Levinson, Barry (1942-…), is an American motion-picture director and screenwriter. Levinson favors offbeat material in his films. His movies feature crisp, often funny dialogue and display a sensitivity to the warm humanity of the characters. Levinson has an understated directorial style that rarely calls attention to itself.
Levinson was born on April 6, 1942, in Baltimore. He began his career as a comedy writer for television and then became a screenwriter. He made his debut as a director with Diner (1982), a partly autobiographical story set in Baltimore in the late 1950’s. Levinson wrote and directed three other films in his “Baltimore series”—Tin Men (1987), Avalon (1990), and Liberty Heights (1999). Levinson alternated these personal films with more commercial assignments. The Natural (1984) is a baseball movie. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) is set in the mid-1960’s, during the period of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Levinson won the 1989 Academy Award for his direction of Rain Man (1988), a drama about two brothers.
Levinson’s other films include Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), Bugsy (1991), Toys (1992), Jimmy Hollywood (1994), Sleepers (1996), Wag the Dog (1997), Bandits (2001), and What Just Happened (2008). Levinson also wrote a novel, Sixty-Six (2003).
