National Basketball Association. Photo: Gobierno CDMX, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Partido_NBA_-i---i-_(31910450720).jpg)
National Basketball Association. Photo: Gobierno CDMX, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Partido_NBA_-i---i-_(31910450720).jpg)
Irving H. “Irv” Levin was an American film producer and business executive who led National General Corporation, produced films including Operation Thunderbolt and To Live and Die in L.A., and owned the Boston Celtics before exchanging the franchise for the Buffalo Braves and relocating them to San Diego as the Clippers.
Background
Irving H. Levin was born on September 8, 1921, in Chicago, Illinois. He later established his professional life in Southern California, where the film industry and its network of production, distribution, and exhibition companies provided the setting for his business career.
During World War II, Levin served as a captain in the United States Army Air Forces and flew 31 missions in the European theater. His military service preceded his entry into the motion-picture business after the war.
Career
Levin entered the motion-picture industry after World War II and became president of Filmakers Releasing Organization, an independent distribution company founded by producers Collier Young and Ida Lupino. The company distributed films made outside the major-studio system, including Crashout, on which Levin was credited as president and producer. In 1956, when American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres expanded into film production, Levin became the first president of Am-Par Picture Corporation. The company dissolved in 1959, after which he moved to Atlantic Pictures Corporation.
In 1961, Levin joined National Theaters & Television as a vice president. Eugene V. Klein reorganized the company as National General Corporation in 1962, and Levin served as executive vice president from 1962 to 1969, then as president and chief executive officer from 1969 to 1972. He also led National General's entertainment assets, including National General Pictures and the Chinese Theatre, during a period when film companies were increasingly combining production, distribution, and exhibition.
Levin continued producing films through Atlantic Pictures and later through SLM, Inc. His credits included Eighteen and Anxious, Hell to Eternity, Operation Thunderbolt, and To Live and Die in L.A. Operation Thunderbolt dramatized the 1976 Entebbe hostage rescue, while To Live and Die in L.A. was the first film produced by SLM and was made in partnership with director William Friedkin.
Levin entered professional basketball ownership in the 1970s. He and attorney Harold A. Lipton acquired the Boston Celtics, and the Celtics won the 1976 National Basketball Association championship during Levin's ownership. In 1978, Levin and Lipton exchanged their Celtics interests with John Y. Brown Jr. and Harry T. Mangurian Jr. for the Buffalo Braves. Levin moved the franchise to San Diego, where it became the San Diego Clippers, linking his entertainment career with one of the most unusual franchise transactions in NBA history. He sold the Clippers to Donald Sterling on May 4, 1981, for $13.5 million.
As a principal owner of the Boston Celtics, Levin shared in the franchise's 1976 National Basketball Association championship.
Levin engineered the 1978 exchange of the Boston Celtics franchise for the Buffalo Braves franchise and relocated the Braves to San Diego, where the team became the San Diego Clippers.
Levin developed and produced films across the production, distribution, and exhibition sectors of the American motion-picture business, including the SLM production To Live and Die in L.A.
(Drama film associated with Levin's production activities ...)
1957
Membership
Levin participated in the governance of the National Basketball Association as chairman of its Board of Governors and chaired the league's Television and Cable Committee. The Board of Governors was the NBA's ownership and policy body, while the television committee addressed the league's broadcast interests during a period of expanding national sports media.
Served as chairman and was re-elected to the chairmanship during his period of NBA ownership.
National Basketball Association Board of Governors
,
United States
1977 - 1978
Served as chairman of the league committee concerned with television and cable matters.
National Basketball Association Television and Cable Committee
,
United States
1977 - 1978
Interests
Sport & Clubs
Levin owned the Boston Celtics and the San Diego Clippers, and his professional life included sustained involvement with National Basketball Association governance.
Connections
Levin was first married to Lenore, with whom he had three children: Donna, Lon, and Sindee. The marriage ended in divorce in 1971. His second wife, Michelle, died in a car accident.
Wife:
Lenore Levin
Levin's first wife; their marriage ended in divorce in 1971.
Wife:
Michelle Levin
Levin's second wife, who died in a car accident.
Daughter:
Donna Levin
Son:
Lon Levin
Daughter:
Sindee Levin
Collegue :
Harold A. Lipton
Attorney and business associate who co-owned the Boston Celtics and later the San Diego Clippers with Levin.
References
San Diego Clippers Media Guide, 1979
Contemporary team biography documenting Levin's film career, military service, awards, NBA ownership, and role in the creation of the San Diego Clippers.
