Rosemary’s Baby is a 1967 best-selling horror novel by Ira Levin (The Stepford Wives; Dr. Cook’s Garden; The Boys from Brazil; Son of Rosemary), his second published book. The Random House book sold over four million copies “making it the top bestselling horror novel of the 1960s.” It has been reprinted by different publishers many times since.
Plot teaser:
Rosemary Woodhouse, is a young woman who has just moved into the Bramford, an old Gothic Revival style New York City apartment building with her husband, Guy, a struggling actor. The pair is informed that the Bramford has a disturbing history involving witchcraft and murder, but they choose to overlook this. Rosemary has wanted children for some time, but Guy wants to wait until he is more established.
Rosemary and Guy are soon welcomed to Bramford by neighbours Minnie and Roman Castevet, an eccentric elderly couple. Rosemary finds them meddlesome and absurd, but Guy begins paying them frequent visits.
After a theatrical rival suddenly goes blind, Guy is given an important part in a stage play. Immediately afterward, Guy unexpectedly agrees with Rosemary that it is time to conceive their first child…
Adaptations:
In 1968, the novel was adapted into a film produced by William Castle (House on Haunted Hill; The Tingler; Strait-Jacket) and directed by Roman Polanski (Repulsion; The Tenant; The Ninth Gate). It starred Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes (Incubus). Ruth Gordon, who played Minnie Castevet, won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
A TV movie sequel, Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby, arrived in 1976 following the success of The Omen.
In 2014, the book was adapted again as a television mini-series with Zoe Saldana as Rosemary.
