Movie News

Ira Levin, author of Rosemary's Baby, dies

Wed 14 Nov 12:20 PM

Ira Levin, who wrote the books behind some of the landmark films of the '60s and '70s, has died, aged 78.

He died following a heart attack in his Manhattan apartment.

His books include Rosemary's Baby, which was made into a 1968 film by director Roman Polanski (pic), Boys From Brazil and Stepford Wives.

Rosemary's Baby starred Mia Farrow in a haunting tale about a young bride who becomes mysteriously pregnant after falling in with Satanists.

But his Hollywood success didn't stop there, with other novels becoming iconic movies. Boys From Brazil starred Laurence Olivier as a Nazi hunter who discovers a plot to re-ignite the Third Reich, while Stepford Wives, in which a community of men replace their spouses with compliant robots, was seen as a feminist classic. It was recently remade unsuccessfully with Nicole Kidman.