Biography
Sam Zimbalist was an American film producer and editor. He began his career at Metro Studios as an office boy and film editor in the 1920s, remaining with the company through its merger into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He was promoted to assistant producer in 1929 and became a full producer in 1936.
Zimbalist produced a series of MGM films, including King Solomon's Mines (1950), Quo Vadis (1951) and Mogambo (1953), the first two of which received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture. He was assigned to produce the epic Ben-Hur (1959) and died of a heart attack in Rome on 4 November 1958 while supervising filming on location. The film was released posthumously and won the Academy Award for Best Picture, which Zimbalist received as the first person to win the award after his death; it was accepted by his widow.
