Ira Levin
Ira Marvin Levin (born August 27, 1929 in New York City , † November 12, 2007 there ) was an American screenwriter and writer . His best known works include The Wives of Stepford and Rosemary's Baby . He wrote only seven novels in four decades, but they had a total circulation of ten million copies and almost all of them were filmed in Hollywood.
Life
Ira Levin was born the son of a toy merchant and grew up in the Bronx and Manhattan . He later studied philosophy and English at Drake University in Iowa for two years and at New York University and graduated with a BA in 1950 . After university he served in the US Army Signal Corps from 1953 to 1955. He then worked for television, but the 24-year-old had his breakthrough with his first novel, A Kiss Before Dying , which was awarded the “ Edgar ” for best first novel in 1954 .
In his novel Rosemary's Baby (1967), a young bride seems to have become pregnant by the devil. The story was filmed the following year by Roman Polański with Mia Farrow in the lead role.
Levin is also the author of Deathtrap , the longest-running play on Broadway . It is the story of an aging playwright who plans to kill a young rival and steal his new play Deathtrap . From 1978 to 1982 it saw 1,793 performances on Broadway. In 1982 Deathtrap was filmed in Hollywood with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve in the lead roles.
The title of the novel The Stepford Wives (1972) even found its way into the American vocabulary. The term "Stepford Wife" and even "Stepford" as an adjective used to mean robotic or docile have been added to English lexicons. Levin's The Boys from Brazil (1976; filmed in 1978 with Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier ) was also known to a wide audience .
Levin was married twice, to Gabrielle Aronsohn and Phyllis Finkel, both marriages were divorced. He leaves behind three sons from his marriage to Aronsohn, his sister Eleanor Busman and three grandchildren. Ira Levin last lived in Manhattan, where he died of a heart attack in his apartment in November 2007 .
Awards
- 1992: Prometheus Award for This Perfect Day
- 1997: Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement
Quote
"Mr. Levin's suspense is beautifully intertwined with everyday incidents; the delicate line between belief and disbelief is faultlessly drawn.
(Levin's tension is wonderfully intertwined with everyday events; the fine line between belief and unbelief is flawlessly drawn.) "
bibliography
- Novels
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A Kiss Before Dying (1953)
- English: kiss before death. Translated by Krug von Nidda. Albert Müller, Rüschlikon-Zurich 1957. Also as: Goldmann TB # 41264, 1991, ISBN 3-442-41264-1 .
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Rosemary's Baby (1967)
- English: Rosemaries Baby. Translated by Hertha Balling. Hoffmann et al. Campe, Hamburg 1968. Also as: Heyne TB # 8388, 1995, ISBN 3-453-05317-6 .
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This Perfect Day (1970)
- English: The gentle monsters. Translated by Hans Fahrbach. Hoffmann et al. Campe, Hamburg 1972, ISBN 3-455-04403-4 .
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The Stepford Wives (1972)
- German: The robot women. Translated from Keto by Waberer. Heyne TB # 5311, 1977, ISBN 3-453-00683-6 . Also known as: The Stepford Women . Goldmann TB # 8124, 1994, ISBN 3-442-08124-6 .
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The Boys from Brazil (1976)
- German: The boys from Brazil . Translated by Jürgen Abel . Ullstein, Berlin a. a. 1976, ISBN 3-550-06262-1 .
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Sliver (1991)
- German: Sliver. Translated by Klaus Fröba. Goldmann, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-442-30434-2 .
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Son of Rosemary (1997)
- English: Rosemary's son . Translated by Elke vom Scheidt. Goldmann, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-442-30750-3 .
- Pieces
- No Time for Sergeants (1956)
- Interlock (1958)
- Critic's Choice (1960)
- General Seeger (1962)
- Drat! The Cat! (1965, musical)
- Dr. Cook's Garden (1968)
- Veronica's Room (1974)
- Deathtrap (1978)
- Break a Leg: A Comedy in Two Acts (1981)
- Cantorial (1982)
Film adaptations (selection)
- 1956: A Kiss Before Dying - Director: Gerd Oswald
- 1958: No Time for Sergeants - Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
- 1962: Don't do that, Angelika (Critic's Choice) - Director: Don Weis
- 1968: Rosemary's Baby (Rosemary's Baby) - Director: Roman Polanski
- 1975: The Stepford Wives (The Stepford Wives) - Director: Bryan Forbes
- 1978: The Boys from Brazil - Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
- 1980: Terror in New York (Revenge of the Stepford Wives) - Director: Robert Fuest
- 1982: Deathtrap - Directed by Sidney Lumet
- 1991: The Kiss Before Death - Director: James Dearden
- 1993: Sliver - directed by Phillip Noyce , starring: Sharon Stone
- 2004: The Stepford Wives (The Stepford Wives) - Director: Frank Oz
- 2014: Rosemary's Baby (miniseries) - directed by Agnieszka Holland
literature
- Hans Joachim Alpers , Werner Fuchs , Ronald M. Hahn : Reclam's science fiction guide. Reclam, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-15-010312-6 , p. 264.
- Hans Joachim Alpers, Werner Fuchs, Ronald M. Hahn, Wolfgang Jeschke : Lexicon of Science Fiction Literature. Heyne, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-02453-2 , p. 666.
- John Clute : Levin, Ira. In: John Clute, Peter Nicholls : The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction . 3rd edition (online edition), version dated September 22, 2017.
- George Mann : The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Robinson, London 2001, ISBN 1-8411-9177-9 , pp.
- Robert Reginald : Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature. A Checklist, 1700-1974 with Contemporary Science Fiction Authors II. Gale, Detroit 1979, ISBN 0-8103-1051-1 , p. 975.
- Brian Stableford : Levin, Ira . In: James Gunn : The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Viking, New York et al. a. 1988, ISBN 0-670-81041-X , p. 274.
- Cherry Wilder: Levin, Ira . In: Noelle Watson, Paul E. Schellinger: Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers. St. James Press, Chicago 1991, ISBN 1-55862-111-3 , pp. 488 f.
Web links
- Literature by and about Ira Levin in the catalog of the German National Library
- Ira Levin in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (English)
- Ira Levin in the Science Fiction Awards + Database
- Ira Levin in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Works by and about Ira Levin at Open Library
- Ira Levin in Fantastic Fiction (English)
- Author of “Rosemary's Baby” has died , Spiegel Online , November 14, 2007.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Margalit Fox: Ira Levin, of 'Rosemary's Baby', Dies at 78 , The New York Times , November 14, 2007.
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Levin, Ira |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Levin, Ira Marvin (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American screenwriter and writer |
DATE OF BIRTH | August 27, 1929 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
DATE OF DEATH | November 12, 2007 |
Place of death | New York City |