Ira Levin

American novelist, playwright (1929–2007)

Ira Levin

Portrait from the first edition of Rosemary's Baby (1967) (photo by Inge Morath)

Born| Ira Marvin Levin
(1929-08-27)August 27, 1929
New York City, New York, U.S.
Died| November 12, 2007(2007-11-12) (aged 78)
New York, New York, U.S.
Occupation|

* Novelist
* playwright
* songwriter

Spouse|

* Gabrielle Aronsohn

(m. 1960; div. 1968)​

* Phyllis Sugarman

(m. 1979; div. 1981)​

Children| 3
Parents|

* Charles Levin
* Beatrice Schlansky Levin

Signature
Website
iralevin.org

Ira Marvin Levin (August 27, 1929 – November 12, 2007) was an American novelist, playwright, and songwriter. His works include the novels A Kiss Before Dying (1953), Rosemary's Baby (1967), The Stepford Wives (1972), This Perfect Day (1970), The Boys from Brazil (1976), and Sliver (1991). Levin also wrote the play Deathtrap (1978). Many of his novels and plays have been adapted into films. He received the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award and several Edgar Awards.

## Early life[edit]

Levin was born on August 27, 1929, in the New York City, New York borough of Manhattan. He grew up in both Manhattan and the Bronx.[1] His father, Charles, was a toy importer. Levin was educated at the private Horace Mann School in New York. During his youth, he was described as "a nice Jewish boy from New York".[2] He attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa from 1946 to 1948 and then New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English. He graduated in 1950. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, during the Korean War, from 1953 to 1955.[3]

## Professional life[edit]

### Scriptwriting[edit]

After college, Levin wrote training films and scripts for radio and television. The first of these was "Leda's Portrait", for Lights Out in 1951.[3]

Levin's first produced play was No Time for Sergeants (adapted from the 1954 Mac Hyman novel), a comedy about a hillbilly drafted into the United States Air Force. It opened on Broadway in 1955 and starred Andy Griffith, whose career it jumpstarted. The play was adapted as a movie of the same name, released in 1958, with Griffith reprising his role and co-starring Nick Adams. Later the concept was developed as a 1964 television comedy series starring Sammy Jackson. No Time for Sergeants is generally considered the precursor to Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C..[4]

Levin's best-known play is Deathtrap (1978), which holds the record as the longest-running comedy thriller on Broadway. Levin won his second Edgar Award with this play.[5] In 1982, it was adapted into a film of the same name, starring Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine.[3]

### Novels[edit]

Levin's first novel, A Kiss Before Dying (1953), was well received, and he won the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. A Kiss Before Dying was adapted twice as a movie of the same name, first in 1956 and again in 1991.[3]

Levin's best-known novel is Rosemary's Baby, a horror story of modern-day Satanism and other occultisms, set in Manhattan's Upper West Side. In 1968, it was adapted as a film written and directed by Roman Polanski. It starred Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes. Ruth Gordon won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance. Roman Polanski was nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Levin said in 2002,

> "I feel guilty that 'Rosemary's Baby' led to The Exorcist, The Omen. A whole generation has been exposed, has more belief in Satan. I don't believe in Satan. And I feel that the strong fundamentalism we have would not be as strong if there hadn't been so many of these books [...] Of course, I didn't send back any of the royalty checks."[1]

Other Levin novels that were adapted as films included The Stepford Wives in 1975,[6] again in 2004.[7] The Boys from Brazil was adapted as a film released in 1978.

In the 1990s, Levin wrote two more bestselling novels: Sliver (1991), which was adapted as a film in 1993 by Phillip Noyce. It starred Sharon Stone, William Baldwin and Tom Berenger. His Son of Rosemary (1997) was proposed as a sequel to Rosemary’s Baby. It was never developed into a film.

Stephen King has described Ira Levin as the "Swiss watchmaker" of suspense novels: "Every novel he has ever written has been a marvel of plotting (...) he makes what the rest of us do look like those five-dollar watches you can buy in the discount drug stores."[8]

## Personal life[edit]

Levin was a Jewish atheist.[9]

Levin was married twice, first to Gabrielle Aronsohn (from 1960 to 1968), with whom he had three sons, Adam, Jared, and Nicholas, and later to Phyllis Sugarman (died 2006). He had four grandchildren.[1]

## Death[edit]

Levin died of a heart attack at his home in Manhattan on November 12, 2007.[1][10]

## Works[edit]

### Novels[edit]

* A Kiss Before Dying (1953)
* Rosemary's Baby (1967)
* This Perfect Day (1970) – winner, 1992 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award
* The Stepford Wives (1972)
* The Boys from Brazil (1976)
* Sliver (1991)
* Son of Rosemary (1997)

### Plays[edit]

* No Time for Sergeants (1956)
* Interlock (1958)
* Critic's Choice (1960)
* General Seeger (1962)
* Dr. Cook's Garden (1968)
* Veronica's Room (1974)
* Deathtrap (1978) – Tony nomination for Best Play
* Break a Leg: A Comedy in Two Acts (1979)
* Cantorial (1982)
* Footsteps (2003)

### Musicals[edit]

* Drat! The Cat! (1965) – lyricist and bookwriter

### Film and television adaptations[edit]

* A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
* No Time for Sergeants (1958)
* Critic's Choice (1963)
* Rosemary's Baby (1968)
* The Stepford Wives (1975)
* The Boys from Brazil (1978)
* Deathtrap (1982)
* A Kiss Before Dying (1991)
* Sliver (1993)
* Footsteps (2003)
* The Stepford Wives (2004)
* Rosemary's Baby (2014) – two-episode miniseries

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c d Fox, Margalit (November 14, 2007). "Ira Levin, of Rosemary's Baby, Dies at 78". The New York Times. Retrieved November 14, 2007.
2. ^ Osgood, Kelsey. "The Banality of Evil: Rosemary's Baby, the Miniseries". The American Reader.
3. ^ a b c d Hawtree, Christopher (15 November 2007). "Ira Levin". The Guardian. United Kingdom. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
4. ^ Hugh Ruppersburg, The New Georgia Encyclopedia Companion to Georgia Literature, p. 220 (University of Georgia Press, 2007). ISBN 978-0-8203-2876-8
5. ^
* "Deathtrap", Internet Broadway Database
* "Theater", New York, vol. 14, no. 37, p. 123, September 21, 1981, ISSN 0028-7369
* Fischer, Mike (August 12, 2017), "'Deathtrap' springs surprises in Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's comic thriller", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
6. ^ Canby, Vincent (February 13, 1975). "The Stepford Wives (1975) Screen: 'Stepford Wives' Assays Suburbia's Detergent Set". The New York Times.
7. ^ Scott, A. O. (June 11, 2004). "The Stepford Wives (2004) Film Review; Married To a Machine". The New York Times.
8. ^ Leopold, Todd (June 10, 2004). "Babies, wives and Hitlers: 'Stepford Wives' writer Ira Levin, master of suspense". CNN.
9. ^ "The Most Cursed Hit Movie Ever Made". Vanity Fair. June 1, 2017.
10. ^ Thurber, Jon (November 14, 2007). "Ira Levin, 78; his novels include 'Rosemary's Baby,' 'Stepford Wives'". Los Angeles Times.

## Further reading[edit]

* John Grant, "Levin, Ira (Marvin)", in David Pringle, ed., St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost and Gothic Writers. London: St. James Press, 1998, ISBN 1558622063

## External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Ira Levin.

* Official Website (IRALEVIN.org)
* Ira Levin at IMDb
* Ira Levin at the Internet Broadway Database
* Ira Levin at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
* Riggenbach, Jeff (December 2, 2010). "Ira Levin and This Perfect Day". Mises Daily. Ludwig von Mises Institute.

* v
* t
* e

Works by Ira Levin

Novels|

* A Kiss Before Dying (1953)
* Rosemary's Baby (1967)
* This Perfect Day (1970)
* The Stepford Wives (1972)
* The Boys from Brazil (1976)
* Sliver (1991)
* Son of Rosemary (1997)

Plays|

* No Time for Sergeants (1956)
* Critic's Choice (1960)
* Dr. Cook's Garden (1968)
* Veronica's Room (1974)
* Deathtrap (1978)

Musicals|

* Drat! The Cat! (1965)

* v
* t
* e

Ira Levin's The Stepford Wives (1972)

Adaptations|

* The Stepford Wives (1975 film)
* The Stepford Wives (2004 film)

Related works|

* Revenge of the Stepford Wives (1980)
* The Stepford Children (1987)
* The Stepford Husbands (1996)

* v
* t
* e

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

Sequel|

* Son of Rosemary

Films|

* Rosemary's Baby (1968 film)
* Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby
* Apartment 7A

Television|

* Rosemary's Baby (2014 miniseries)

Related|

* XX ("Her Only Living Son")

* v
* t
* e

Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement

* Fritz Leiber / Frank Belknap Long / Clifford D. Simak (1987)
* Ray Bradbury / Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes (1988)
* Robert Bloch (1989)
* Hugh B. Cave / Richard Matheson (1990)
* Gahan Wilson (1991)
* Ray Russell (1992)
* Joyce Carol Oates (1993)
* Christopher Lee (1994)
* Harlan Ellison (1995)
* Ira Levin / Forrest J Ackerman (1996)
* William Peter Blatty / Jack Williamson (1997)
* Ramsey Campbell / Roger Corman (1998)
* Edward Gorey / Charles L. Grant (1999)
* Nigel Kneale (2000)
* John Farris (2001)
* Stephen King / J. N. Williamson (2002)
* Martin H. Greenberg / Anne Rice (2003)
* Michael Moorcock (2004)
* Peter Straub (2005)
* Thomas Harris (2006)
* John Carpenter / Robert Weinberg (2007)
* F. Paul Wilson / Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (2008)
* Brian Lumley / William F. Nolan (2009)
* Ellen Datlow / Al Feldstein (2010)
* Rick Hautala / Joe R. Lansdale (2011)
* Clive Barker / Robert McCammon (2012)
* R. L. Stine / Stephen Jones (2013)
* Jack Ketchum / Tanith Lee (2014)
* Alan Moore / George Romero (2015)
* Dennis Etchison / Thomas F. Monteleone (2016)
* Linda Addison (2017)
* Graham Masterton (2018)
* Owl Goingback / Thomas Ligotti (2019)
* Carol J. Clover / Jewelle Gomez / Marge Simon (2020)
* Jo Fletcher / Nancy Holder / Koji Suzuki (2021)

Authority control databases

International|

* FAST
* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* Spain
* France
* BnF data
* Germany
* Israel
* Belgium
* United States
* Japan
* Czech Republic
* Australia
* Korea
* Netherlands
* Poland
* Portugal

Academics|

* CiNii

Artists|

* MusicBrainz

People|

* Deutsche Biographie
* Trove

Other|

* SNAC
* IdRef

*[m.]: married
*[div.]: divorced
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template