Biography
Sonya Levien was a Russian-born American screenwriter. Born Sara Opesken on 25 December 1888 in Panimunik in the Russian Empire, she emigrated to the United States as a child. She earned a law degree from New York University, practised briefly, and worked as a journalist and magazine editor before entering screenwriting.
Levien received her first film credit in 1919 and went on to write or co-write screenplays for more than seventy films. Her credits include Cavalcade (1933), State Fair (1933 and 1945), In Old Chicago (1938), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), Quo Vadis (1951) and Oklahoma! (1955). She shared an Academy Award for the screenplay of Interrupted Melody (1955).
She worked primarily at 20th Century-Fox in the 1930s and later at MGM. Levien died on 19 March 1960 in Hollywood, California.
