Joseph E. Levine

Biography

Joseph Edward Levine (September 9, 1905 – July 31, 1987) was an American film distributor, financier and producer. At the time of his death, it was said he was involved in one or another capacity with 497 films. Levine was responsible for the American releases of Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, Attila and Hercules, which helped revolutionize American film marketing, and was founder and president of Embassy Pictures.

Levine's biggest hit was director Mike Nichols' The Graduate (1967), a blockbuster hit that was considered, then and now, a watershed film that inaugurated the New Hollywood and made Dustin Hoffman a superstar. At the time of its release, The Graduate became one of the Top Ten All-Time Box Office hits. With the great success of the film, Levine sold his company to the conglomerate Avco, though he continued on as the CEO of the renamed Avco-Embassy film production division.

Other films produced and/or financed by Levine included Two Women (1960), Contempt (1963), The 10th Victim (1965), Marriage Italian Style (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), The Producers (1968), Carnal Knowledge (1971) and The Night Porter (1974). After leaving Avco-Embassy, he became an independent again, producing A Bridge Too Far (1977).

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