Irwin Allen

A graduate of New York's Columbia School of Journalism, 'Irwin Allen' (qv) was a magazine editor, the producer/director of a radio show and the owner of an advertising agency before entering film production in the 1950s. His documentary, _The Sea Around Us (1953)_ (qv), won an Academy Award. A successful TV series producer (_The Time Tunnel (1966)_ (qv), _Lost in Space (1965)_ (qv)), Allen was nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" in the 1970s due to the tremendous success of his two special effects-laden epics, _The Poseidon Adventure (1972)_ (qv) and _The Towering Inferno (1974)_ (qv).::[email protected]