Paul D. Zimmerman (July 3, 1938 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, New York – March 2, 1993 in

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

)Howard Schuma
"Obituary: Paul D. Zimmerman"
''The Independent'', 8 March 1993 was a screenwriter, film critic and activist.

Biography

He was a film critic for ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'' magazine from 1967 to 1975, and also wrote for television shows including ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...

'', but is best known for writing '' The King of Comedy'' (1982), directed by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...

. He was also the co-writer of ''

Lovers and Liars ''Lovers and Liars'' (''Viaggio con Anita'') is a 1979 Italian comedy film directed by Mario Monicelli and starring Goldie Hawn and Giancarlo Giannini. It is Hawn's only foreign film. It was released in the United States in February 1981. Plot ...

'' (1979) and ''

Consuming Passions ''Consuming Passions'' is a 1988 black comedy film which stars Vanessa Redgrave, Jonathan Pryce, and Sammi Davis and was directed by Giles Foster. Synopsis The film is based on '' Secrets'' by Michael Palin and Terry Jones a BBC television pl ...

'' (1988) Zimmerman was the author of many other screenplays, mostly unproduced, as well as the books ''The Open Man'', ''The Year the Mets Lost Last Place'' and ''The Marx Brothers at the Movies'' (1968). Active in the Nuclear Freeze movement, he managed to become a member of the Pennsylvania delegation to the Republican Party convention in 1984 in order to be the only person to vote ''against'' Ronald Reagan. Zimmerman died of colon cancer."Paul Zimmerman, 54, Book and Film Writer"
''New York Times'', 6 March 1993

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, Paul D. 1938 births 1993 deaths American anti–nuclear weapons activists American film critics American male screenwriters Amherst College alumni Deaths from cancer in New Jersey Writers from New York City American male non-fiction writers Screenwriters from New York (state) 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters Best Original Screenplay BAFTA Award winners