Levant was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1906, to Orthodox Jewish Max, a watchmaker, and Annie, who emigrated from Russia.[5] Levant's parents were married by his maternal grandfather, who was a rabbi.[5]: 4–5
Levant traveled to Hollywood in 1928, where his career took a turn for the better. During his stay, he met and became friends with George Gershwin. From 1929 to 1948, Levant composed the music for more than twenty movies. During this period, he also wrote or co-wrote numerous popular songs that made the hit parade, the most noteworthy being "Blame It on My Youth" (1934), now considered a standard.
Levant began composing seriously around 1932. He studied under Arnold Schoenberg and impressed Schoenberg sufficiently to be offered an assistantship (which he turned down, considering himself unqualified).[6] These formal studies led to a request by Aaron Copland to play at the Yaddo Festival of contemporary American music on April 30 of that year. Successful, Levant began composing a new orchestral work, a sinfonietta.
Levant made his debut as a music conductor in 1938 on Broadway, filling in for his brother Harry in sixty-five performances of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s The Fabulous Invalid. In 1939, he was again working on Broadway as composer and conductor of The American Way, another Kaufman and Hart production.[7] He was a talented pianist and was well known for his recorded works of Gershwin, and numerous classical composers. During a time in the 1940s, he was the highest paid concert pianist in the United States.[8]
Also, at this time, Levant was becoming known to American audiences as one of the regular panelists on the radio quiz show Information Please. Originally scheduled as a guest panelist, Levant proved so quick-witted and popular that he became a regular fixture on the show in the late-1930s and 1940s, along with fellow panelists Franklin P. Adams and John Kieran and moderator Clifton Fadiman. "Mr. Levant," as he was always called, was often challenged with musical questions, and he impressed audiences with his depth of knowledge and facility with a joke. Kieran praised Levant as having a "positive genius for making offhand cutting remarks that couldn't have been sharper if he'd honed them a week in his mind. Oscar was always good for a bright response edged with acid."[9] Examples include "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin," "I think a lot of [conductor/composer Leonard] Bernstein—but not as much as he does," and (after Marilyn converted to Judaism when she married playwright Arthur Miller), "Now that Marilyn Monroe is kosher, Arthur Miller can eat her.” [10][11][12]
Levant appeared in feature films, starting from the 1920s until the mid-50s, often playing a pianist or composer. He had supporting roles in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; An American in Paris (1951), starring Gene Kelly; and The Band Wagon (1953), starring Astaire and Cyd Charisse.[13] Oscar Levant regularly appeared on NBC radio's Kraft Music Hall, starring singer Al Jolson. He not only accompanied Jolson on the piano with classical and popular songs, but often joked and ad-libbed with Jolson and his guests. This included comedy sketches. Their individual ties to George Gershwin—Jolson introduced Gershwin's "Swanee"—undoubtedly had much to do with their rapport. Both Levant and Jolson appeared as themselves in the Gershwin biopic Rhapsody in Blue (1945).
In the early 1950s, Levant was an occasional panelist on the NBC radio and television game show Who Said That?.[14] Levant hosted a talk show on KCOP-TV in Los Angeles from 1958 -1960, The Oscar Levant Show,[15] which was later syndicated. It featured his piano playing along with monologues and interviews with guests such as Fred Astaire and Linus Pauling. Full recordings of only two shows are known to have survived,[16] one with Astaire, who paid to have a kinescope recording of the broadcast made so that he could assess his performance.
Personal life
Levant married actress Barbara Woodell in 1932. The couple divorced in 1933.[17] In 1939, Levant married singer and actress June Gale; they had three daughters, Marcia, Lorna, and Amanda.[18][19]
Levant talked publicly about his neuroses and hypochondria.[20] Levant became addicted to prescription drugs and was committed to psychiatric hospitals by his wife.[21]
Death
Crypt of Oscar Levant at Westwood Memorial Park
In August 1972, Levant died of a heart attack at his Beverly Hills, California, home at the age of 65. Levant's body was discovered by his wife, June, when she called to him for an interview with Candice Bergen, who was then working as a photojournalist. Bergen had shot photos of Levant on a previous visit, one of which was published in her memoir, Knock Wood.[22]
^Ethan Thompson (2011). "5". Parody and Taste in Postwar American Television Culture. New York: Routledge. ISBN9781136839801. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
^Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, A Talent For Genius: the Life and Times of Oscar Levant (Villard/Random House, 1994; Silman-James Press, 1998); ISBN1-879505-39-8
^"Meet your hostess". tessa :: Photo Collection. Los Angeles Public Library. Retrieved December 2, 2021. Photograph caption dated March 10, 1964 reads, "Posed amidst and dwarfed by huge Easter bunnies, Amanda Levant, daughter of wit-pianist Oscar Levant, prepares for her duties as a hostess at the Teen-Age Fair, due March 20–29 at the Hollywood Palladium."
Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, A Talent For Genius: the Life and Times of Oscar Levant (Villard/Random House, 1994; Silman-James Press, 1998) ISBN1-879505-39-8
Dr. Charles Barber. "The Concert Music of Oscar Levant". Department of Music, Stanford University, 1998–2000
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