Peter Levathes (28 July 1911 – 9 January 2002) was an American film and advertising executive, best known for briefly running

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

Biography

Levathes was born in Pittsburgh and grew up in Washington. He attended Harvard University and studied law at Georgetown University. joined Fox in 1937 as legal assistant to

Spyros Skouras Spyros Panagiotis Skouras (; ; March 28, 1893 – August 16, 1971) was a Greek-American motion picture pioneer and film executive who was the president of 20th Century-Fox from 1942 to 1962. He resigned June 27, 1962, but was chairman of the comp ...

, president of the company. During World War II he was a special agent with the FBI in Brazil, helping survey German military operations in Latin American. From 1945–52 he led the Fox news and television production departments. He helped put together the documentary '' Crusade in Europe'', worked as a television consultant to Citizens for Eisenhower in 1952, then as vice president in change of media and television for advertising agency Young & Rubicam for eight years.

Production Chief at Fox

He left advertising in 1959 to run Fox's television division. In May 1961 he was appointed head of production, replacing Robert Goldstein, who had been doing the job since the death of

Buddy Adler E. Maurice "Buddy" Adler (June 22, 1906 – July 12, 1960) was an American film producer and production head for 20th Century Fox studios. In 1954, his production of '' From Here to Eternity'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture and in 1956, h ...

. Among Levathes main actions at Fox were: *signing

Irwin Allen Irwin Allen (born Irwin O. Cohen; June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genr ...

to a three-picture contract *signing

Rod Taylor Rodney Sturt Taylor (11 January 1930 – 7 January 2015) was an Australian actor. He appeared in more than 50 feature films, including '' Young Cassidy'' (1965), '' Nobody Runs Forever'' (1968), '' The Train Robbers'' (1973), and '' A Matt ...

to a deal for films and television *purchasing the rights to ''

Doctor Dolittle Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 '' The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. He is a physician who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in th ...

'' In March 1962 Levathes announced Fox would make 14 films from a possible 17 including: *two unnamed productions from

Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (; September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. Best known as a co-founder of 20th Century Fox, he played a ...

*''Gideon Goes to War'' from Mark Robson *''

Something's Got to Give ''Something's Got to Give'' is an unfinished American feature film shot in 1962, directed by George Cukor for 20th Century Fox and starring Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin and Cyd Charisse. A remake of ''My Favorite Wife'' (1940), a screwball com ...

'' starring

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

*''The Story of General Patton'' *''The Jungle'' from the novel by

James Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in particular geographic locales ...

*''First Love'' from the play based on the

Romain Gary Romain Gary (; 2 December 1980), born Roman Kacew () and also known by the pen name Émile Ajar, was a French novelist, diplomat, film director, and World War II aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice (once under a ps ...

novel *''The Enemy Within'' based on the book by

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...

produced by

Jerry Wald Jerome Irving Wald (September 16, 1911 – July 13, 1962) was an American screenwriter and a producer of films and radio programs. Life and career Early life Born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, he had a brother and sons who were act ...

*''Celebration'' based on the play by

William Inge William Motter Inge (; May 3, 1913 – June 10, 1973) was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable Broad ...

produced by Wald *'' Ulysses'' based on the novel by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

produced by Wald *'' Take Her She's Mine'' based on the hit play *''The Battle of Leyte Gulf'' *''Happily Ever After'' based on the story by Vera Caspry *''Drink to Me Only'' by Ira Wallack and Abram S. Giness *''Evil Come, Evil Go'' a suspense story starring

Pat Boone Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, author, television personality, radio host and philanthropist. He sold nearly 50 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and has acted in many films. Boone ...

*''Love in a Cool Climate'' based on novel by Frederick Kohner to star

Ann-Margret Ann-Margret Olsson (born 28 April 1941), credited as Ann-Margret, is a Swedish-American actress and singer with a career spanning seven decades. Her many screen roles include '' Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), '' Bye Bye B ...

and Pamela Tiffin *''

Five Weeks in a Balloon ''Five Weeks in a Balloon, or, A Journey of Discovery by Three Englishmen in Africa'' () is an adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in 1863. It is the first novel in which he perfected the "ingredients" of his later work, skillfully mixing ...

'' based on novel by

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

Levathes cancelled ''Something's Got to Give'' during production. Later that month his champion, Spyrous Skouras, was forced to retire. Daryl F. Zanuck returned as president and Levathes resigned from his position in August, becoming head of television. ''Ulysses'', ''Promise at Dawn'' and ''Take Her, She's Mine'' were all postponed. He was fired from Fox in 1962, then returned to advertising.

Films made/developed under Levathes at Fox

*''

'' (1962) *''

Tender Is the Night ''Tender Is the Night'' is the fourth and final novel completed by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the French Riviera during the twilight of the Jazz Age, the 1934 novel chronicles the rise and fall of Dick Diver, a promising young ...

'' (1962) *''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

'' (1963) *''

'' (1963) (abandoned)

Films purchased but made under different regime

*''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

'' (1965)

Films announced but not made

*''A Summer World'' (1962) – postponed *''

The Greatest Story Ever Told ''The Greatest Story Ever Told'' is a 1965 American epic film, epic List of religious films, religious film that retells the Biblical account of Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, from the Nativity of Jesus, Nativity through to the Ascension of J ...

'' – studio passed on project, which was made by

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

*''Big River, Big Man''

References

External links

*
Ilias Chrissochoidis
(ed.)
''The Cleopatra Files: Selected Documents from the Spyros P. Skouras Archive'' (Stanford, 2013).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levathes, Peter American business executives 20th Century Studios people 1911 births 2002 deaths