Ira Levin

Ira Levin (1929–2007) was an American novelist, playwright, and songwriter whose tautly plotted thrillers repeatedly crossed into the cultural mainstream. Born in New York City and educated at New York University, he published his first novel, the crime thriller A Kiss Before Dying, in 1953 while still in his early twenties; it won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

His 1967 horror novel Rosemary's Baby became the best-selling horror novel of the decade and, with Roman Polanski's 1968 film, a defining work of modern horror.

Levin followed it with the dystopian This Perfect Day (1970) and the satirical The Stepford Wives (1972), whose title entered the language, then the Nazi-cloning thriller The Boys from Brazil (1976), the voyeuristic Sliver (1991), and the sequel Son of Rosemary (1997).

For the stage he wrote the record-setting comedy-thriller Deathtrap (1978) and the hit service comedy No Time for Sergeants. He received the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1996 and died in Manhattan in 2007.