Levinson's first writing work was for variety shows such as "The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine", "The Lohman and Barkley Show", "The Tim Conway Show", and "The Carol Burnett Show". After some success as a screenwriter – notably the Mel Brooks comedies "Silent Movie" (1976) and "High Anxiety" (1977) (in which he played a bellboy) and the Oscar-nominated script (co-written by then-wife Valerie Curtin) "...And Justice for All" (1979) – Levinson began his career as a director with "Diner" (1982), for which he had also written the script and which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.