Larry Levinson

A long-time producer of family fare, mainly Westerns for television, Larry Levinson started out as a writer for TV, doing episodes for the "Happy Days" spinoff, "Joanie Loves Chachi," and the sitcom "Laverne & Shirley" in 1982. All through the 1980s, he worked his way up the ladder until he got his first producing credit for the television western "Rio Diablo," starring Kenny Rogers, in 1993. In 1995, Levinson struck gold with the critically acclaimed miniseries "Streets of Laredo," which paired James Garner with Sissy Spacek, and after that he had his name on a number of television movies, many of them with a Christmas theme, like "Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus" and "A Carol Christmas." Levinson turned to horror with a miniseries version of "Frankenstein" in 2004 with Donald Sutherland, and in 2005 he produced a television remake of the famed disaster movie "The Poseidon Adventure." He then returned to more mystery stories and family dramas.