Publication Order of Rosemary’s Baby Books
| Rosemary’s Baby | 1967 |
| Son of Rosemary | 1997 |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| A Kiss Before Dying | 1953 |
| This Perfect Day | 1970 |
| The Stepford Wives | 1972 |
| The Boys from Brazil | 1976 |
| Sliver | 1991 |
Publication Order of Plays
| No Time for Sergeants | 1955 |
| Interlock | 1958 |
| Critic’s Choice | 1960 |
| General Seeger | 1962 |
| Drat! The Cat! | 1965 |
| Dr. Cook’s Garden | 1967 |
| Veronica’s Room | 1973 |
| Deathtrap | 1978 |
| Break a Leg | 1979 |
| Cantorial | 1984 |
About Ira Levin
Ira Levin (1929 to 2007) was an American novelist and playwright whose seven novels include “Rosemary’s Baby” (1967), “The Stepford Wives” (1972) and “The Boys from Brazil” (1976). He also wrote “Deathtrap” (1978), the longest-running thriller in Broadway history, and many of his books and plays have been filmed.
Levin was born in New York City and educated at the Horace Mann School. He spent two years at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, then moved to New York University, where he studied philosophy and English and graduated in 1950. A CBS scriptwriting contest he entered as a student led to work writing for television. His first novel, “A Kiss Before Dying” (1953), won the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was filmed in 1956 and again in 1991. He served in the US Army Signal Corps from 1953 to 1955.
His first produced play was “No Time for Sergeants”, adapted from Mac Hyman’s novel, which opened on Broadway in 1955 with Andy Griffith and became a film in 1958. He spent the following years in the theatre, writing “Interlock” (1958), the comedy “Critic’s Choice” (1960), “General Seeger” (1962) and a musical, “Drat! The Cat!” (1965).
He returned to fiction with “Rosemary’s Baby”, a horror story of modern-day Satanism set in Manhattan. Roman Polanski’s 1968 film starred Mia Farrow, and Ruth Gordon won an Academy Award for her supporting role. “This Perfect Day” (1970), a science-fiction novel about a technocratic dystopia, later won the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. “The Stepford Wives”, in which a photographer suspects that something in her new town is turning its women into compliant homemakers, was filmed in 1975 and 2004, and “The Boys from Brazil” in 1978.
“Deathtrap” brought Levin a second Edgar Award and a Tony nomination for Best Play, and was filmed in 1982 with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. His last two novels were “Sliver” (1991), filmed in 1993 with Sharon Stone, and “Son of Rosemary” (1997), a sequel to his best-known book. He received the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1996 and died of a heart attack at his home in Manhattan on 12 November 2007. “Apartment 7A”, a film prequel to “Rosemary’s Baby”, was released in 2024.