Ira Levin (August 27, 1929 – November 12, 2007) was an American author, dramatist and songwriter.
Levin attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. At Drake, he regularly played poker with other notables, such as Martin Erlichman and Eugene Schulman (both before and after Schulman married Helen Glazer in 1949). In addition to attending Drake, Levin also attended the Horace Mann School, from which he graduated, and New York University, where he...
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Ira Levin (August 27, 1929 – November 12, 2007) was an American author, dramatist and songwriter.
Levin attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. At Drake, he regularly played poker with other notables, such as Martin Erlichman and Eugene Schulman (both before and after Schulman married Helen Glazer in 1949). In addition to attending Drake, Levin also attended the Horace Mann School, from which he graduated, and New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English.
After college, he wrote training films and scripts for television. The first of these was Leda’s Portrait, for Lights Out in 1951.
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 Nick Adams. No Time for Sergeants is generally considered the precursor to Gomer Pyle, USMC.
Levin's first novel, A Kiss...
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