Richard Maibaum (May 26, 1909 – January 4, 1991) was an American film producer, playwright and screenwriter best known for his screenplay adaptations of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. Among his works are the first anti-lynching play on Broadway, The Tree (1932); the first anti-Nazi play on Broadway, Birthright (1933); the first film that dealt with the problem of medication abuse, Bigger Than Life, written in 1955, released in 1956; the first film that dealt with the ethical and moral decisions in kidnapping cases, Ransom!; the first film that introduced the American public to the importance of training airmen for the defense of the United States in a war many recognized as coming, I Wanted Wings (Spring, 1941); and Diamonds Are Forever, begun 1970, the first film that discussed the use of laser-like satellite mounted weapons for global warfare. His papers now reside at his alma mater, the University of Iowa. Early life and education Maibaum was born to a Jewish family in New York City. He attended New York University. In 1930, he came to The University of Iowa's Speech and Dramatic Arts Department, where he studied under E.C. Mabie. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1931, and in 1932 he received a master's degree, all the while writing plays and acting. Career Broadway He was 22 and still at the University of Iowa when his anti-lynching play, The Tree, became a 1932 Broadway production under the direction of the young Robert Rossen, later known for Body and Soul (1947) and a life destroyed by the Hollywood blacklist. Back in New York after graduation, Maibaum spent 1933 as an actor in the Shakespearean Repertory Theater on Broadway. He appeared in fifteen different roles in many productions. As a young playwright in the early 1930s in New York City, Maibaum was involved with the challenging politics of the Depression. In 1933, the year in which Hitler ascended to his dictatorial powers in Germany, Maibaum attacked Nazism in his play, Birthright, also directed by Rossen. This was the first of several anti-Nazi plays to appear that year. Maibaum then wrote Sweet Mystery of Life (1935) a stage comedy which eventually became the film Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936). His rapid rise as a playwright soon earned him a contract as a writer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, then the most powerful and prestigious studio in Hollywood. While moving to LA and under contract to