Millard Kaufman Millard Kaufman Millard Kaufman(March 12, 1917 – March 14, 2009) was an American screenwriter and novelist. His works include the Academy Award-nominated "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955). He was also one of the creators of Mr. Magoo. Kaufman was born and raised in Baltimore and graduated from the Baltimore City College (high school). He eventually graduated from Johns Hopkins University after work as a merchant seaman. After that, he moved to New York City, taking a job as copyboy for the "New York Daily News". At some point, he married Lorraine Paisley. He enlisted in the Marines in 1942,
Andy Kaufman played by Kaufman was the womanizing Vic Ferrari. Sam Simon, who early in his career was a writer and later showrunner for "Taxi", stated in a 2013 interview on Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast that the story of Kaufman having been generally disruptive on the show was "a complete fiction" largely created by Zmuda. Simon maintained that Zmuda has a vested interest in promoting an out-of-control image of Kaufman. In the interview Simon stated that Kaufman was "completely professional" and that he "told you Tony Clifton was him", but he also conceded that Kaufman would have "loved" Zmuda's version of events.