Sonya Levien
Sonya Levien was a prominent screenwriter with a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which she authored or co-authored approximately seventy screenplays. Born in 1898 near Moscow, Russia, to Jewish parents, she emigrated to the United States as an infant. Levien pursued a law degree at New York University and initially worked as a lawyer before transitioning to writing, eventually becoming involved in the suffrage movement and serving as editor of Woman's Journal. Her Hollywood career began in 1921 after being recruited by Jesse Lasky to write for the film industry, where she first wrote for silent films and later adapted to talkies. She enjoyed notable collaborations with respected figures such as Frank Borzage and S. N. Behrman, crafting successful screenplays including "Oklahoma!" and "Interrupted Melody," the latter earning her an Academy Award. Despite her success, Levien ceased writing when she was diagnosed with cancer in the mid-1950s, and she passed away in 1960. Her contributions to cinema reflect both her talent and the evolving landscape of film during her lifetime.
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Sonya Levien
Screenwriter
- Born: December 25, 1898
- Birthplace: Near Moscow, Russia
- Died: March 19, 1960
- Place of death: Hollywood, California
Biography
Writing professionally for forty-one years, Sonya Levien was the author or coauthor of about seventy screenplays, including collaborations with S. N. Behrman, William Ludwig, and other screenwriters. She was born in 1898 near Moscow, Russia, to Jewish parents who immigrated to the United States shortly after her birth. She attended public schools in New York before entering New York University, where she earned a degree in law. She began practicing law in New York City, but after six months she realized that her real vocation was writing.
She began writing short stories and took a job as a secretary to a magazine publisher. Her experience there served her well when, because of her interest and involvement in the suffrage movement, she became editor of Woman’s Journal, the official magazine of the movement. She then took a job with Metropolitan magazine, rising to the post of assistant editor, and in 1917, she married Metropolitan’s editor, Carl Hovey.
After reading some of Levien’s short stories, Jesse Lasky, head of Famous Players studio, brought her to Hollywood in 1921 to write a screenplay, Cheated Love, based on one of her stories. Lasky urged her to accept a contract with him that would pay her two thousand dollars a month, a very generous amount at that time. Levien, however, felt compelled to refuse the contract to return to her husband and son in New York.
She was soon able to return to Hollywood and filmwriting when Cecil B. DeMille hired her as a story editor at Paramount Studios. Levien began her Hollywood career writing for silent films, but by the time she signed a long-term contract with Fox Films Corporation in 1929, she had made the transition into talking films. She had such a compatible working relationship with Frank Borzage, who directed her first Fox film, Lucky Star, that she wrote screenplays for his next three films, including They Had to See Paris, which was Will Rogers’s first sound film.
Levien’s fruitful collaboration with Behrman began with the screenplay Lightnin’ in 1930. Their collaboration continued until 1938 and was resumed thirteen years later for one final film, Quo Vadis, in 1951. Meanwhile, Levien was producing many screenplays on her own and also in collaboration with Paul Green, John Balderston, Ernest Pascal, Lamar Trotti, John Meehan, and Ludwig, with whom she collaborated on such musicals as The Merry Widow, The Student Prince, and Oklahoma!. Composers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II specifically sought out Levien and Ludwig to write the screenplay based on their Broadway hit, Oklahoma!. The film was a resounding success.
Levien’s first Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay was for Lightnin’, which also was nominated for Best Picture in 1930. Her collaboration with Trotti on In Old Chicago earned another Best Screenplay nomination; Quo Vadis received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Screenplay, but did not win in any category. Levien’s sole screenplay to receive an Academy Award was Interrupted Melody, the story of opera singer Marjorie Lawrence’s bout with polio.
After being diagnosed with cancer in the mid-1950’s, Levien stopped writing screenplays. She died in 1960.