BARRY LEVINSON
Name: Barry Levinson
Born: 6 April 1942 Baltimore, Maryland
Barry Levinson (born April 6, 1942 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an Academy Award-winning
American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television.
After growing up in Baltimore and graduating from Forest Park Senior High School,
Levinson attended American University in Washington, D.C. before moving to Los
Angeles to work as an actor and writer. His first writing work was for variety
shows such as The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, The Lohman and Barkley Show, The
Tim Conway Show, and The Carol Burnett Show.
After some success as a screenwriter (Silent Movie, 1976, High Anxiety (in which
he made a cameo appearance as a bellboy), 1977, and the Oscar-nominated script (co-written
by then-wife Valerie Curtin) ...And Justice for All, 1979), he began his career
as a director with Diner (1982), for which he had also written the script and
which earned him a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. Diner was the first of a
series of films set in the Baltimore of Levinson's youth. The other films in
this series were Tin Men (1987), starring Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito, and
the turn-of-the-century immigrant family saga Avalon (which featured Elijah Wood
in one of his earliest screen appearances), as well as the more recent Liberty
Heights (1999). All four movies were written and directed by Barry Levinson
himself; for the last two he also acted as producer.
His biggest hit, both critically and financially, was Rain Man (1988) with
Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise (in which he also appeared as an antagonistic
doctor). The film won four Academy Awards including Best Director for Levinson.
Other notable films in his directing career were The Natural (which starred
Robert Redford, who later directed Quiz Show, which included an appearance by
Levinson playing Dave Garroway) (1984), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and Toys (1992),
both with Robin Williams, and Bugsy (1991) with Warren Beatty.
He directed Dustin Hoffman again in Wag the Dog (1997), a political comedy about
a war staged in a film studio. He was also an uncredited co-writer on Dustin
Hoffman's transvestite comedy Tootsie (1982).
Barry partnered with producer Mark Johnson to form the film production company
Baltimore Pictures, until the duo parted ways in 1994.
Apart from producing many of his own films, he has also been producer or
executive producer for such major productions as The Perfect Storm (directed by
Wolfgang Petersen, 2000), Analyze That (2002, starring Robert de Niro as
neurotic mafia boss and Billy Crystal as his therapist), and Possession (2002,
based on the bestselling novel by A. S. Byatt). He also has a television
production company with Tom Fontana (The Levinson/Fontana Company) and served as
executive producer for a number of their series, including Homicide: Life on the
Street (which ran on NBC from 1993-1999) and the HBO prison drama Oz. Levinson
also played a main role in the short-lived TV series The Jury, where he played a
judge (the role was uncredited).
Levinson published his first novel, Sixty-Six (ISBN 0-7679-1533-X), in 2003.
Like several of his films, it is semi-autobiographical and set in Baltimore in
the early 1960s.
Levinson also directed the two webisodes of the American Express ads "The
Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman".
Levinson married his writing collaborator Valerie Curtin in 1975. They would
divorce seven years later. He later married Dianna Rhodes whom he met in
Baltimore while filming Diner.
Levinson is a minority owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.
Name: Barry Levinson
Born: 6 April 1942 Baltimore, Maryland
Barry Levinson (born April 6, 1942 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an Academy Award-winning
American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television.
After growing up in Baltimore and graduating from Forest Park Senior High School,
Levinson attended American University in Washington, D.C. before moving to Los
Angeles to work as an actor and writer. His first writing work was for variety
shows such as The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, The Lohman and Barkley Show, The
Tim Conway Show, and The Carol Burnett Show.
After some success as a screenwriter (Silent Movie, 1976, High Anxiety (in which
he made a cameo appearance as a bellboy), 1977, and the Oscar-nominated script (co-written
by then-wife Valerie Curtin) ...And Justice for All, 1979), he began his career
as a director with Diner (1982), for which he had also written the script and
which earned him a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. Diner was the first of a
series of films set in the Baltimore of Levinson's youth. The other films in
this series were Tin Men (1987), starring Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito, and
the turn-of-the-century immigrant family saga Avalon (which featured Elijah Wood
in one of his earliest screen appearances), as well as the more recent Liberty
Heights (1999). All four movies were written and directed by Barry Levinson
himself; for the last two he also acted as producer.
His biggest hit, both critically and financially, was Rain Man (1988) with
Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise (in which he also appeared as an antagonistic
doctor). The film won four Academy Awards including Best Director for Levinson.
Other notable films in his directing career were The Natural (which starred
Robert Redford, who later directed Quiz Show, which included an appearance by
Levinson playing Dave Garroway) (1984), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and Toys (1992),
both with Robin Williams, and Bugsy (1991) with Warren Beatty.
He directed Dustin Hoffman again in Wag the Dog (1997), a political comedy about
a war staged in a film studio. He was also an uncredited co-writer on Dustin
Hoffman's transvestite comedy Tootsie (1982).
Barry partnered with producer Mark Johnson to form the film production company
Baltimore Pictures, until the duo parted ways in 1994.
Apart from producing many of his own films, he has also been producer or
executive producer for such major productions as The Perfect Storm (directed by
Wolfgang Petersen, 2000), Analyze That (2002, starring Robert de Niro as
neurotic mafia boss and Billy Crystal as his therapist), and Possession (2002,
based on the bestselling novel by A. S. Byatt). He also has a television
production company with Tom Fontana (The Levinson/Fontana Company) and served as
executive producer for a number of their series, including Homicide: Life on the
Street (which ran on NBC from 1993-1999) and the HBO prison drama Oz. Levinson
also played a main role in the short-lived TV series The Jury, where he played a
judge (the role was uncredited).
Levinson published his first novel, Sixty-Six (ISBN 0-7679-1533-X), in 2003.
Like several of his films, it is semi-autobiographical and set in Baltimore in
the early 1960s.
Levinson also directed the two webisodes of the American Express ads "The
Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman".
Levinson married his writing collaborator Valerie Curtin in 1975. They would
divorce seven years later. He later married Dianna Rhodes whom he met in
Baltimore while filming Diner.
Levinson is a minority owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.