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

Life and work

Levin studied at New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English. After that, he wrote training films and scripts for television. He wrote his first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, when he was 22 years old, and it was well received, earning him the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

Levin is a versatile writer whose work includes thrillers and comedy. He wrote the play No Time for Sergeants (adapted from Mac Hyman's novel), which later became a popular film that launched the career of Andy Griffith. 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 starring Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine.

Levin's best known novel is Rosemary's Baby, a horrifying tale of satanism and the occult. It was made into a film as were four of his other novels, A Kiss Before Dying (twice), The Boys from Brazil, The Stepford Wives (twice) and Sliver.

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."

Bibliography

Novels

• A Kiss Before Dying (1952)
• 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

• No Time For Sergeants (1956)
• Interlock (1958)
• Critic's Choice (1960)
• General Seeger (1962)
• Dr. Cook's Garden (1968)
• Veronica's Room (1974)
• Deathtrap (play) (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

External links

• Ira Levin at the Internet Broadway Database

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