Edward Ellsworth Muhl (February 17, 1907 - April 22, 2001) was an American businessman and executive best known for being head of production for Universal Pictures from 1953 until his retirement in 1973.
Muhl's contributions range from the technical (he was instrumental in persuading studio heads to shoot most of their films in Technicolor rather than the cheaper black-and-white) to the purely business (he made the deal that allowed MCA to purchase Universal in the early 1960s).
When William Goetz and Leo Spitz's International Pictures merged with Universal to form Universal-International in 1947, Muhl was appointed general manager of studio operations.
[6] The studio enjoyed a successful run of films, primarily comedies (such as those starring Doris Day) and melodramas.
He was also credited with influential support of the films of Douglas Sirk and Ross Hunter, as well as supporting the blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo's right to screenplay credit on Spartacus[8] albeit censoring the film diminishing the historical importance of the slave turned rebel leader.