Leven, Jeremy 1941–

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Leven, Jeremy 1941–

PERSONAL: Born August 16, 1941, in South Bend, IN; son of Martin Paul (a publisher) and Marcia (a writer; maiden name, Obrasky) Levin; married Roberta Danza (a psychiatric nurse), August 8, 1980; children: (from previous marriage) Zoe Roberts, Zachary John.

Education: St. John's College, B.A., 1965; Harvard University, M.Ed., 1973; doctoral study at Yale University and University of Connecticut, 1977–. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Jewish.

ADDRESSES: Home and office—105 Woodside Ter., New Haven, CT 06515. Agent—Elaine Markson Literary Agency, Inc., 44 Greenwich Ave., New York, NY 10011; (films) Alain Bernheim, c/o Lorimar Productions, MGM Studios, Gable Bldg., West Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90230.

CAREER: WBZ-TV, Boston, MA, director and producer, 1965–66; English teacher at public schools in Medford, MA, 1967; Proposition (theatre group), Cambridge, MA, founder, director, and writer, 1968–70; Harvard University, Cambridge, research associate, 1968–69; Cambridge Model Cities Program, Cambridge, director of education research and development, 1969–70; Newton College, Newton, MA, assistant professor of psychology, 1971–72; Cambridge Psychological Associates, Cambridge, clinical director, 1972–74; Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, Northampton, principal psychologist, 1974–75, mental health center director, 1975–76, associate area director for children's and drug programs, 1976–77; writer and clinical psychologist, 1977–.

MEMBER: International Society for Developmental Psychobiology, Society for Neuroscience, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Writers Guild of America, Authors Guild, Authors League of America.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Creator, Coward (New York, NY), 1980.

Satan, His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S., Knopf (New York, NY), 1982.

SCREENPLAYS

Creator (adapted from author's novel of the same name), Universal Pictures, 1985.

(With Allan Scott; also director) Don Juan DeMarco, New Line Cinema, 1995.

The Preacher's Wife, Touchstone, 1996.

The Legend of Bagger Vance, DreamWorks SKG, 2000.

Crazy as Hell (adapted from the author's novel Satan, His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S.), Artistic License Films, 2002.

(Also producer) Alex & Emma, Warner Home Video, 2003.

The Notebook, New Line Home Entertainment, 2004.

Also author of screenplays Playing for Keeps, Universal Pictures, and Send Me No Flowers, Universal Pictures Distribution. Author of The Proposition (satirical review), first produced in Cambridge, MA, at Proposition Theatre, February 2, 1968, produced in New York, NY, 1970–73.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Adaptation for a film remake of Bang the Drum Slowly.

SIDELIGHTS: Jeremy Leven once told CA: "I have two careers, one as a clinician and neuroscientist; one as a writer of fiction and, more recently, of screenplays. With the exception of my next novel, which has much to do with brain and behavior, the two careers do not feed each other in any specific way. On an emotional level, however, they allow me to vary my life between the slower, highly structured, calmer analytic pursuits of science and clinical work, and the more highly charged, irregular, faster-paced synthetic work of fiction and film. I intend to pursue the two careers simultaneously until my own brain chemistry fails me."

Since his early novels, much of the author's writing work has been in film. He has written the screenplay for several major Hollywood pictures, including Don Juan DeMarco, which the author also directed. The story revolves around a retiring psychiatrist who nevertheless begins treating a suicidal patient who claims to be the legendary Spanish lover Don Juan. Writing in Entertainment Weekly, Lisa Schwarzbaum noted that "there is an airy delicacy to this tall tale." Leven was also screenwriter for a remake of The Preacher's Wife, and he wrote the screenplay for The Legend of Bagger Vance, which he adapted from a novel by Steven Pressfield. The film tells the story of a fictional golf match in which a local champion golfer in Georgia takes on two of the game's early legends. Todd McCarthy, writing in Variety, called the film an "engaging yarn."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1998.

PERIODICALS

Daily Variety, March 7, 2002, Dana Harris, "Cassavetes Opens 'Notebook,'" p. 56.

Entertainment Weekly, April 7, 1995, Lisa Schwarzbaum, review of Don Juan DeMarco, p. 64; April 25, 1997, Caren Weiner, review of The Preacher's Wife, p. 78.

New Republic, May 1, 1995, Stanley Kauffmann, review of Don Juan DeMarco, p. 29.

New Statesman & Society, May 19, 1995, Lizzie Francke, review of Don Juan DeMarco, p. 33.

Newsweek, April 24, 1995, Jeff Giles, review of Don Juan DeMarco, p. 64.

Variety, November 6, 2000, Todd McCarthy, review of The Legend of Bagger Vance, p. 19.