LEVINSON, Barry 1942-

PERSONAL: Born April 6, 1942, in Baltimore, MD; son of Irv (in appliance business) and Vi (Krichinsky) Levinson; married Valerie Curtin (a screenwriter and actress; divorced, 1982); married Diana Mona (an artist); children: Jack, Sam, Patrick Mona, Michelle Mona. Education: Attended Community College of Baltimore and American University. Politics: Democrat.

ADDRESSES: Office—Baltimore Pictures, 5555 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038. Agent—Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

CAREER: Actor, producer, director, and writer. Member of standup comedy and writing team with actor Craig T. Nelson, c. 1969-72; actor in television shows, including The Lohman and Barkley Show, 1969, The Tim Conway Comedy Hour, 1970, and The Carol Burnett Show, 1974-75. Actor in motion pictures, including Silent Movie, 1976, High Anxiety, 1978, and History of the World, Part I, 1981. Director of motion pictures, including The Natural, 1984, Young Sherlock Holmes, 1985, Good Morning, Vietnam, 1987, Rain Man, 1988, Bugsy, 1991, Disclosure, 1994, Wag the Dog, 1997, and Bandits, 2001. Director and producer of television productions, including Homicide: Life on the Street, NBC, beginning 1993. Baltimore Pictures (production company), Hollywood, CA, founder and president, beginning 1989.

MEMBER: Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild.

AWARDS, HONORS: Emmy Awards, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, best writing in a variety or music program, 1974 and 1975, and outstanding achievement in a comedy, variety, or music series, 1976, all for The Carol Burnett Show; Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Academy Award nominations, best original screenplay, 1979, for . . . And Justice for All, and 1982, for Diner, Academy Award, best director, 1988, for Rain Man, Academy Award nomination, best original screenplay, 1990, for Avalon, and Academy Award nomination, best director, 1991, for Bugsy; award for outstanding achievement, Directors Guild of America, 1988, for Rain Man.

WRITINGS:

Sixty-Six (novel), Broadway Books (New York, NY), 2003.

SCREENPLAYS

(With Mel Brooks, Ron Clark, and Rudy DeLuca) Silent Movie, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1976.

(With Mel Brooks, Ron Clark, and Rudy DeLuca) High Anxiety, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1978.

(With Valerie Curtin) . . . And Justice for All, Columbia, 1979.

(With Valerie Curtin) Inside Moves, Associated Film Distributors, 1980.

(With Valerie Curtin) Best Friends, Warner Bros., 1982.

(And director) Diner, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1982.

(With Valerie Curtin and Robert Klane) Unfaithfully Yours (adapted from Preston Sturges's film of the same title), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1984.

(And director) Tin Men, Buena Vista, 1987.

(And director) Avalon, TriStar, 1990.

(With Valerie Curtin; and producer and director) Toys, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1992.

(And producer and director) Jimmy Hollywood, Paramount, 1994.

(And director) Sleepers (based on a book by Lorenzo Carcaterra), Warner Bros., 1996.

(And director) Liberty Heights, Baltimore Pictures (Hollywood, CA), 1999.

TELEVISION SERIES

(With Craig T. Nelson and others) The Lohman and Barkley Show, NBC-TV, 1969.

(With Craig T. Nelson and others) The Tim Conway Comedy Hour, CBS-TV, 1970.

(With Craig T. Nelson and others) The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, ABC-TV, 1972.

(With Craig T. Nelson and others) The John Byner Comedy Hour, CBS-TV, 1972.

(With others) The Carol Burnett Show, CBS-TV, 1974–75.

SIDELIGHTS: Barry Levinson is a prominent filmmaker who emerged at the forefront of American cinema in the 1980s. He began his show business career in the late 1960s as a comedian partnered with Craig T. Nelson, who later went on to considerable acclaim as a motion picture and television actor (most notably with the popular sitcom Coach). That stint led, in turn, to work as a writer for the television series The Lohman and Barkley Show. Throughout the early 1970s Levinson remained active in television as a writer on such shows as The Tim Conway Comedy Hour and The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine. In 1974 Levinson became a writer for The Carol Burnett Show, which later won an Emmy Award as the medium's best comedy program.

While writing for The Carol Burnett Show Levinson also began working as a screenwriter. He first collaborated on the script for Mel Brooks's 1976 comedy Silent Movie, a broad farce about a band of bungling filmmakers, then he contributed to the screenplay for Brooks's High Anxiety, a spoof of film director Alfred Hitchcock's many celebrated thrillers, including Vertigo, The Birds, and Psycho.

Levinson followed these films with a series of screenplays written with his wife at the time, Valerie Curtin. The couple's first joint effort as screenwriters,. . . And Justice for All, was a broad, but essentially black, comedy about America's legal system. This film, directed by Norman Jewison, features a suicidal judge (who lunches while sitting on an upper-story window ledge and performs bodily functions while holding a shotgun to his mouth), a criminal judge (who gleefully confesses his guilt in committing rape), and a good-hearted, somewhat beleaguered attorney (who is compelled, against his better judgment, to defend the despicable judge). The movie was not without its detractors, some of whom decried its seemingly overwhelming nature. Washington Post contributor Gary Arnold, for example, proclaimed the comedy "grotesque." But the film did have its supporters within the Hollywood film community, members of which saw fit to accord . . . And Justice for All an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay.

Levinson and Curtin continued with Inside Moves, an ultimately inspirational film—directed by Richard Donner—about the denizens of a blue-collar bar. This film, with principal characters such as a survivor of a suicide attempt, an aspiring basketball player, and a prostitute, was described by New York Times contributor Janet Maslin as "modest and sentimental."

In 1982 Levinson made his debut as writer-director with Diner, a comedy about a band of five misfits in Baltimore in the 1950s. Each of the men in this group is somewhat inept socially. Eddie, for instance, is a football fanatic who is so ambivalent about his wedding engagement that he subjects his fiance to an extended series of sports questions; if she fails to answer correctly, the marriage plans end. The gangly Shrevie is already married, but relations with his wife are dull and unstimulating, and he finds himself longing for a time when sex was mysterious and exciting. Boogie, a sexually rambunctious beautician, is the most worldly of the five protagonists but the least inclined to succeed. Similarly, the relatively rich Fenwick possesses a sardonic wit that only occasionally conceals a bent for self-destruction, but he also shows himself—in a particularly funny sequence—to be surprisingly informed. Rounding out the group is Billy, a good-natured fellow frustrated by his inability to persuade his pregnant girlfriend into marriage. All the main characters in Diner are still maturing, and that process itself constitutes the action of the film. As Gene Siskel wrote in the Chicago Tribune, "There's a lot more growing to be done, and that growing—or failure to grow—is what Diner is made of."

Best Friends is a Levinson-Curtin comedy (also directed by Norman Jewison) about a screenwriting couple who undermine their loving relationship by getting married. Despite the presence of popular box-office performers Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds, Best Friends proved only intermittently funny to many critics.

Levinson and Curtin teamed up again for Unfaithfully Yours, an updating of director Preston Sturges's classic comedy about an orchestra conductor who mistakenly suspects his wife of infidelity. Some reviewers objected to the new film's slower pacing and streamlined narrative. In the Chicago Tribune, Siskel, for example, accused the film's director, Howard Zieff, of trying "to top a reasonably good film by simplifying it, by removing some of its story." Time critic Richard Schickel, however, proclaimed that the Levinson-Curtin version "scores a narrow but clean win over one's nostalgic sentiment for [Sturges's] original." He added that the remake "reminds you of Hollywood's good old days without making you mourn for them."

In 1984 Levinson resumed his directorial career with The Natural, screenwriter Robert Towne's adaptation of Bernard Malamud's acclaimed baseball novel. The film features Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs, a once promising pitcher who is slowly making a comeback as a slugger. Hobbs had been a major-league candidate when his career suddenly ended after he was wounded by a deranged woman. But sixteen years later he appears again as the major league's oldest rookie. With his hand-carved bat, Hobbs produces several dramatic hits and soon has his team contending for the championship.

The Natural, a significant success with the movie-going public, marked something of a comeback—or rather, a return to activity—for Redford, who had worked only sporadically in Hollywood after winning an Academy Award for his directorial debut, Ordinary People. The Natural confirmed to reviewers Levinson's status as a director with a particular flair for characterization and peculiarly American subject matter.

Following the success of The Natural, Levinson was engaged to direct Young Sherlock Holmes, which features writer Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary sleuth as a schoolboy determined to undo an evil band inhabiting a temple beneath London. Although YoungSherlock Holmes bears little in common with Levinson's previous works, it nonetheless proved an appealing and accomplished work and a substantial favorite with filmgoers.

Levinson returned to his native Baltimore for Tin Men, his second film as writer-director. This comedy concerns the rivalry between two aluminum-siding con artists during the summer of 1963. The principals, Bill Babowsky and Ernest Tilley, quickly become mutual antagonists after meeting in an automobile accident: Tilley has damaged Babowsky's car, and Babowsky vows revenge against his fellow home-improvement hustler. He steals the affections of Tilley's attractive wife, Nora, and thereupon proclaims himself triumphant. But when Tilley learns of the affair he confesses himself glad to be rid of his wife, whereupon Babowsky finds himself in an emotional quagmire. While this rivalry ensues, both men see their profession threatened by the Maryland Home Improvement Commission, which is conducting an investigation of unethical practices.

Reviewers found Tin Men an inventive, well-made comedy. Newsweek contributor David Ansen deemed the film "a very American comedy" and "a solid, smart piece of work," and he concluded that "its evocatively mixed moods seem a response to life—not just to some old movie formula." A Nation reviewer noted its "middle-aged wisdom." Another enthusiastic reviewer, Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times called Tin Men one of the year's "most insightful and human American comedies."

In 1987 Levinson directed Good Morning, Vietnam, an offbeat comedy-drama about a comic radio broadcaster's experiences during the Vietnam war. This film, written by Mitch Markowitze, depicts the wartime exploits of Adrian Cronauer (based on an actual figure of the same name), who is expelled from Saigon after providing broadcasts too critical of America's wartime policies and activities. Cronauer is played by Robin Williams, a frequently manic comic who gained increasing acclaim in the 1980s as an actor. Maclean's reviewer Lawrence O'Toole noted that with "the wild-spirited Cronauer, Williams finds a role around which he can wrap his prodigious comic talents." O'Toole also reported that director Levinson "deftly meshes the comic and dramatic tones."

After completing Good Morning, Vietnam, Levinson directed Rain Man, an often funny film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass about two brothers, one of whom is autistic, as they travel from Cincinnati to Los Angeles. The older brother, Raymond, is an autistic savant: he is incapable of emotionally connecting with others, but he is in possession of computer-like recall and near-instantaneous mathematical capability. Charlie, Raymond's younger brother, is a cynical opportunist who intends to parlay Raymond's extraordinary mathematical flair into quick riches in Las Vegas's gambling casinos. Nation contributor Stuart Klawans described Rain Man as "a buddy picture with one buddy missing, a road movie without much to see along the way." But during their travels together Charlie comes to love his autistic brother, and Raymond, in return, seems to realize a simple affection—or, at least, a comfortable familiarity—for Charlie.

In 1990 Levinson returned again to Baltimore with Avalon, the story of an immigrant family from 1914 to the mid-1960s, which Levinson wrote and directed. This film, which Levinson based on memories related by his grandfather, was found by some reviewers to be heartwarming, even somewhat inspirational, in its depiction of immigrant life during much of the twentieth century. Avalon proved only lukewarm at theater box-offices, however, and although it received an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay, it remains one of Levinson's lesser-appreciated works.

After the commercial disappointment of Avalon, Levinson agreed to direct Bugsy, which showcases Warren Beatty as the quirky Bugsy Siegel, a gangster who ingratiated—or intimidated—his way into Hollywood and, eventually, Las Vegas, before meeting an untimely, violent demise. Bugsy gained a fair measure of acclaim, impressing reviewers with Beatty's uncharacteristically unsettling portrayal, and earned Levinson an Academy Award nomination for best director.

Less successful for Levinson was Toys, his next venture as writer-director. This special-effects-rich film—written by Levinson with Curtin (the pair had divorced ten years earlier)—concerns a naive toy lover's efforts to wrestle management of a family-owned toy factory from a cynical, opportunistic relative. Despite the presence of popular comic actor Robin Williams, Toys failed to find substantial favor with critics or the public. The costly film was the realization of a longtime goal, however.

The movie Jimmy Hollywood, scripted and directed by Levinson, evokes qualities of the filmmaker's earlier, most-heralded efforts. In telling the story of a Hollywood lowlife and aspiring actor turned vigilante, Levinson "is back in the small, low-budget, personal mode of Diner and Tin Men," according to Ansen in Newsweek. New Yorker contributor Anthony Lane also made this observation, noting Levinson's return to a previous style of "rough edges and loose tongues." Ansen remarked that Jimmy Hollywood "has the bittersweet, unexpected flavors of a personal vision."

In 1994, Levinson lent his directorial skills to Disclosure, the film adaptation of author Michael Crichton's best-selling novel. Set in the high-tech world of a major computer software corporation, the film pits its male protagonist against a scheming female executive. Wrapped into the multileveled story are elements of corporate espionage, virtual reality technology, and accusations of sexual harassment—with a twist. A success at the box-office, Disclosure further confirmed Levinson's credentials as a director of major feature films.

Levinson then wrote and directed the film Sleepers, which is adapted from the memoirs of Lorenzo Carcaterra. The story centers around four friends who are members of a youth gang in Hell's Kitchen. When their troublesome exploits land them in a reform school, they are subjected to repeated humiliation and sexual abuse from the guards. The bulk of the film takes place after the boys have grown to adulthood. Two of them, having chosen crime as their vocation, track down the guards and murder them. When they are placed on trial for the act, a third member of the gang, now an assistant district attorney, is assigned to try the case.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Film, June, 1982.

Chicago Tribune, October 19, 1979; July 2, 1982, Gene Siskel, review of Diner; February 10, 1984, Gene Siskel, review of Unfaithfully Yours; March 15, 1987.

Chicago Tribune Arts, October 21, 1990, p. 8.

Detroit Free Press, March 13, 1987.

Entertainment Weekly, May 5, 1995, p. 54.

Esquire Film Quarterly, October, 1982.

Los Angeles Times, May 7, 1982; December 16, 1982; February 10, 1984; March 6, 1987, Sheila Benson, review of Tin Men.

Maclean's, January 4, 1988, Lawrence O'Toole, review of Good Morning, Vietnam, p. 61.

Nation, April 4, 1987, review of Tin Men; January 9, 1989, Stuart Klawans, review of Rain Man.

New Republic, January 9, 1989, pp. 24-25.

Newsweek, March 2, 1987, David Ansen, review of Tin Men, p. 78; January 4, 1988, pp. 50-51; December 19, 1988, p. 57; January 16, 1989, pp. 52-56; April 11, 1994, David Ansen, review of Jimmy Hollywood, p. 74.

New Yorker, January 11, 1988; April 4, 1994, Anthony Lane, review of Jimmy Hollywood, pp. 97-98.

New York Times, December 19, 1980, Janet Maslin, review of Inside Moves; April 2, 1982; December 17, 1982; February 10, 1984; March 6, 1987; March 15, 1987; September 15, 1989.

New York Times Magazine, March 11, 1990.

Rolling Stone, May 13, 1982; January 12, 1989; April 21, 1994, p. 95.

Time, February 20, 1984, Richard Schickel, review of Unfaithfully Yours; May 14, 1987.

Washington Post, October 19, 1979, Gary Arnold, review of . . . And Justice for All; May 14, 1982; February 15, 1984; March 13, 1987.*