IRA LEVIN, OF 'ROSEMARY'S BABY,' DIES AT 78

Ο συγγραφέας του «Μωρού της Ρόζμαρι», Αϊρα Λέβιν, πέθανε την περασμένη Δευτέρα στο σπίτι του στο Μανχάταν σε ηλικία 78 χρόνων από φυσικά αίτια. Μπορεί ο Λέβιν να έγραψε μόνο επτά μυθιστορήματα μέσα σε τέσσερις δεκαετίες, αλλά σχεδόν όλα μεταφέρθηκαν στον κινηματογράφο, κάποια μάλιστα πάνω από μία φορά. Ανάμεσα σ’ αυτά «Το Μωρό της Ρόζμαρι» από τον Πολάνσκι με τη Μία Φάροου και τον Τζον Κασσαβέτη, «Οι Γυναίκες του Στέμπφορντ», την πρώτη φορά με τους Κάθριν Ρος και Πόλα Πρέντις και τη δεύτερη με τους Νικόλ Κίντμαν και Μάθιου Μπρόντερικ, «Τα παιδιά από τη Βραζιλία» με τους Γρέγκορι Πεκ και Λόρενς Ολίβιε κ.λπ. Συνδυάζοντας στοιχεία από διάφορα συγγραφικά στυλ -μυστήριο, γοτθικός τρόμος, επιστημονική φαντασία και χάι τεκ θρίλερ- τα έργα του Λέβιν υφαίνουν έναν κόσμο απειλητικό, όπου θα μπορούσε να συμβεί οτιδήποτε σε οποιονδήποτε ανά πάσα στιγμή. Οι περισσότεροι κριτικοί τον εκθειάζουν ως άριστο χρήστη των απαραίτητων υλικών που κατασκευάζουν ένα ευανάγνωστο θρίλερ: ρυθμό, πλοκή και σασπένς.

ΚΙ ΑΥΤΟ: Αντίο στον μάστορα του θρίλερ, Αϊρα Λέβιν (Ηλίας Μαγκλίνης, Η Καθημερινή)

By Margalit Fox

The International Herald Tribune, November 14, 2007

Ira Levin, a mild-mannered playwright and novelist who liked nothing better than to give people the creeps — and who did so repeatedly, with best-selling novels like "Rosemary's Baby," "The Stepford Wives" and "The Boys From Brazil" — died on Monday at his home in New York. He was 78. No specific cause of death had been determined, but Levin appeared to have died of natural causes, his son Nicholas said Tuesday.

Levin's output was modest — just seven novels in four decades — but his work was firmly ensconced in the popular imagination. Together, his novels sold tens of millions of copies, his literary agent, Phyllis Westberg, said Tuesday. Nearly all of his books were made into Hollywood movies, some more than once. Levin also wrote the long-running Broadway play "Deathtrap," a comic thriller.Combining elements of several genres — mystery, Gothic horror, science fiction and the techno-thriller — Levin's novels conjured up a world full of quietly looming menace, in which anything could happen to anyone at any time.

In short, the Ira Levin universe was a great deal like the real one, only more so: more starkly terrifying, more exquisitely mundane. In "Rosemary's Baby" (Random House, 1967), a young New York bride may have been impregnated by the Devil. In "The Stepford Wives" (Random House, 1972), the women in an idyllic suburb appear to have been replaced by complacent, preternaturally well-endowed androids. In "The Boys From Brazil" (Random House, 1976), Josef Mengele, alive and well in South America, plots to clone a new Hitler from the old. Few critics singled out Levin as a stylist.

But most praised him as a master of the ingredients essential to the construction of a readable thriller: pace, plotting and suspense. Reviewing "Rosemary's Baby" in The New York Times Book Review, Thomas Fleming wrote:"Mr. Levin's suspense is beautifully intertwined with everyday incidents; the delicate line between belief and disbelief is faultlessly drawn." Fleming was less impressed, however, with the novel's denouement:"Here, unfortunately, he pulls a switcheroo which sends us tumbling from sophistication to Dracula," the review continued.

"Our thoroughly modern suspense story ends as just another Gothic tale." Levin's other novels are "A Kiss Before Dying" (Simon & Schuster, 1953); "This Perfect Day" (Random House, 1970); "Sliver" (Bantam, 1991); and "Son of Rosemary" (Dutton, 1997), a sequel in which Mama's little boy is all grown up.The film versions of his books include "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes; "The Stepford Wives" (1975), starring Katharine Ross and Paula Prentiss; and "The Boys From Brazil" (1978), starring Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier and James Mason.

[Ira Levin, author of "Rosemary's Baby," "Boys from Brazil," "Stepford Wives," and "Deathtrap" surprised the cast of his play, "Veronica's Room," following their performance on Saturday, November 12 at the Warwick Valley Winery and Distillery. Mr. Levin told the Illustrious Theatre's Artistic Director, Mary Clifford, and the play's Director, Paul Meacham, that "This was one of the best productions of Veronica's Room that I have every seen. The actors played their parts so close to the characters I tried to create. The direction, the costumes, and the set design were excellent."]

There was also a spate of made-for-TV sequels: "Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby" (1976), "Revenge of the Stepford Wives" (1980) and "The Stepford Children" (1987). A big-screen remake of "The Stepford Wives," starring Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick, was released in 2004. Ira Marvin Levin was born in New York on Aug. 27, 1929. Reared in the Bronx and Manhattan, he attended DrakeUniversity in Iowa for two years before transferring to New York University, from which he received a bachelor's degree in 1950. From 1953 to 1955, he served in the Army Signal Corps.As a college senior, Levin had entered a television screenwriting contest sponsored by CBS. Though he was only a runner-up, he later sold his screenplay to NBC, where it became "Leda's Portrait," an episode in the network's anthology suspense series "Lights Out," in 1951."A Kiss Before Dying" won the 1954 Edgar Award for best first novel from the Mystery Writers of America. It was filmed twice, in 1956 with Robert Wagner; and in 1991 with Matt Dillon. Levin, who won a second Edgar in 1980 for "Deathtrap," was named a grand master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2003. While continuing to write for television, Levin published his first novel, "A Kiss Before Dying," when he was in still his early 20s. Widely praised by critics for its taut construction and shifting points of view, the novel tells the story of a coldblooded, ambitious young man who murders his wealthy girlfriend, gets away with it, and becomes involved with her sister. Before returning to fiction with "Rosemary's Baby," Levin focused on writing for the stage. His comedy "No Time for Sergeants" (1955), which he adapted from the novel by Mac Hyman, was a hit on Broadway. (The play, and the 1958 film of the same title, starred a young actor named Andy Griffith.)...