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Levant was the inspiration for the neurotic, womanizing pianist Henry Orient in Nora Johnson's novel The World of Henry Orient (1964). [24] In April 2023, a play about Levant's life written by Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Wright premiered on Broadway.
6 days ago · Instead of rattling off the pieces verbally, Levant sat at the piano and played the entire programme. When, in February 1924, Paul Whiteman and his orchestra presented his ‘An Experiment in Modern Music’ concert in New York with the premiere of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue as its highlight, Levant’s ears pricked up.
On The Oscar Levant Show, which appeared on KCOP-TV in Los Angeles, he played the piano and interviewed guests including Fred Astaire and Linus Pauling. Levant was also a frequent guest on talk shows, including The Tonight Show. By the 1960s, Levant made few appearances.
In his last movie “The Cobweb” (1955), during which he uncharacteristically did not play the piano, Oscar portrayed a neurotic patient in a psychiatric hospital. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, the film featured an all–star cast which included Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Charles Boyer, Gloria Grahame, Lillian Gish, and Susan Strasberg.
Occasionally Levant appeared on film in a showcase piano piece, but there are only a handful of film roles where he showed his substantial skill as an actor. He played himself in the highly fictionalized Gershwin bio Rhapsody in Blue (1945), highlighted by his playing of the piece.
- Music Department, Actor, Composer
- December 27, 1906
- 3 min
- August 14, 1972
Oct 2, 2018 · Listen to him play the second movement of Ravel’s Sonatine, and you’re hearing quintessential neo-classical French pianism – tinged with Levant’s signature wit.
Aug 17, 2018 · The child of Russian Jewish immigrants, Levant was born in Pittsburgh in 1906 and showed unusual prowess on the piano at a young age.
