Richard Levinson
| Richard Levinson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 7, 1934 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Died |
March 12, 1987 (aged 52) United States |
| Occupation | Writer, producer |
| Spouse(s) | Rosanna Huffman (1969–1987; his death)[1] |
Richard Levinson (August 7, 1934 – March 12, 1987) was an American writer and producer who often worked in collaboration with William Link.[2][3]
Life and career
Levinson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Economics in 1956. He served in the United States Army from 1957 to 1958 and married actress Rosanna Huffman in 1969. Levinson had a Jewish heritage.[4]
William Link and Richard Levinson began a 43-year-long friendship in 1946, on their first day of junior high school. Both were avid Ellery Queen fans from boyhood and enjoyed mental puzzles and challenges, a characteristic that would spill over into their work.
Beginning with radio scripts, the team wrote plays and then prime-time TV scripts. They went on to co-create and sometimes produce the detective television series Columbo, Mannix, Ellery Queen, Murder, She Wrote (with Peter S. Fischer) and Scene of the Crime, as well as made-for-TV movies The Gun, My Sweet Charlie, That Certain Summer, The Judge and Jake Wyler, The Execution of Private Slovik, Charlie Cobb: A Nice Night for a Hanging, Rehearsal for Murder, and the short-lived TV series Blacke's Magic. The team were proud of creating "intelligent" rather than violent programs.[5]
The partners also collaborated on two feature films, The Hindenburg (1975) and Rollercoaster (1977), and the Broadway show Merlin, featuring the magician Doug Henning.
The team occasionally used the pseudonym Ted Leighton, most notably on the telefilm Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You, where their work was substantially re-written by other hands, and Columbo when they came up with stories to be scripted by their collaborators.
In 1979, Levinson and Link received a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for their work on Ellery Queen and Columbo. During the 1980s, they were three-time winners of the Edgar for Best TV Feature or MiniSeries Teleplay, and in 1989 they were given the MWA's Ellery Queen Award, which honors outstanding mystery-writing teams. In November 1995 they were jointly elected to the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Death
Levinson died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on March 12, 1987 at the age of 52. He was survived by his wife, actress Rosanna Huffman, whom he married in 1969, their daughter, Christine, as well as his father, William.[1] The first Murder, She Wrote spin-off novel, Gin And Daggers, is dedicated to his memory.
In tribute to Levinson, Link wrote the script for the 1991 TV film The Boys, starring James Woods and John Lithgow.
References
- 1 2 Barnes, Mike (2014-05-27). "Rosanna Huffman, Actress and Voiceover Artist, Dies at 77". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-06-16.
- ↑ "Richard Levinson, 52, Writer of Television Mystery Series". The New York Times. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
- ↑ "Museum of Broadcast Communications". Museum.tv. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
- ↑ http://www.jewishjournal.com/television/article/columbo_creator_solves_his_own_family_mystery_20110222 an article about Link "His whole life had been spent as a non-Jew, while everyone in his life — his best friend and writing partner (Levinson), his wife, most of his professional colleagues and associates — all were Jewish (such as Falk). Yet, a few weeks before we met, Link had discovered that he was, in fact, Jewish (too).
- ↑ "Interview with screen writer William Link" from disk 6, Ellery Queen Mysteries, DVD release September 2010.)