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,
Charlie Kaufman on to his then-son-in-law Jonze, who agreed to direct the film. After the success of "Being John Malkovich", another one of Kaufman's screenplays was produced titled "Human Nature", which was directed by Michel Gondry and produced by Kaufman and Jonze. Kaufman and Jonze reunited yet again as the screenwriter and director, respectively, for "Adaptation", which earned him another Academy Award nomination and his second BAFTA. "Adaptation" featured a fictionalized version of Kaufman and his fictional brother, Donald, who is credited as writer of the film along with Kaufman. The idea came to Kaufman while attempting to adapt Susan Orlean's novel