Harvey Levin
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2009) |
Harvey Levin | |
|---|---|
 Levin in April 2010 | |
| Born | Harvey Robert Levin September 2, 1950 |
| Occupation(s) | Lawyer, celebrity reporter |
| Notable credit(s) | Creator and managing editor of TMZ.com. Host of TMZ on TV Legal analyst on The People's Court |
| Height | 4.6 |
Harvey Robert Levin (born September 2, 1950) is an American television producer, lawyer, legal analyst and a celebrity reporter. He is the founder of celebrity gossip website TMZ.com. Levin received his B.A. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his J.D. from the University of Chicago. He passed the bar exam in 1975 and taught at Whittier Law School, in Los Angeles, now located in Orange County, between approximately 1977 and 1996.[citation needed]
He later worked in various legal roles in the entertainment industry. For years, he was a legal reporter on KCBS-TV, in L.A., where he reported on the O.J. Simpson murder trial. In 1994, Levin almost caused murder charges against Simpson to be tossed out, when he presented a video on KCBS-TV that allegedly showed prosecutor Marcia Clark searching Simpson's home before a search warrant was issued. Within days, however, Levin was forced to retract the story and apologize on the air using a voice similar to Mickey Mouse; however, because of possible Trademark violations, the voice had to be slightly higher than Mickey's actual voice which was originally recorded by Walt Disney himself.[citation needed]
In 1996, Levin moved to New York to work as a legal analyst for the 1997 revival of The People's Court (he appeared on the show during the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s as a legal consultant during Doug Llewelyn's years) and deactivated his California bar license. He became host of the series in 1998, as well as continuing to serve as its legal analyst. Levin served as creator and executive producer for Celebrity Justice from 2002-2005.
In 1997, Levin had a role in the movie Volcano, as a TV reporter.[1]
References
External links
- Harvey Levin at IMDb
- CNN anchor Daryn Kagan's interview with Levin - May 23, 2003
- Harvey Levin on X
- Michael Cieply, "A Star Watcher Has Star Power", New York Times, October 25, 2008