He began his career as a film historian shortly after graduating from UCLA, with a Bachelor’s degree in History. He made his professional writing debut as a staff writer for Chicago-based Cinefantastique magazine, where his cover story retrospectives on The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, and War of the Worlds were warmly received by a fan base thirsting for well-researched, behind-the-scenes, forensic studies of classic science fiction films of the 1950s. It was in those trenches at CFQ that Rubin discovered his passion for film and stories of the making of the classics. 

Rubin is recognized internationally as the world’s leading authority on the James Bond movie series. He was the first writer to publish a book that examines the behind-the-scenes world of 007 – The James Bond Films: A Behind the Scenes History (Arlington House, 1981, 1983). He followed that with The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia (Contemporary Books, McGraw Hill, Chicago Review Press, 1990, 1995, 2003, 2020).  His additional books include Secrets of the Great Science Fiction Films (Kino Verlag, 1984), Combat Films: American Realism 1945-2010 (McFarland Books, 1981, 2010), The Twilight Zone Encyclopedia (Chicago Review Press, 2018), and The Cat Who Lived With Anne Frank, his first children’s picture book, co-written with David Lee Miller, which was published by Penguin/Philomel in February 2019. 

As a film historian, he was nominated for Best Commentary in 2004 by the DVD Exclusive Academy for his hosting work on the Special Edition DVD release of The Great Escape, a film he also covered in a documentary that debuted on Showtime in 1993.  As a marketing executive with a specialty in publicity and promotion, Rubin spent 25 years working on the campaigns for over 150 movies and television series, including Pretty in Pink, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, Rad, Weekend at Bernies 2, Eddie and the Cruisers 2, Porky’s 2 and Honey, I Blew Up the Kid.