.

Accolades

References

1. ^ "Obituary: Paul D. Zimmerman". The Independent. 8 March 1993. Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
2. "Paul D. Zimmerman, Screenwriter; Founded Disarmament Group". The Morning Call. 6 March 1993. Archived from the original on 2 October 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
3. "Paul D. Zimmerman Biography (1938-[1993])", Film Reference website
4. "Bucks Friends Recall Paul D. Zimmerman". The Morning Call. 8 March 1993. Archived from the original on 2 October 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
5. "Bucks County must band together to 'Ban the Bomb'". Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania. 30 March 2022. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
6. "Paul Zimmerman, 54, Book and Film Writer". The New York Times. 6 March 1993. Archived from the original on 14 September 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
7. BAFTA: Film | Original Screenplay in 1984

External links

• Paul D. Zimmerman at IMDb
• Paul D. Zimmerman at Goodreads
• Paul D. Zimmerman at Rotten Tomatoes
• Paul D. Zimmerman at Cinephilia and Beyond
• Paul D. Zimmerman on The David Letterman Show

• 1938 births
• 1993 deaths
• American anti–nuclear weapons activists
• American film critics
• American male screenwriters
• Amherst College alumni
• Deaths from cancer in New Jersey
• Screenwriters from New York City
• American male non-fiction writers
• 20th-century American male writers
• 20th-century American screenwriters
• Best Original Screenplay BAFTA Award winners