Biography

Joseph Edward Levine (September 9, 1905 – July 31, 1987) was an American film distributor, financier and producer. At the time of his death, it was said he was involved in one or another capacity with 497 films. Levine was responsible for the American releases of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! , Attila and Hercules, which helped revolutionize American film marketing, and was founder and president of Embassy Pictures. Levine's biggest hit was director Mike Nichols' The Graduate (1967), a blockbuster hit that was considered, then and now, a watershed film that inaugurated the New Hollywood and made Dustin Hoffman a superstar.