Sam Levene was born Scholem Lewin on August 28, 1905 in Russia. He created the role of Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, a character librettist Abe Burrows wrote specifically for Levene. Following a career that spanned well over 50 years, he was posthumously inducted into both the Theatre Hall of Fame (1984), and the Grammy Hall of Fame (1998), the latter for the original Broadway cast recording of Guys and Dolls.

Following his run in the original Broadway production of Guys and Dolls, Levene went on to play Nathan Detroit in a myriad of other productions: at the Bristol Hippodrome in Bristol, England (May 19 - 25, 1953); Coliseum, London (opening May 28, 1953); The Royal Nevada Crown Room, Las Vegas, NV (September 7 – December, 1955); Mineola Theatre, Mineola, NY (October 21 – November 7, 1965); and the Paper Mill Playhouse (November 23 – December 19, 1965).

Other theatre credits include Horace Vandergelder in the premiere of Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker (Scotland's Edinburgh Festival, 1954 and London's Theatre Royal Haymarket, 1955).

Radio Credits include: several episodes of Orson Welles The Campbell Playhouse: Lefty in “Burlesque” (February 17, 1939), and Owen O’Malley in “Twentieth Century” (March 34, 1939). Several productions for Theatre Guild on the Air: Banjo in “The Man Who Came to Dinner (November 17, 1946), and Fred Stevens in “June Moon” (March 27, 1949), Sidney Black in “Light Up the Sky” (April 10, 1951), Siggie in “Golden Boy” (December 8, 1946), among others.

Film credits include: Siggie in “Golden Boy” (1939), “Action in the North Atlantic” (1943), a Doolittle Flyer and Japanese POW in “The Purple Heart” (1944), Lieutenant Lubinsky in “The Killers” (1946), “Brute Force” (1947), Samuels, the murdered GI, in “Crossfire” (1947), “Boomerang” (1947), “Killer McCoy” (1947), “Dial 1119” (1950), “Sweet Smell of Success” (1957), and “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” (1957).

Television credits include: "The Ford Theatre Hour," "Medallion Theatre," 'Rheingold Theatre," "The United States Steel Hour," "Studio One in Hollywood," and "The Royal Family."