Ira Levin grandchildren. Ira Levin died from a heart attack at his home in Manhattan, on November 12, 2007. Ira Levin Ira Marvin Levin (August 27, 1929 – November 12, 2007) was an American novelist, playwright, and songwriter. His most noted works include the novels "A Kiss Before Dying" (1953), "Rosemary's Baby" (1967), "The Stepford Wives" (1972), and "The Boys from Brazil" (1976), as well as the play "Deathtrap" (1978). Many of his novels and plays have been adapted to film. Ira Levin was born on August 27, 1929, in the New York City, New York borough of Manhattan. He grew up
Ira Levin the Horace Mann School in New York. He attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa from 1946 to 1948 and then New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English. He graduated in 1950. He served in the Army Signal Corps from 1953 to 1955. After college, Levin wrote training films and scripts for radio and television. The first of these was "Leda's Portrait", for "Lights Out" in 1951. Levin's first produced play was "No Time for Sergeants" (adapted from the Mac Hyman novel), a comedy about a hillbilly drafted into the United States Air Force that launched the