[1][2] Born in Swansea, where he became a friend of the painter Alfred Janes, the poet Dylan Thomas and the musician Daniel Jones, he spent most of his teaching career in Bristol and London, and made several popular television series about painting techniques.
When he was about seven years old he began attending Mrs Hole's preparatory school in Mirador Crescent, where he met the future poet, Dylan Thomas, with whom he would associate later as one of The Kardomah Gang.
In 1968 he, with Pamela Hansford Johnson and Robert Lowell, contributed to Perry Miller Adato's documentary film, Dylan Thomas The World I Breathe.
In addition he wrote contributions or introductions to exhibition catalogues and studies on several artists - Frans Baljon (1948), Eva Frankfurther (1962), Gaudier-Brzeska drawings and sculpture (1965), Horace Brodzky retrospective (1965), Scottie Wilson (1966), Clifford Hall (1967), Carel Weight (1972), John Bignell Chelsea photographer (1983), the (Ruth) Lambert Collection (1988), Ronald Ossory Dunlop (1989?
[8] His strong absorption in the personalities of creative artists made Levy an excellent interviewer and raconteur.
A portrait of Mervyn Levy by Alfred Janes (1935) is held by the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea.