Ira Levin (born August 27, 1929 in New York) is an American novelist, playwright and songwriter.

Professional life

Levin graduated from the Horace Mann School and New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English.

After college, he wrote training films and scripts for television.

Levin's first produced play was No Time for Sergeants (adapted from Mac Hyman's novel), a comedy about a hillbilly drafted into the United States Air Force that launched the career of Andy Griffith. The play was turned into a movie in 1958, and co-starred future "Andy Griffith Show" co-star Don Knotts. "No Time for Sergeants" is generally considered the precursor to "Gomer Pyle, USMC."

Levin's first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, was well received, earning him the 1953 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. "A Kiss Before Dying" was turned into a movie twice, first in 1956, and again in 1991.

Levin's best known play is Deathtrap, which holds the record as the longest-running comedy-thriller on Broadway and brought Levin his second Edgar Award. In 1982, it was made into a film with Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine.

Levin's best known novel is Rosemary's Baby, a horror story of satanism and the occult. It was made into a film with Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon (who won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role). Roman Polanski, who wrote and directed the film, was nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Other Levin novels were turned into movies, including The Boys from Brazil; The Stepford Wives in 1975 and again in 2004; and Sliver. Currently a new version of The Boys from Brazil is in development for 2009.

Stephen King has described Ira Levin as "the Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels, he makes what the rest of us do look like cheap watchmakers in drugstores." Chuck Palahniuk, in Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories, calls Levin's writing "a smart, updated version of the kind of folksy legends that cultures have always used."

Personal life

Levin has been married and divorced twice, and is the father of three sons.

Bibliography

Novels

• A Kiss Before Dying (1953)
• Rosemary's Baby (1967)
• This Perfect Day (1970, winner 1992

  Plays

  • 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 (1981)
  • Cantorial (1982)

  Musicals

  • Drat! The Cat! (1965) - lyricist and bookwriter
  
  
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