LEVIN, Ira

(1929-)

   US playwright and novelist whose first book, A Kiss Before Dying (1953), is an extremely impressive chiller. He is best known for the fantasy Rosemary's Baby (1967), in which the Devil impregnates a young woman; the book was filmed by Roman Polanski in 1968. IL moved into sf proper with This Perfect Day (1970), a DYSTOPIAN view of a cybernetically regimented future (COMPUTERS), and The Stepford Wives (1972), which was soon filmed (The STEPFORD WIVES), a horrific morality tale about a US suburb whose men have turned their womenfolk into compliant ROBOTS. The last 3 titles were assembled as Three by Ira Levin (omni 1985). His most impressive book is perhaps The Boys from Brazil (1976), filmed as The BOYS FROM BRAZIL , a complex story involving the cloning (CLONES) of cellsfrom Adolf Hitler's body in order to later impregnate a number of women with young Hitlers, whom a Brazilian neo-Nazi group headed by Dr Josef Mengele tries to raise in environments as close as possible to that inwhich the Fuhrer himself was raised. IL applies to sf themes meticulous style and plotting, along with a certain fascination with the multitude of ways in which women can be violated.

   JC

   Other works: Nightmares: Three Great Suspense Novels (omni 1981), assembling A Kiss Before Dying, Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives; Sliver (1991), associational.

   See also: HISTORY OF SF; SATIRE.