Thomas Frank Mankiewicz (June 1, 1942 – July 31, 2010) was an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures and television whose credits included James Bond films and his contributions to Superman: The Movie (1978) and the television series Hart to Hart. He was the son of Joseph Mankiewicz and nephew of Herman Mankiewicz.[1]
Mankiewicz was born in Los Angeles on June 1, 1942.[2] His parents were Austrian-born actress Rose Stradner and the celebrated screenwriter/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, son of German-Jewish immigrants. In 1950, his father, after winning four Oscars in two years for the screenplays and direction of A Letter to Three Wives and All About Eve, decided to move his family back to New York City, where he had been raised.
Mankiewicz was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy (1955–1959) and Yale College (1959–1963). He majored in drama at Yale, completing the first two years of the Yale Drama School while still an undergraduate. His mother committed suicide in 1958, when Mankiewicz was 16 years old.
During vacations he worked at the Williamstown Summer Theater in Massachusetts both in production and as an actor. In 1961, he was hired as a third assistant director on The Comancheros, a film starring John Wayne and Lee Marvin, which was shot in the Monument Valley of Utah, the last film directed by Michael Curtiz. Wayne told Mankiewicz to remove his John F. Kennedy button.[3]
In 1963, two young producers, Stuart Millar and Lawrence Turman, took Mankiewicz on as their assistant while making The Best Man, the 1964 film version of Gore Vidal's Broadway play starring Henry Fonda. He was involved in virtually every aspect of the film, receiving his first on-screen credit as "Production Associate."
Screenwriter
Mankiewicz began to write, finishing an original screenplay, Please, about the last ninety minutes in the life of a suicidal young actress. It was optioned at times by three different studios, never made, but served as an example of his talent and was responsible for his first writing assignment, an episode of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, directed by Stuart Rosenberg. He received a credit as "Thomas F. Mankiewicz", but thought it looked so pretentious on the screen he became Tom Mankiewicz for the rest of his career.
Mankiewicz later recalled:
There was something terribly frightening about writing a screenplay when you have the last name of Mankiewicz. You say to yourself, 'Oh, sh*t, no matter what I write, it sure ain't any All About Eve, is it?' It takes a long time to get over that. When I first came out here, everybody said, 'Give my regards to your old man, will you, and by the way, if there's anything I can do for you ___ ' On the one hand, all of that is very nice and tremendously advantageous. On the other hand, it sort of robs you of any sense of achievement. It's a real double-edged sword. And it wasn't until I had been asked back several times and, as awful as it sounds, for a lot of money, that I could finally convince myself that these people really want me because they think that I'm the best person to write the script.[4]
The combination of that screenplay and the TV specials led Broadway producer Fred Coe to ask Mankiewicz to write the book for Georgy!, the musical version of the film Georgy Girl. It opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1970, was nominated for three Tony Awards, but closed after four performances.
James Bond
Attending one of the four performances of Georgy was United Artists production head David Picker, who admired Mankiewicz's book for the musical. Picker and James Bond producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli were looking for a writer to do a major reworking of Diamonds Are Forever in hopes of luring Sean Connery back to play Bond. Picker suggested that Broccoli add Mankiewicz to his list of possibles. He was hired on a two-week guarantee, stayed on the film for six months and received shared screenplay credit with the original writer, Richard Maibaum.
During this time actor Peter Falk asked Universal Studios to hire Mankiewicz to read the scripts for his hit television series, Columbo, and make plot suggestions. He was paid a consulting fee on each episode for an entire season while performing no actual writing services.
Mankiewicz later admitted being a script doctor was seductive. "It's one of the few times when the writer has a certain control over a film, because you're coming in when the people on the film are at their most insecure", he said. "After all, if you're there, they've had to admit that they needed someone there to help them out... You're coming in like Jack Palance in Shane. You're the hired gun. Everyone is waiting for a revelation. You're supposed to bring better parts for the actors, better scenes for the director. And sometimes, everyone likes it, not because it's necessarily better, but just because it's different."[6]
Superman
In 1977, director Richard Donner was hired to direct Superman: The Movie and Superman II. At the time the script drafts combined were more than four hundred pages long (an impossible length to shoot) and Donner felt they were much too campy as well. He brought Mankiewicz aboard to do a complete overhaul in terms of length, dialogue and tone. Mankiewicz stayed on the production for more than a year, assisting Donner in other departments as well. Donner gave Mankiewicz a separate credit in the main title sequence: "Creative Consultant." The Writer's Guild strenuously objected on two grounds; first, that the traditional script arbitration process was being bypassed and second, that Mankiewicz's credit came after the original screenwriters and not before them, implying that his contribution was more important. The dispute went to a legal hearing. Mankiewicz won. His credit remained where it was on Superman: The Movie, but he agreed to have it come just before the listed screenwriters on Superman II.
By this stage Mankiewicz was very successful. He later said, "I wanted to be able to say to my father, 'Listen, I've got my own area over here. This is my part of the yard, and you don't do this kind of thing. Maybe I'll do one of yours someday, but I don't need any money, thank you very much. I'm standing right here on my own.' That gives you a kind of confidence and security. I think I've got my own identity, and I've established a good base camp."[4]
Hart to Hart
During this time, television producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg had five successful series on the ABC Network simultaneously. They also had a potential "pilot" script by Sidney Sheldon called Double Twist which they were unable to sell. Goldberg knew Mankiewicz wanted to direct and told him if he rewrote the two-hour script successfully he could direct it. Mankiewicz agreed and turned it into Hart to Hart. It sold. He co-wrote and directed the pilot, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers. The hit series ran for five years and later was the subject of eight two-hour network and cable films. Mankiewicz received his "Creative Consultant" credit on each episode, while directing seven of them. He also directed the final cable film, Till Death Do Us Hart, in Munich, Germany, coming full circle on the show.
Script doctor
Following Superman: The Movie, Warner Bros. signed Mankiewicz to an exclusive deal and kept him busy "fixing" films. He wrote scenes for Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante's Gremlins, Spielberg and Richard Donner's The Goonies and John Badham's WarGames. He next wrote the first draft of Batman, the opening film for that successful series, although Mankiewicz's draft was never used. He created a TV series Gavilan and wrote a script for Clint Eastwood, Rainbow.[7]
Then Richard Donner brought him onto Ladyhawke, the medieval romantic fantasy starring Matthew Broderick, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Rutger Hauer. He received shared screenplay credit and a separate credit as "Creative Consultant."
Tom Mankiewicz once admitted, "I think Dad is probably disappointed that I have not worked up to what he considers to be, and I must say I consider to be, my creative potential. He's never said he's disappointed, but I know he is, and I know that come Oscar night some year, he would love to see some wonderful film that I wrote and directed being honored."[4]
Joseph Mankiewicz concurred:
I do share Tom's disappointment. Or put it this way. He came to share my disappointment. On the other hand, I understand completely. I wrote for W. C. Fields. I wrote Westerns. I wrote anything when I started out. The point is, Tom sold his stuff. Now I happen to think he's better than that. Tom found it a little too easy. Instead of shooting the fourth draft of his screenplay, they shot the second. I have said to him, 'I don't think the second draft is good enough, Tom. You can do better.' But he didn't have to do better, and that was a pity. You see, Tom didn't have sitting on his tail half a dozen very good producers.[4]
Later career
Mankiewicz was unhappy at Warner Bros and he decided to move over to Universal. "The last thing I wanted to do was make another deal that cast me as a fixer", he said. "And Frank Price, who was then running production, agreed totally. So after two weeks here, Frank asked me to do a rewrite on the Dragnet script!"[6] Things worked out well for Mankiewicz, who got along well with co-writers Dan Aykroyd and Alan Zweibel and wound up directing Dragnet. It was one of the top grossers of 1987, and marked his feature debut as director.[6]
Mankiewicz's career slowed down in the 1990s. He later claimed he had been unofficially blacklisted when he left his agency, CAA.[citation needed]
"When things are going well, you can get lazy with the best of intentions", said Mankiewicz. "If you can make a very good living writing James Bond and God knows there's nothing wrong with it, people love the pictures and the money is good – then when somebody asks if you want to do another one, the easy thing to do is to take it. When I started out, I sort of thought of myself as an enormously sensitive young writer who wanted to do these deeply personal films. I don't know how many years ago that was. But I still intend to be."[4]
Mankiewicz admitted he had not fulfilled his potential. "It's been my fault, really. Perhaps in the beginning, I was intimidated by my family and its reputation... I think I've done good, solid work. I don't apologize for anything I've done. But I wonder if I've aimed."[6]
Later, Mankiewicz helped Richard Donner reconstruct Donner's version of Superman II, restoring all of the original footage he had shot that had been altered or replaced by the producers, including multiple sequences with Marlon Brando which were seen by the public for the first time. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut came out in 2006 and won the Saturn Award as the best DVD of the year.
Mankiewicz had a home in Kenya for eight years. He served on the board of directors of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation, based there. He was also closely involved with the Los Angeles Zoo, and was chairman of the board of trustees of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association.
He was an owner of thoroughbred race horses, having first partnered with actor Robert Wagner, then with A&M Records co-founder Jerry Moss, and later racing under his own silks. He was a past member of the board of directors of the Thoroughbred Owners of California.
Mankiewicz died at his home in Los Angeles from pancreatic cancer on July 31, 2010.[1]
Autobiography
In May 2012, My Life as a Mankiewicz was published. Written in collaboration with Robert Crane, the book was largely completed at the time of his death, but finished by Crane and published by the University Press of Kentucky.
Peter Hess Stone was an American screenwriter and playwright. Stone is perhaps best remembered by the general public for the screenplays he wrote or co-wrote in the mid-1960s, Charade (1963), Father Goose (1964), and Mirage (1965).
John Frederick Milius is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. He was a writer for the first two Dirty Harry films, received an Academy Award nomination as screenwriter of Apocalypse Now (1979), and wrote and directed The Wind and the Lion (1975), Conan the Barbarian (1982), and Red Dawn (1984). He later served as the co-creator of the Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series Rome (2005–2007).
Superman is a 1978 superhero film based on the DC Comics superhero Superman, played by Christopher Reeve. It is the first of four installments in the Superman film series starring Reeve as Superman. The film was directed by Richard Donner based on a screenplay by Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman, and Robert Benton. In addition to Reeve, the film features an ensemble cast including Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Jeff East, Margot Kidder, Glenn Ford, Phyllis Thaxter, Jackie Cooper, Trevor Howard, Marc McClure, Terence Stamp, Valerie Perrine, Ned Beatty, Jack O'Halloran, Maria Schell, and Sarah Douglas. It depicts the origin of Superman, including his infancy as Kal-El of Krypton, son of Jor-El (Brando), and his youthful years in the rural town of Smallville. Disguised as reporter Clark Kent, he adopts a mild-mannered disposition in Metropolis and develops a romance with Lois Lane (Kidder) while battling the villainous Lex Luthor (Hackman).
Richard Donner was an American filmmaker and film producer. He directed several financially successful films during the New Hollywood period. Michael Barson, Senior Publicist for Putnam, author of over ten books, wrote, Donner was "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters." This 50 year career crossed genres and influenced trends among film makers.
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in consecutive years for A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950), the latter of which was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six.
Herman Jacob Mankiewicz was an American screenwriter who, with Orson Welles, wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane (1941). Both Mankiewicz and Welles would go on to receive the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film. He was previously a Berlin correspondent for Women’s Wear Daily, assistant theater editor at The New York Times, and the first regular drama critic at The New Yorker. Alexander Woollcott said that Mankiewicz was the "funniest man in New York".
Lawrence Edward Kasdan is an American filmmaker. He is the co-writer of the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Force Awakens (2015), and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). He also co-wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and The Bodyguard (1992), and is the writer-director of Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Silverado (1985), The Accidental Tourist (1988), and Dreamcatcher (2003). He is known for updating old Hollywood genres—film noir, science-fiction, westerns—in a classical dramatic style with quick-witted dialogue, but dealing with contemporary social themes. As a director, he has made various personal films that examine characters and generations.
Superman II is a 1980 superhero film directed by Richard Lester and written by Mario Puzo and David and Leslie Newman from a story by Puzo based on the DC Comics character Superman. It is the second installment in the Superman film series and a sequel to Superman (1978). A direct continuation of the first Superman, Christopher Reeve reprises his role as Superman. The returning cast includes Gene Hackman, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, Marc McClure and Jack O'Halloran.
Andrew Kevin Walker is an American screenwriter. He is known for having written Seven (1995), for which he earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay, as well as several other films, including 8mm (1999), Sleepy Hollow (1999) and many uncredited script rewrites.
Richard Maibaum was an American film producer, playwright and screenwriter best known for his screenplay adaptations of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels.
Hart to Hart is an American mystery television series that premiered on August 25, 1979, on ABC. The show stars Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, respectively, a wealthy couple who lead a glamorous jetset lifestyle and regularly find themselves working as unpaid detectives in order to solve crimes in which they become embroiled. The series was created by novelist and television writer Sidney Sheldon. The series ended after five seasons on May 22, 1984, but was followed by eight made-for-television movies, from 1993 to 1996.
A script doctor is a writer or playwright hired by a film, television, or theatre production company to rewrite an existing script or improve specific aspects of it, including structure, characterization, dialogue, pacing, themes, and other elements.
John H. Peters is an American film producer and former hairdresser.
Philip Yordan was an American screenwriter of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s who produced several films. He acted as a front for blacklisted writers although his use of surrogate screenwriters predates the McCarthy era. His actual contributions to the scripts he is credited with writing is controversial and he was known to some as a credit-grabber. Born to Polish immigrants, he earned degrees from both University of Illinois and Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Philip Ives Dunne was an American screenwriter, film director and producer, who worked prolifically from 1932 until 1965. He spent the majority of his career at 20th Century Fox. He crafted well regarded romantic and historical dramas, usually adapted from another medium. Dunne was a leading Screen Writers Guild organizer and was politically active during the "Hollywood Blacklist" episode of the 1940s–1950s. He is best known for the films How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), The Robe (1953) and The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965).
Dragnet is a 1987 American buddy cop comedy film directed and co-written by Tom Mankiewicz in his directorial debut. Starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, the film is based on the radio and television crime drama of the same name. The screenplay, both a parody of and homage to the long-running television series, was written by Aykroyd, Mankiewicz, and Alan Zweibel. The original music score is by Ira Newborn.
Norman Krasna was an American screenwriter, playwright, producer, and film director who penned screwball comedies centered on a case of mistaken identity. Krasna directed three films during a forty-year career in Hollywood. He garnered four Academy Award screenwriting nominations, winning once for 1943's Princess O'Rourke, which he also directed.
Walter Hill is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his action films and revival of the Western genre. He has directed such films as The Driver, The Warriors, Southern Comfort, 48 Hrs. and its sequel Another 48 Hrs., Streets of Fire and Red Heat, and wrote the screenplay for the crime drama The Getaway. He has also directed several episodes of television series such as Tales from the Crypt and Deadwood and produced the Alien films.
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut is a 2006 re-edited director's cut of the 1980 superhero film Superman II. It is a sequel to Richard Donner's 1978 film Superman, based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name, and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, and Marlon Brando, the latter whose scenes were removed and entirely re-shot with actress Susannah York for the theatrical release. This alternate cut was edited by Michael Thau and was overseen and completed by Donner himself. It features a significant amount of discarded footage, alternate takes, and story elements not featured in the theatrical version.
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References
1 2 "Tom Mankiewicz, Writer on Bond Films, Dies at 68". New York Times. Associated Press. August 3, 2010. Retrieved August 5, 2010. Tom Mankiewicz, a screenwriter who worked on 'Diamonds Are Forever,' 'Live and Let Die' and other James Bond films as well as the first two "Superman" movies, died on Saturday at his home here. He was 68. His death was announced by his family, which said he had been battling pancreatic cancer.
↑ Mankiewicz, Tom (May 14, 2012). My Life as a Mankiewicz: An Insider's Journey through Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. p.50. ISBN978-0813161235.
1 2 3 4 5 Farber, Stephen (July–August 1984). "Family Plots". Film Comment (20.4ed.). pp.68–77, 80.
1 2 Paul Attanssio (Mar 3, 1985). "Hollywood's Script Door: Tom Mankiewicz, Tonic for Ailing Screenplays The Script Doctor". The Washington Post. p.G1.
1 2 3 4 5 Goldstein, Patrick (27 March 1987). "JUST THE FACTS, MANK: Director Tom Mankiewicz Is 'Dragnet's' Top Cop". Los Angeles Times. p.K3.
↑ Davis, Ivor (30 July 1982). "He's gauged the Hart beat Now Tom Mankiewicz is tackling feature films". The Globe and Mail. p.10.
↑ Dorothy Kilgallen (Feb 3, 1964). "Jackie Gleason to Be a Grandfather". The Washington Post. p.A22.
↑ Dorothy Kilgallen (Dec 4, 1964). "Judy Due Back to Close Luft Battle". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. p.D10.
↑ Watters, Jim (Sep 12, 1976). "The Fathomable Film Life in 'The Deep': Film Intrigue of Underwater Life Films Follow Lure of the Deep Fathoming 'The Deep' Film". Los Angeles Times. p.v1.
↑ Humphrey, Hal (Apr 23, 1968). "TV REVIEW: Herb Alpert Special Presented on CBS". Los Angeles Times. p.c17.
↑ Hopper, Hedda (Oct 3, 1964). "German Fans Like Westerns, Disney: Visiting Columnist Tells Other Homeland Favorites". Los Angeles Times.
↑ Martin, Betty (Nov 25, 1965). "Camus Novel to Be Filmed". Los Angeles Times. p.c30.
↑ Martin, Betty (July 12, 1966). "Filmways Inks Jack Clayton". Los Angeles Times. p.c9.
↑ Martin, Betty (June 30, 1969). "CALL SHEET: Star Role of 'Virgin' Assigned". Los Angeles Times. p.d24.
↑ Murphy, Mary. (Jan 12, 1976). "MOVIE CALL SHEET: 'Arms' Next for Bart/Palevsky". Los Angeles Times. p.e8.
↑ Pollock, Dale (July 26, 1981). "PRODUCERS GUBER AND PETERS: AN ENDLESS HONEYMOON?". Los Angeles Times. p.m1.
↑ "OUTTAKES: "Scrooge", Or Maybe Not". Los Angeles Times. Dec 13, 1987. p.K38.
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