Herman J. Mankiewicz
- Known for
- Writing
- Born
- November 7, 1897
- Died
- March 5, 1953 (aged 55)
- Birthplace
- New York City, New York, USA
Biography
Herman Jacob Mankiewicz (November 7, 1897 – March 5, 1953; New York City) was an American screenwriter, who, with Orson Welles, wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane (1941). Earlier, he was the Berlin correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and the drama critic for The New York Times and The New Yorker. Alexander Woollcott said that Herman Mankiewicz was the "funniest man in New York". Both Mankiewicz and Welles received Academy Awards for their screenplay. Mankiewicz's younger brother was Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993), an Oscar-winning Hollywood director, screenwriter, and producer. His nephew Tom Mankiewicz (1942 – 2010) was also a screenwriter and director. He was often asked to fix the screenplays of other writers, with much of his work uncredited. Occasional flashes of what came to be called the "Mankiewicz humor" and satire distinguished his films, and became valued in the films of the 1930s. The style of writing included a slick, satirical, and witty humor, which depended almost totally on dialogue to carry the film. It was a style that would become associated with the "typical American film" of that period. Among the screenplays he wrote or worked on, besides "Citizen Kane", were "The Wizard of Oz", "Man of the World", "Dinner at Eight", "Pride of the Yankees", and "The Pride of St. Louis". Film critic Pauline Kael credits Mankiewicz with having written, alone or with others, "about forty of the films I remember best from the twenties and thirties. ... he was a key linking figure in just the kind of movies my friends and I loved best.". Mankiewicz was an alcoholic. Ten years before his death, he wrote: “I seem to become more and more of a rat in a trap of my own construction, a trap that I regularly repair whenever there seems to be danger of some opening that will enable me to escape. I haven’t decided yet about making it bomb proof. It would seem to involve a lot of unnecessary labor and expense". A future Hollywood biographer went so far as to suggest that Mankiewicz’s behavior “made him seem erratic even by the standards of Hollywood drunks.” Herman Mankiewicz died March 5, 1953, of uremic poisoning, at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles.
Known For
Filmography
Dinner at Eight
Movie · Original Film Writer
The Pride of St. Louis
Movie · Screenplay
Lux Video Theatre
TV · Screenplay · 1 ep
A Woman's Secret
Movie · Screenplay
The Enchanted Cottage
Movie · Writer, Screenplay
The Spanish Main
Movie · Screenplay
Christmas Holiday
Movie · Screenplay
See Here, Private Hargrove
Movie · Writer
The Good Fellows
Movie · Screenplay
The Human Comedy
Movie · Writer
This Time for Keeps
Movie · Characters
Stand by for Action
Movie · Screenplay
The Pride of the Yankees
Movie · Screenplay
Citizen Kane
Movie · Screenplay
Rise and Shine
Movie · Screenplay
The Wild Man of Borneo
Movie · Theatre Play
Keeping Company
Movie · Story
The Ghost Comes Home
Movie · Staff Writer
Comrade X
Movie · Writer
It's a Wonderful World
Movie · Original Story
My Dear Miss Aldrich
Movie · Screenplay, Original Story
John Meade's Woman
Movie · Writer
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Movie · Dialogue
Street of Shadows
Movie · Writer
Live, Love and Learn
Movie · Writer
Love in Exile
Movie · Writer
The Three Maxims
Movie · Adaptation
Suzy
Movie · Writer
San Francisco
Movie · Writer
Escapade
Movie · Screenplay
After Office Hours
Movie · Screenplay
The Perfect Gentleman
Movie · Writer
It's in the Air
Movie · Writer
The Murder Man
Movie · Writer
Stamboul Quest
Movie · Screenplay
Come On, Marines!
Movie · Writer
Operator 13
Movie · Writer
The Show-Off
Movie · Screenplay
Another Language
Movie · Writer
Meet the Baron
Movie · Story
Fast Workers
Movie · Screenplay
Dinner at Eight
Movie · Screenplay
Dancers in the Dark
Movie · Writer
Girl Crazy
Movie · Adaptation
The Lost Squadron
Movie · Dialogue
Man of the World
Movie · Screenplay, Story
Ladies' Man
Movie · Writer
Every Woman Has Something
Movie · Adaptation
Leave The Kitchen!
Movie · Adaptation
The Vagabond King
Movie · Screenplay
True to the Navy
Movie · Dialogue
Ladies Love Brutes
Movie · Screenplay
Men Are Like That
Movie · Adaptation
Love Among the Millionaires
Movie · Dialogue
Honey
Movie · Writer, Dialogue
The Royal Family of Broadway
Movie · Adaptation
Laughter
Movie · Writer
The Man I Love
Movie · Story, Screenplay
The Love Doctor
Movie · Dialogue
The Mighty
Movie · Dialogue
Thunderbolt
Movie · Writer
The Dummy
Movie · Writer
Fast Company
Movie · Writer
Love and Learn
Movie · Dialogue
The Last Command
Movie · Writer
The Big Killing
Movie · Writer
Something Always Happens
Movie · Dialogue
A Night of Mystery
Movie · Dialogue
Avalanche
Movie · Screenplay, Dialogue
Abie's Irish Rose
Movie · Dialogue
What a Night!
Movie · Dialogue
The Water Hole
Movie · Dialogue
The Drag Net
Movie · Dialogue
The Barker
Movie · Dialogue
The Mating Call
Movie · Dialogue
His Tiger Lady
Movie · Dialogue
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Movie · Dialogue
Three Week Ends
Movie · Dialogue
The Magnificent Flirt
Movie · Dialogue
Take Me Home
Movie · Dialogue
Moran of the Marines
Movie · Writer
A Gentleman of Paris
Movie · Writer
Figures Don't Lie
Movie · Writer
Fashions for Women
Movie · Writer
Two Flaming Youths
Movie · Dialogue
Honeymoon Hate
Movie · Dialogue
The Gay Defender
Movie · Dialogue
The City Gone Wild
Movie · Dialogue
The Spotlight
Movie · Dialogue
Serenade
Movie · Dialogue
The Road to Mandalay
Movie · Story
Stranded in Paris
Movie · Adaptation