- Represented Spielberg through 27 films over four decades
- First PR professional awarded Oscar recognition
- Pioneered campaigns for 7 Best Picture winners
- Retired in 2024 after 70-year Hollywood career
- Survived by wife of 73 years and two sons
The entertainment industry mourns Marvin Levy, the visionary publicist who redefined film promotion while maintaining an unprecedented 40-year partnership with Steven Spielberg. Levy's career spanned Hollywood's Golden Age through the blockbuster era, crafting narratives for films that grossed over $10 billion collectively.
New York City's media landscape shaped Levy's early career, where he honed his skills on MGM classics before relocating to Los Angeles in 1975. This East Coast/West Coast experience proved invaluable when handling Spielberg's transition from TV director (Night Gallery) to feature filmmaker (Jaws). Industry analysts credit Levy's 1977 Close Encounters campaign with establishing the modern saturation release strategy.
Three crucial insights emerge from Levy's legacy: 1) Consistent messaging matters more than hype cycles, 2) Authentic filmmaker relationships outperform transactional PR, and 3) Crisis management requires emotional intelligence. When Saving Private Ryan lost Best Picture in 1999, Levy's graceful handling preserved Spielberg's reputation while acknowledging Miramax's campaign mastery.
The 2018 Honorary Oscar recognized Levy's role in elevating publicity from trade secret to narrative art form. As Tom Hanks noted during the ceremony: Marvin made us care about the people behind the camera as much as those in front.This philosophy fueled Levy's mentorship of 137 PR professionals now leading studio divisions.
Levy's Manhattan roots remained central to his approach, exemplified by his 1963 Ben-Hur re-release campaign that turned a $15M budget into $90M gross through targeted East Coast theater bookings. This regional strategy later informed Jurassic Park's record-breaking 1993 opening across 2,404 screens - a then-unprecedented wide release.
Through seven decades of industry shifts - from newspaper dominance to social media storms - Levy maintained that truth makes better copy than spin.His final project, 2022's The Fabelmans, saw the 94-year-old pioneer crafting a narrative about Spielberg's personal journey rather than Oscar prospects.
