Joseph L. Mankiewicz | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mankiewicz in a 1950 publicity photograph | |
| Born | Joseph Leo Mankiewicz February 11, 1909 |
| Died | February 5, 1993 (aged 83) Bedford, New York, U.S. |
| Other names | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| Alma mater | Columbia University (BA) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1929–1972 |
| Spouses | Rosemary Matthews (m. 1962) |
| Children | 4, including Tom Mankiewicz |
| Relatives | Herman J. Mankiewicz (brother) See Mankiewicz family |
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (/ˈmæŋkəwɪts/ MANG-kə-wits; February 11, 1909 – February 5, 1993) 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.[1]
Comfortable in a variety of genres and able to elicit career performances from actors and actresses alike, Mankiewicz combined ironic, sophisticated scripts with a precise, sometimes stylized mise en scène.
Mankiewicz worked for seventeen years as a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures and as a writer and producer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer before getting a chance to direct at 20th Century Fox. Over six years, he made 11 films for Fox.
During his over 40-year career in Hollywood, Mankiewicz wrote approximately 48 screenplays. He also produced more than 20 films, including The Philadelphia Story (1940) which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Woman of the Year (1942), for which he introduced Katharine Hepburn to Spencer Tracy.[1]
- ^ a b Stern, Sydney Ladensohn (2019). The Brothers Mankiewicz: Hope, Heartbreak, and Hollywood Classics. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781617032677.