William Knowlton Zinsser (October 7, 1922 – May 12, 2015) was an American writer, editor, literary critic, and teacher.
Zinsser attended Buckley Country Day School, Deerfield Academy and graduated from Princeton University.
[3] Zinsser taught writing at Yale University, where he was the fifth master of Branford College (1973–1979).
He adds, "Zinsser's sound theory is that 'writing improves in direct ratio to the number of things we can keep out of it.
After a chance encounter in 1980, Allen cast Zinsser, a Protestant, in a small role as a Catholic priest in his film Stardust Memories.