Benn W. Levy

Personal Info

Known For Writer

Gender Male

Birthday 1900-03-07

Deathday 1973-12-07 (73 years old)

Place of Birth London, England, UK

Also Known As Benn Levy, Benn Wolfe Levy

Benn W. Levy

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Benn Wolfe Levy (7 March 1900 – 7 December 1973) was a Labour Party Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and a successful playwright. He was educated at Repton School and University College, Oxford and served in uniform in both World Wars. Before entering politics, Levy was a successful playwright who also wrote screenplays. The best known of his screenplays was written in collaboration with R. C. Sherriff for James Whale's macabre horror film The Old Dark House (1932) based on the novel Benighted (1927) by J. B. Priestley. Earlier he had been the dialogue writer for Blackmail (1929); directed by Alfred Hitchcock, it was the first British sound film. Levy directed one film, Lord Camber's Ladies (1932), which was the only film produced by Hitchcock which he did not himself direct. Levy was first elected at the 1945 general election, for the Eton and Slough constituency, and stood down at the 1950 general election. Politically, Levy was on the left of the Labour Party and became an active member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). As a sympathiser with the Zionist movement, he also opposed Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin over Bevin's policies towards Palestine and Israel. As an MP, Levy made an unsuccessful effort to abolish theatrical censorship in Britain, and towards the end of his life, he was the principal author of a report opposing the arguments for censorship made by Lord Longford, the anti-pornography campaigner. He was married for more than 40 years to the American-born screen and stage actress Constance Cummings; they had one daughter and one son.

Known For

Writer

1935
The Dictator

as Writer

1934
Melody in Spring

as Screenplay

1934
Evergreen

as Theatre Play

1934
1933
Topaze

as Adaptation

1932
The Old Dark House

as Screenplay

1932
Devil and the Deep

as Screenplay

1932
1931
Waterloo Bridge

as Adaptation

1931
1930
1929
The Informer

as Dialogue

1929
The Hate Ship

as Writer

1929
Blackmail

as Dialogue

Crew

1931
Transgression

as Additional Dialogue

1929
Kitty

as Additional Dialogue

Director

1932