Ira Levin, playwright and author of the suspense classics Rosemary's Baby, The Boys from Brazil, and The Stepford Wives, has died at his home in Manhattan following a heart attack. Levin, 78, who also wrote for television and Broadway, saw his novels - and their cinematic interpretations - gain cult followings, paving the way for the modern popularity of the horror genre.His best known work, Rosemary's Baby, a tale of modern day satanism in Manhattan's upper west side, was made into a film starring Mia Farrow and directed by Roman Polanski. The Stepford Wives, published in 1972, is a satire that depicts the lives of a group of submissive, fawning wives in suburbia and has twice been made into a film.
Four years later, The Boys from Brazil, became one of the earliest works of science fiction to deal with the issue of cloning when it focused on an attempt to replicate Adolf Hitler. His 1978 play Deathtrap was also made into a Sidney Lumet-directed film, starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve.
Stephen King described Levin as "the Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels", adding: "He makes what the rest of us do look like cheap watchmakers in drugstores."
Levin is survived by three sons and three grandsons.