Paul Francis Schmidt (January 29, 1934 – February 19, 1999)[1] was an American translator, poet, playwright, and essayist.

[3] He studied mime with Marcel Marceau and acting with Jacques Charon.

He translated Euripides, Chekhov, Velimir Khlebnikov, Brecht, Genet, Gogol, Marivaux, Mayakovsky, and Rimbaud.

He wrote three plays, one of which, Black Sea Follies won the Helen Hayes Award, and the Joseph Kesselring Prize for best play.

Schmidt's work was profiled in The New York Review of Books.