Franklin R. Levy; Film, Stage Producer

Franklin R. Levy, a stage, film and TV producer whose Catalina Production Group of Los Angeles was a consistent source of material for the screen and the local stage, is dead at 43.

Levy died of a pulmonary embolism Tuesday at Bradley Memorial Hospital in Southington, Conn., his Los Angeles publicist, Flo Selfman, said Thursday.

Levy had suffered a brain hemorrhage Aug. 16.

Levy’s credits include such features as “My Stepmother Is an Alien” and “Nighthawks.”

A native of New York, Levy began as an agent for such stars as Henry Fonda, Richard Chamberlain, Faye Dunaway and Al Pacino.

He became a consultant to the Center Theatre Group at Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre. He then co-founded The Production Company in 1977, producing several stage ventures and the TV films “Enola Gay” and “The Child Stealer.”

With partner Gregory Harrison, the actor, Levy then co-founded Catalina Production Group, producing the NBC-TV film “For Ladies Only” and a stage production of “The Hasty Heart.” They also filmed plays for cable TV.

Other Catalina TV films included “Legs,” “Samson and Delilah,” “Red River,” “Picnic.”

His stage credits also included “Journey’s End,” “Child’s Play” and “A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening.”

Times stage writer Don Shirley said this year, when the company abandoned its Los Angeles playhouse after Levy’s illness, that “Catalina Production Group was the only outfit in town that consistently managed to produce for the screen and the L.A. stage. Its partners . . . funded many of their stage ventures with screen money.”

Levy produced the 1988 comedy “My Stepmother Is an Alien” for Weintraub Entertainment Group and had begun work on a feature remake of “The Incredible Journey” for Disney Studios when he became ill, Selfman said.

He is survived by his parents, Leo and Gloria Levy of Bronx, N.Y., three brothers and his longtime companion, Bill Hutton.

A public memorial service will be held in Los Angeles on an unspecified date, Selfman said.