Richard Levinson

Richard Levinson (August 7, 1934 - March 12, 1987) was an American writer and producer who often worked in collaboration with William Link. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Economics in 1956. He served in the United States Army from 1957-1958. He married Rosanna Huffman in 1969.

William Link and Richard Levinson co-created and produced the detective television series "Columbo", "Mannix", "Ellery Queen", "Murder, She Wrote" and "Scene of the Crime". They also collaborated on several made-for-TV movies including "My Sweet Charlie", "That Certain Summer", "The Judge and Jake Wyler", "The Execution of Private Slovik", "Charlie Cobb: A Nice Night for a Hanging", and "Blacke's Magic", which was also developed into a short-lived TV series. The partners also collaborated on two feature films: "The Hindenburg" (1975) and "Rollercoaster" (1977).

In 1979, Levinson and Link received a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for their work on "Ellery Queen" and "Columbo". During the 1980s, they were three-time winners of the Edgar for Best TV Feature or MiniSeries Teleplay, and in 1989 they were given the MWA's Ellery Queen Award, which honors outstanding mystery-writing teams. In November 1995, they were jointly elected to the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

Levinson died of a heart attack at the age of 52.

References

* [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/L/htmlL/levinsonric/levinsonric.htm Museum of Broadcast Communications Website]
*imdb name|id=0506087|name=Richard Levinson
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7D81531F930A25750C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print NY Times Obituary]