Alan Levin, 79; TV Filmmaker Worked on Projects for PBS, HBO

Alan Levin, 79, a documentary filmmaker who captured the rise of America’s religious right and participated in a number of PBS and HBO projects, died Monday in his sleep at his home in Maplewood, N.J., according to a publicist for HBO.

Levin’s work in the television industry began in the 1970s with PBS. One of the original news producers at New York public television station WNET, Levin in 1979 produced the Emmy-winning six-part series “The New Immigrants,” which examined 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. In 1986 his “Inside the Jury Room,” for the PBS series “Frontline,” provided one of the first jury deliberations ever recorded for television.

He partnered with Bill Moyers on a number of award-winning programs, including “The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis,” a history of CIA operations leading up to the Iran-Contra scandal, which won a national Emmy for news and documentary in 1988.

Levin also collaborated with HBO’s documentary division. With his son, Marc, also a filmmaker, and producing partner Daphne Pinkerson, Levin made the HBO documentary “Thug Life,” which told of incarcerated young black men in Washington. The documentary won the 1999 national Emmy for outstanding nonfiction special.