Maurice Zimm

Maurice Zimring (June 19, 1909 – November 17, 2005), known as Maurice Zimm, was an American radio, television and film writer, whose most famous creation was the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The son of Jewish immigrants who settled in Iowa shortly after the turn of the century, Zimring moved to Los Angeles in the 1930s, and wrote for such mystery and drama radio series as Hollywood Star Playhouse and Murder By Experts under the pen name of Maurice Zimm.

Life and career Born in Waterloo, Iowa, United States, Zimm's career transitioned to film when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios bought his radio script, "A Question Of Time", to be adapted into the 1953 Barbara Stanwyck film, Jeopardy (also released under the title A Woman in Jeopardy). Zimring’s next project was developing the storyline for Creature from the Black Lagoon for producer William Alland. Alland had been developing an idea about a half-man/half-fish creature, after being told of such a legendary creature by the Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figureoa, at a dinner party at Orson Welles' home. Zimm produced a 59-page story treatment, which was developed into a screenplay by Harry Essex and Arthur A. Rose.

He was the older brother of the William Morris Agency agent Mike Zimring (agent for, among others, Karl Malden, Katharine Hepburn, and Herbert Lom). His son is the University of California criminologist Franklin E. Zimring; grandsons include the comedian Dan Lewis and environmental historian Carl A. Zimring.

On June 19, 2009, the Palace Theater in Hilo celebrated Zimring's one-hundredth birthday by showing Jeopardy, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and The Prodigal.