LEVINSON, BARRY

LEVINSON, BARRY (1942– ), U.S. director, writer, producer. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Levinson began his show business career writing for and performing on television's award-winning Carol Burnett Show. He moved up to feature film work by helping write two of Mel Brooks' screenplays, Silent Movie (1976) and High Anxiety (1977). Some of Levinson's other screenplays include And Justice for All (1979), Inside Moves (1980), Best Friends (1982), and Unfaithfully Yours (1984). He made his directorial debut with his semi-autobiographical Diner (1982), the first of his films to be set in his hometown of Baltimore. Levinson followed with The Natural (1984), based on Bernard Malamud's novel; Young Sherlock Holmes (1985); Tin Men (plus screenplay, 1987); and the box-office smash hit Good Morning, Vietnam (1987). Levinson's next movie was Rain Man (1988), which won that year's Academy Award for Best Picture plus an Oscar for Levinson as Best Director. Levinson's subsequent directorial efforts include Avalon (1990), Bugsy (producer, 1991), Toys (1992), Jimmy Hollywood (1994), Disclosure (1994), Sleepers (1996), Wag the Dog (1997), Sphere (1998), Liberty Heights (1999), An Everlasting Piece (2000), Bandits (2001), and Envy (2004). Some of these he wrote and produced as well. Other films and television shows that Levinson produced include Donnie Brasco (1997), Home Fries (1998), the TV series Oz (1997), The Perfect Storm (2000), the TV series Falcone (2000), Analyze That (2002), Possession (2002), and the TV series The Jury (2004). Levinson wrote Levinson on Levinson (ed. D. Thompson, 1993), Baltimore: Life in the City (2001), and the novel Sixty-Six (2003). (Jonathan Licht / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)