Friday, November 16, 2007

RIP Ira Levin (1929-2007)

Noted author and playwright Ira Levin passed away on Monday November 12th, after suffering a heart attack. He was 78 years old.

As the author of some of the best-selling suspense novels of the 20th century, among them Rosemary's Baby, Levin had a knack for weaving in social satire as he scared the heck out of us. Fellow best selling novelist Stephen King once called Levin "the Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels, he makes what the rest of us do look like cheap watchmakers in drugstores..." High praise indeed.

Like King, many of Mr. Levin's best work has been adapted for the big screen. Among them--the aforementioned Rosemary's Baby from 1968, A Kiss Before Dying, and 1982's Deathtrap. Sidney Lumet adapted his hit stage play with Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve and Dyan Cannon in a twisted triangle. The Stepford Wives has the distinction of being made into a film 2 times... It's too bad that the 2004 version had to exist at all.

Read the New York Times obituary for more...

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