Levin's documentary career started with the
Public Broadcast Laboratory, then continued with
WNET, a
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) primary member station.
Defense and Domestic Needs: Contest for Tomorrow, which aired on
Public Broadcast Laboratory, won a
Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award. He again attracted attention with
The New Immigrants in 1979 which explored the immigration of non-European migrants to the US and earned him his first Emmy, a
New York Emmy. His 1982 film
Portrait of an American Zealot was one of the first films of the growing popularity of the so-called
religious right. That film marked the end of his employment for PBS although he would continue to make films for the network. In 1986, he made
Inside the Jury Room featuring the first jury deliberation to be filmed which was shown on
PBS Frontline He partnered with
Bill Moyers to film a number of documentaries.
The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis looked at the activities of the
CIA leading up to the
Iran–Contra affair. It earned Levin his second Emmy, a
News and Documentary Emmy. Levin would later make documentaries for HBO. With his son,
Marc Levin, and his production partner
Daphne Pinkerson, he made
Thug Life in D.C. about the lives of four prisoners in Washington. He died in
Maplewood, New Jersey, in February 2006. ==References==