Albert Lewin (September 23, 1894 – May 9, 1968) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter.
Personal life
Lewin was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in
Newark, New Jersey. He earned a master's degree at
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and taught English at the
University of Missouri. During World War I, he served in the military and was afterwards appointed assistant national director of the
American Jewish Relief Committee
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
. He later became a drama and film critic for the ''
Jewish Tribune'' until the early 1920s, when he went to Hollywood to become a reader for
Samuel Goldwyn. Later he worked as a script clerk for directors
King Vidor and
Victor Sjöström before becoming a screenwriter at
MGM in 1924.
Lewin was appointed head of the studio's script department and by the late 1920s was
Irving Thalberg's personal assistant and closest associate. Nominally credited as an associate producer, he produced several of MGM's most important films of the 1930s. After Thalberg's death, he joined
Paramount as a producer in 1937, where he remained until 1941. Notable producing credits during this period include ''
True Confession'' (1937), ''
Spawn of the North'' (1938), ''
Zaza
Zaza may refer to:
Ethnic group
* Zazas, a group of people in eastern Anatolia (southeastern Turkey)
* Zaza–Gorani languages, Indo-Iranian languages
** Zaza language, spoken by the Zazas
People Given name
* Zaza Sor. Aree (born 1993), Thai k ...
'' (1939) and ''
So Ends Our Night'' (1941).
In 1942, Lewin began to direct. He made six films, writing all of them and producing several himself. As a director and writer, he showed literary and cultural aspirations in the selection and treatment of his themes. In 1966, Lewin published a novel, ''The Unaltered Cat''.
Films
As director:
*''
The Moon and Sixpence'' (1942)
*''
The Picture of Dorian Gray'' (1945)
*''
The Private Affairs of Bel Ami'' (1947)
*''
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman'' (1951)
*''
Saadia
Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon ( ar, سعيد بن يوسف الفيومي ''Saʻīd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi''; he, סַעֲדְיָה בֶּן יוֹסֵף אַלְפַיּוּמִי גָּאוֹן ''Saʿăḏyāh ben Yōsēf al-Fayyūmī Gāʾōn''; ...
'' (1953)
*''
The Living Idol
''The Living Idol'' is a 1957 film American horror film directed and written by Albert Lewin. The plot is about an archaeologist who believes that a Mexican woman is a reincarnation of an Aztec princess.
Reception
According to MGM records the fil ...
'' (1957)
As screenwriter:
*''
The Fate of a Flirt'' (1925)
*''
Spring Fever'' (1927)
References
*''Botticelli in Hollywood: The Films of Albert Lewin'' by Susan Felleman (1997),
External links
*
Albert Lewinat Allmovie.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewin, Albert
1894 births
1968 deaths
Film producers from New York (state)
American male screenwriters
Deaths from pneumonia in New York City
Harvard University alumni
Jewish American writers
People from Brooklyn
Writers from Newark, New Jersey
University of Missouri faculty
Film directors from New York City
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Screenwriters from New Jersey
Screenwriters from Missouri
Film producers from New Jersey
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
20th-century American Jews