Born Samuel Levenson, he grew up in a large Jewish immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1934. He married Esther Levine and had two children.
Sam Levenson was a Spanish teacher before writing the best-seller Sex and the Single Child (1969), In One Era And Out The Other (1973), You Can Say That Again, Sam! (1975), and Everything But Money (1966). He hosted the game show Two for the Money in 1956 (taking over for Herb Shriner) and the "Sam Levenson Show" from 1959 to 1964. Over a span of more than a decade, he appeared on Toast of the Town aka The Ed Sullivan Show 21 times, in addition to frequently serving as a substitute host on CBS's Arthur Godfrey Time. He was a guest host on The Price Is Right and was a panelist on many other television programs such as Password and What's My Line? Levenson also had a cameo in the film A Face in the Crowd. He also appeared multiple times on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson throughout the 1970s. Levenson also wrote the well-known poem "Time Tested Beauty Tips" for his grandchild, which has become falsely attributed to Audrey Hepburn.
The 150-seat Sam Levenson Recital Hall at Brooklyn College was named after him in 1988 in gratitude for his donations over the years to the Performing Arts Center. A glazed porcelain bust of him graces the hall's rear wall. The library of Franklin K. Lane High School, from which he graduated in 1930, is named for him and a large portrait painting of him hangs on the north wall of the library. During Lane High School's rededication ceremony in the fall of 1976, Levenson was an honored guest and gave a humorous speech about his days as a student.
