Maibaum, Richard.

Screenwriter, producer, actor. Born in New York City in 1909. In 1930 Maibaum came to the University of Iowa's Speech and Dramatic Arts Department; graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1931; received his M.A. in 1932. His first Broadway play, "The Tree," was produced in 1932. After graduating, Maibaum spent a year as an actor in a Shakespearean repertory company on Broadway. He married Sylvia Kamion in 1935.

He continued to write plays and moved to Hollywood later in the 1930's where he was employed by M.G.M. as a screenwriter. In 1942 Maibaum joined the U.S. Army. While in the service, he produced war morale films, assembled and disseminated combat film footage, and oversaw a documentary history of World War II. This experience led to a post-war job at Paramount as a film producer and screenwriter.

His first assignment, O.S.S. starred Alan Ladd. Through Alan Ladd, he became associated with Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and wrote screenplays for Broccoli's British film company. He also began writing for television and co-wrote a number of projects with Cyril Hume. Maibaum became executive producer at M.G.M.-TV in 1958, but his strong ties to the Writer's Guild and the writing profession led him to resign in 1960 during a writers strike.

Around this time, Cubby Broccoli contacted Maibaum and asked him to write the first screenplay for a "James Bond" film, based on the Ian Fleming book, Dr. No. Maibaum died on January 4, 1991.