Irwin Allen Irwin Allen Irwin Allen (June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American television, documentary and film director and producer with a varied career who became known as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. His most successful productions were "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972) and "The Towering Inferno" (1974). He also created several popular 1960s science fiction television series, such as "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", "Lost in Space", "The Time Tunnel", and "Land of the Giants". Irwin Allen was born in New York City, the son of poor Jewish immigrants from
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea novel. The cover submarine's bow is opaque, and her "Observation Room" is a rearward projection from the base of the conning tower. The basic shape of her hull resembles that of USS "Skipjack" (SSN-585), the first American nuclear-powered submarine with an "Albacore hull", including the cruciform stern and single propeller. A submarine design very similar to the craft on the 1961 cover, and its mission to save the world, shows up in a Dell Comics series called "Voyage to the Deep" in 1962 to capitalize on the movie's popularity. Its mission also took it to the Mariana Trench to stop