M. C. Levee

Levee began his career in the film industry by working as a prop man at Fox Film Corporation in 1917, earning $20 a week working on A Tale of Two Cities. Within a year, Levee became the assistant to Abe Carles, the General Superintendent at Fox. Levee left Fox in 1920 in order to become a business man at Robert Brunton Studios with Robert Brunton.

In 1920, Levee organized and was President of United Studios, that became Paramount Pictures after being bought in 1926 by Famous Players–Lasky. While working at United Studios, Levee produced or co-produced The Isle of Lost Ships (1923), Ruth of the Range (1923), The White Moth (1924), starring Barbara La Marr, Torment (1924) In Every Woman's Life (1924), Just a Woman (1925) and Sweet Daddies (1926).

In April 1926, Levee sold United Studios to Paramount Pictures. Levee then joined First National, also known as Warner Bros., in order to build more studio facilities in Burbank. Levee joined Nicholas Schenck as General Studio and Business Manager until 1929, when he left to become Executive Manager at Paramount. In 1932, Levee was let go by Sam Jaffe, the General Production Manager, who believed he could cover both jobs. Levee was also the founder and first President of the Artists Management Guild.

In the 1930s Levee started the M.C. Levee Agency directly after working at United Artists. He ran a one-man business, with no staff. He had several important clients, all of which were working under Warner Brothers. Some of Levee's star clients included Mary Pickford, with whom he co-produced her film Secrets in 1933, Joan Crawford, Merle Oberon, Bette Davis, Paul Muni, Jeanette MacDonald, Leslie Howard, Greer Garson, Claude Rains, Dick Powell, and Franchot Tone.

Levee was also the talent agent of film directors Cecil B. DeMille, Frank Borzage, and Mervyn LeRoy. Robert Cowen referred to Levee as being a fair and reliable agent.

Levee was one of six children growing up in Chicago. He had four brothers named Louis, George, Eddie and Sidney and a sister named Rose Levee. Levee was married to Rose "Mimi" Hirschkowitz on November 11, 1914, and they had two sons. The elder, Michael Levee Jr. (1921-1988), was a talent agent and film producer who served as Vice-President of Radnite-Mattel Productions and worked at the M. C. Levee Agency and at the film division of Mattel Toys. Michael Levee Jr. was married to the artist Barbara Poe Levee.. His younger son, John Levee, was a painter who lived in Paris. M. C. Levee's second marriage was to Trudy Levee in 1958.

He died at the age of 81 from cancer in Palm Springs, California.