---
name: "Val Lewton"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/val-lewton"
fi1m_id: "val-lewton"
imdb_id: "nm0507932"
tmdb_id: 97047
wikidata_id: "Q221917"
roles: ["Producer"]
born: "7 May 1904"
died: "14 March 1951"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_fi1m_score: 77
average_as: "producer"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-25T03:24:35.199014+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Val Lewton

## Identity

Val Lewton

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/val-lewton
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** val-lewton
- **IMDb ID:** nm0507932
- **TMDB ID:** 97047
- **Wikidata ID:** Q221917
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_Lewton, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q221917, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507932/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/97047

Producer. Born 7 May 1904 in Yalta, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire [now Crimea, Ukraine]. Died 14 March 1951.

## Details

- **Work:** Producer
- **Born:** 7 May 1904, Yalta, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire [now Crimea, Ukraine]
- **Died:** 14 March 1951
- **Active:** 1937–1943
- **Also known as:** Vladimir Ivanovich Leventon, Vladimir Leventon, Carlos Keith, Cosmo Forbes, Herbert Kerkow, Sidney Valentine, H. C. Kerkow
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 4: 3 producing, 1 crew
- **Frequently works with:** [Tom Conway](https://film.one/person/tom-conway.md), [DeWitt Bodeen](https://film.one/person/dewitt-bodeen.md), [Jacques Tourneur](https://film.one/person/jacques-tourneur.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 77, as producer, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 78 (1), 1940s 77 (3)
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Horror 3, Mystery 3, Drama 2, Fantasy 1, Romance 1
- **Screen time:** 4 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $4m across 1 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_Lewton, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q221917, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0507932/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/97047

## Biography

Val Lewton (born Vladimir Ivanovich Leventon, also credited as Vladimir Leventon) was a Russian-American film producer and screenwriter. He was born on 7 May 1904 in Yalta, then part of the Russian Empire, and moved to the United States with his family in 1909. He began his career as a writer of novels and stories, often under pseudonyms including Carlos Keith and Cosmo Forbes, before joining David O. Selznick as a story editor in the 1930s.

In 1942 RKO Pictures hired Lewton to head a new low-budget horror unit. His first production, *Cat People* (1942), was a commercial success, and he went on to produce a series of influential films including *I Walked with a Zombie* (1943), *The Seventh Victim* (1943), *The Leopard Man* (1943), *The Curse of the Cat People* (1944), *The Body Snatcher* (1945) and *Isle of the Dead* (1945). He frequently contributed to screenplays and gave early directing opportunities to Robert Wise and Mark Robson. Lewton died on 14 March 1951.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (4)

### Produced (3) — the average rests on these

- *I Walked with a Zombie* (1943), Fi1m 84, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/i-walked-with-a-zombie.md)
- *The Seventh Victim* (1943), Fi1m 62, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/the-seventh-victim.md)
- *Cat People* (1942), Fi1m 86, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/cat-people.md)

### Crew (1)

- *A Star Is Born* (1937), Fi1m 78, Editorial Staff — [page](https://film.one/film/a-star-is-born-1937.md)

## Complete filmography (18)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Shadows in the Dark: The Val Lewton Legacy* (2005), Actor
- *Apache Drums* (1951), Producer
- *Please Believe Me* (1950), Producer
- *My Own True Love* (1948), Producer
- *Bedlam* (1946), Screenplay, Producer
- *Isle of the Dead* (1945), Producer
- *The Body Snatcher* (1945), Screenplay, Producer
- *Youth Runs Wild* (1944), Producer
- *Mademoiselle Fifi* (1944), Producer
- *The Curse of the Cat People* (1944), Producer
- *The Ghost Ship* (1943), Producer
- *The Seventh Victim* (1943), Producer — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/the-seventh-victim.md)
- *The Leopard Man* (1943), Producer
- *I Walked with a Zombie* (1943), Producer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/i-walked-with-a-zombie.md)
- *Cat People* (1942), Producer — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/cat-people.md)
- *A Star Is Born* (1937), Editorial Staff — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/a-star-is-born-1937.md)
- *No Man of Her Own* (1932), Novel
- *The Year's Work*, Director

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/val-lewton