Sam Zimbalist (1904 – 1958) was an American film producer.

He began his career at 16 as a film cutter at Metro Studios. He remained with Metro when the studio merged with the Goldwyn Company in 1924 and became MGM.

He was promoted to assistant producer in 1929 and full producer in 1936. He produced the film King Solomon's Mines (1950) and Quo Vadis (1951), both of which received Academy Award nominations for Best Film.

Zimbalist died suddenly of a heart attack while working on MGM's biggest-ever production, the 1959 epic Ben-Hur. He received a posthumous Oscar for the film.

Died on location of filming for Ben-Hur (1959), due to stress.