Alan Levin, a documentary filmmaker who captured the rise of America's religious right and brought PBS "Frontline" viewers into a jury room, died Feb. 20 in Maplewood, N.J. He was 79.
Levin, a World War II veteran who grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., his work in the TV business in the 1970s with PBS. One of the original news producers at New York public television station WNET, Levin produced the Emmy-winning, six-part series "The New Immigrants," examining the immigration of non-Europeans into the United States.
His 1982 film "Portrait of an American Zealot" was one of the first examinations of the rise of the religious right in the U.S. His 1986 "Inside the Jury Room," for the PBS "Frontline" series, provided one of the first jury deliberations ever recorded for television.
He partnered with Bill Moyers on a number of programs, including "The Secret Government: The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis," a history of CIA operations leading up to the Iran-Contra scandal, which won a national Emmy Award for news and documentary in 1988.
Levin also collaborated with HBO's documentary division. Along with his son, Marc, also a filmmaker, and producing partner Daphne Pinkerson, Levin made the HBO documentary "Thug Life," which told the story of incarcerated young black men in Washington. The documentary won the 1999 national Emmy for outstanding nonfiction special.
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