Paul Schreibman; Helped Bring ‘Godzilla’ to U.S.

Paul P. Schreibman, an entertainment lawyer who helped to bring the monster movie “Godzilla” to the United States in the 1950s, died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 92.

Schreibman was the attorney for Tokyo-based Toho Films, which had made a movie about a fire-breathing lizard in 1954 called “Gojira.” He helped Toho expand the market for the movie by arranging for an American version co-starring Raymond Burr, then a minor name actor. It was released in the United States in 1956.

“Godzilla, King of the Monsters” became a movie legend, reaping success at the box office and spawning numerous sequels and remakes.

Schreibman produced more than a dozen “Godzilla” movies in the United States and Japan, including “Gigantis, the Fire Monster” in 1959.

Born in Bayonne, N.J., he lived in Hollywood most of his life. He attended USC on a football scholarship and earned his law degree there.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he owned several Los Angeles movie theaters, including the Las Palmas, Belasco and Coronet. He also was Milton Berle’s longtime attorney.

Schreibman’s wife, actress Lois Collier, died two years ago.