Benn Levy

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British writer and politician

title: "Benn Levy" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["government-and-politics-of-slough", "labour-party-(uk)-mps-for-english-constituencies", "people-from-slough", "1900-births", "1973-deaths", "uk-mps-1945–1950", "royal-air-force-personnel-of-world-war-i", "royal-navy-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "people-educated-at-repton-school", "alumni-of-university-college,-oxford", "british-dramatists-and-playwrights", "jewish-british-politicians"] description: "British writer and politician" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benn_Levy" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British writer and politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

FieldValue
nameBenn Wolfe Levy
imageBenn W. Levy-Constance Cummings still 1.jpg
captionBenn Levy and Constance Cummings in 1935
constituency_MPEton and Slough
term_start26 July 1945
term_end3 February 1950
predecessorConstituency established
successorFenner Brockway
birth_date
death_date
partyLabour
spouse
children2
::

| name = Benn Wolfe Levy | image = Benn W. Levy-Constance Cummings still 1.jpg | caption = Benn Levy and Constance Cummings in 1935 | constituency_MP = Eton and Slough | term_start = 26 July 1945 | term_end = 3 February 1950 | predecessor = Constituency established | successor = Fenner Brockway | birth_date = | death_date = | party = Labour | spouse = | children = 2 Benn Wolfe Levy (7 March 1900 – 7 December 1973) was a Labour Party Member of Parliament in the House of Commons (1945–1950), and a successful playwright. He was educated at Repton School and University College, Oxford and served in uniform in both World Wars.

Playwright and parliamentarian

Before entering politics, Levy was a successful playwright and screenwriter. He was the dialogue writer for Blackmail (1929); directed by Alfred Hitchcock, it was the first British sound film. Later, he wrote the adapted screenplay for James Whale's macabre horror film The Old Dark House (1932) in collaboration with R. C. Sherriff, based on the novel Benighted (1927) by J. B. Priestley. Levy directed one film, Lord Camber's Ladies (1932), which was the only film produced by Hitchcock which he did not himself direct.

Levy was first elected at the 1945 general election, for the Eton and Slough constituency, and stood down at the 1950 general election. Politically, Levy was on the left of the Labour Party and later became an active member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. As a sympathiser with the Zionist movement, he also opposed Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin over Bevin's policies towards Palestine and Israel.

As an MP, Levy made an unsuccessful effort to abolish theatrical censorship in Britain, and towards the end of his life, he was the principal author of a report opposing the arguments for censorship made by Lord Longford, the anti-pornography campaigner.

He was married for more than 40 years to the American-born screen and stage actress Constance Cummings; the couple had one daughter and one son.

Levy's papers are held at the University of Sussex library.

Credits

Plays

Plays written by Levy:

Selected filmography

Director

References

References

  1. "Archived copy".
  2. (8 December 1973). "Benn W. Levy, 73, Playwright, Dies". The New York Times.
  3. "BFI Screenonline: Lord Camber's Ladies (1933)".
  4. "The Keep News and Blog".
  5. "doollee.com – the playwrights database of modern plays".
  6. {{IBDB name

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government-and-politics-of-sloughlabour-party-(uk)-mps-for-english-constituenciespeople-from-slough1900-births1973-deathsuk-mps-1945–1950royal-air-force-personnel-of-world-war-iroyal-navy-personnel-of-world-war-iipeople-educated-at-repton-schoolalumni-of-university-college,-oxfordbritish-dramatists-and-playwrightsjewish-british-politicians