\n<\/p>\n
Reporters trying to get interviews with Steven Spielberg would sometimes grouse that his publicist\u2019s job amounted to speaking a single word: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Marvin Levy, who served as Mr. Spielberg\u2019s publicist for 42 years, was responsible for much more than body blocking the fifth estate (which he usually did with a gentlemanly grace). Mr. Spielberg did not become Mr. Spielberg because of his filmmaking alone: For 42 years, Mr. Levy was behind the scenes \u2014 promoting, polishing, spinning, safeguarding, strategizing \u2014 to ensure that his boss was viewed worldwide as Hollywood\u2019s de facto head of state.<\/p>\n
In addition to representing Mr. Spielberg personally, Mr. Levy helped devise and lead publicity campaigns for 32 movies he directed, including several with sensitive subject matter, like \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d (1985), \u201cSchindler\u2019s List\u201d (1993) and \u201cMunich\u201d (2005).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Mr. Levy died on April 7 at his home in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 96.<\/p>\n
His death was announced by Mr. Spielberg\u2019s production company Amblin Entertainment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Over Mr. Levy\u2019s 73-year entertainment career \u2014 an eternity in fickle and ageist Hollywood \u2014 he worked on more than 150 movies and TV shows. He helped turn \u201cBen-Hur\u201d (1959), \u201cTaxi Driver\u201d (1976) and \u201cKramer vs. Kramer\u201d (1979) into hits.<\/p>\n
After joining Mr. Spielberg, Mr. Levy was involved with nearly every film made by Amblin and another of Mr. Spielberg\u2019s companies, DreamWorks, including \u201cBack to the Future\u201d (1985), \u201cMen in Black\u201d (1997) and \u201cShrek\u201d (2001).<\/p>\n
\u201cSimplicity was his mantra,\u201d Mr. Spielberg said in an email. \u201cThe bicycle across the moon image we used for \u2018E.T.\u2019 or the hand of the little girl in red being held by Oscar Schindler. Those are simply two examples of Marvin\u2019s indispensable place in my Amblin family.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Mr. Levy received an honorary Oscar in 2018. He is the only publicist in the motion picture academy\u2019s 98-year history to be given one, making him a folk hero among Hollywood\u2019s unseen publicity armies.<\/p>\n
\u201cA marketing department can make you aware of a title, but it takes something of a storyteller,\u201d Tom Hanks said of Mr. Levy<\/a> at the ceremony, \u201cto get an audience hooked on the story without giving away the story.\u201d<\/p>\n Marvin Jay Levy was born in Manhattan on Nov. 16, 1928, to Max Levy, a real estate appraiser, and Edna (Hess) Levy.<\/p>\n He graduated in 1949 from New York University, where he majored in English and was part of the R.O.T.C. program. After a brief stint writing questions for a game show (he was fired because his were too easy), Mr. Levy found work with Tex McCrary<\/a>, an old-school public relations man, and his wife, Jinx Falkenburg<\/a>, an actress and model. Tex and Jinx, as they were known, helped popularize the TV talk-show format in the 1950s. Mr. Levy credited them with igniting his interest in publicity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In 1952, he took a two-year hiatus to serve in the Air Force. He was stationed in Michigan and assigned to advertising and public relations work. He returned to his job with Tex and Jinx in 1954.<\/p>\n By the mid-1970s, Mr. Levy had moved to Los Angeles to work at Columbia Pictures \u2014 most notably shepherding Mr. Spielberg\u2019s intimate \u201cClose Encounters of the Third Kind\u201d (1977) into theaters.<\/p>\n As the film moved through postproduction, Columbia executives began to worry that it would fizzle. It was nothing like Mr. Spielberg\u2019s pulpy \u201cJaws,\u201d which had riveted audiences two years earlier. Maybe the studio should scale back its marketing and distribution plan?<\/p>\n \u201cMarvin said, \u2018You\u2019re all wrong,\u2019 and moved heaven and earth to make \u2018Close Encounters\u2019 a success,\u201d said Terry Press, Amblin\u2019s president of strategy and communications.<\/p>\n Mr. Levy retired last year.<\/p>\n He married Carol Schild, who worked in advertising, in 1952. She survives him, along with their sons, Don and Doug, and two grandsons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cShe always knew what my job entailed,\u201d Mr. Levy said of his wife when he accepted his Academy Award. \u201cBut most friends and relations outside the industry really had no clue. I never could explain the full range of what the job really entails.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt least now,\u201d he quipped, \u201cthey\u2019ll know I got an Oscar for it.\u201d<\/p>\n Richard Sandomir contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n