Joseph E. Levine

Levine's biggest hit was director Mike Nichols' The Graduate (1967), a blockbuster hit that was considered, then and now, a watershed film that inaugurated the New Hollywood and made Dustin Hoffman a superstar. At the time of its release, The Graduate became one of the Top Ten All-Time Box Office hits. With the great success of the film, Levine sold his company to the conglomerate Avco, though he continued on as the CEO of the renamed Avco-Embassy film production division.

Other films produced and/or financed by Levine included Two Women (1960), Contempt (1963), The 10th Victim (1965), Marriage Italian Style (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), The Producers (1968), Carnal Knowledge (1971) and The Night Porter (1974). After leaving Avco-Embassy, he became an independent again, producing A Bridge Too Far (1977).