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Sonya Levien (born Sara Opesken; 25 December 1888 – 19 March 1960) was a Russian-born American screenwriter. She became one of the highest earning female screenwriters in Hollywood in the 1930s and would help a number of directors and film stars transition from silent films to talkies.
Sonya Levien. Writer: Interrupted Melody. Sonya, a graduate with a law degree from New York University, briefly practiced law before becoming a magazine editor and fiction writer. After several of her stories were adapted to the screen, she became a screenwriter.
Commenting on women’s dual lives, she wrote, “A career and children are always conflicting, but one is a spur to the other” (Ceplair 64). From 1926 until the end of the silent era, Levien wrote for several production companies, managing to avoid getting pigeonholed as only a writer of women’s pictures.
Mar 9, 2022 · The life of Sonya Levien (1888–1960) reads like a rags-to-riches fairy tale. But it is also a story of fortitude, feminism, and the ability to balance personal, family, and financial ambitions.
Sonya Levien. Writer: Interrupted Melody. Sonya, a graduate with a law degree from New York University, briefly practiced law before becoming a magazine editor and fiction writer. After several of her stories were adapted to the screen, she became a screenwriter.
Sonya Levien was one of the most prolific screenwriters of her day, crafting over seventy films ranging from the 1939 Hunchback of Notre Dame to the screen adaptation of Oklahoma! Levien became involved with labor unions while working as a secretary, then put herself through law school at New York University.
Levien, Sonya (1888–1960) Russian-American screenwriter who won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Interrupted Melody. Born near Moscow, Russia, on December 25, 1888; died on March 19, 1960, in Hollywood, California; graduated from New York University with a law degree; married Carl Hovey, in 1917; children: two, including ...
