Joseph Leo Mankiewicz
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Joseph L. Mankiewicz remains the only filmmaker to win Oscars for writing and directing two years in a row, achieving this with A Letter to Three Wives 1949 and All About Eve 1950. He directed 20 films in 26 years, ranging from Shakespeare adaptations to intimate dramas. His brother Herman J. Mankiewicz had earlier won an Oscar for Citizen Kane 1941.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Joseph L. Mankiewicz — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Joseph L. Mankiewicz by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Joseph L. Mankiewicz — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on February 11, 1909. He attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City and later Columbia University. His older brother Herman J. Mankiewicz was already a successful screenwriter, and his own early career began in Berlin in 1928 as a translator of intertitles for Paramount.
After working as a dialoguist and screenwriter on Paramount productions, Mankiewicz moved to MGM as a producer, overseeing The Philadelphia Story 1940. He left MGM after a dispute over Judy Garland and joined 20th Century-Fox, where he produced The Keys of the Kingdom 1944. When Ernst Lubitsch fell ill, Mankiewicz stepped in to direct Dragonwyck 1946, his directorial debut. He directed 20 films, including the Oscar-winning A Letter to Three Wives 1949 and All About Eve 1950. His versatility covered Shakespeare adaptation Julius Caesar 1953, the epic Cleopatra 1963, and intimate films like The Barefoot Contessa 1954 — his only original screenplay. Mankiewicz’s scripts crackled with witty dialogue, he used flashbacks masterfully, and he drew strong performances from actors, especially English actors like Rex Harrison.
Mankiewicz married three times: to Elizabeth Young, Rosemary Mathews, and Rose Stradner. With his first wife Rosemary Mathews he had a son Eric Reynal. With Rose Stradner he had sons Christopher and Tom Mankiewicz; Tom became a writer-director. With Elizabeth Young he had a daughter Alexandra. His brother Herman J. Mankiewicz was also a prominent screenwriter. A painful dermatological condition caused Mankiewicz’s fingertips to split, often brought on by stress during filmmaking.
Mankiewicz ranks among only three directors to win the Academy Award for Best Director in consecutive years, joining John Ford and Alejandro G. Iñárritu. He is also the only person to win Oscars for both writing and directing for two consecutive years. His films All About Eve 1950 and King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis 1969 are preserved in the National Film Registry. He directed 12 actors to Oscar-nominated performances, including George Sanders, Bette Davis, and Marlon Brando. He was president of the Screen Directors Guild from 1950 to 1951. Mankiewicz’s most remembered film is All About Eve, which won six Academy Awards and remains a landmark of American cinema.
The complete filmography of Joseph L. Mankiewicz — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Joseph L. Mankiewicz — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Joseph L. Mankiewicz — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
I Think It Can Be Said Fairly That I’ve Been in on the Beginning, Rise, Peak, Collapse, and End of the Talking Picture.
I Got a Job at Metro and Went to See Louis B. Mayer, Who Told Me He Wanted Me to Be a Producer. I Said I Wanted to Write and Direct. He Said, No, You Have to Produce First, You Have to Crawl Before You Can Walk. Which Is as Good a Definition of Producing as I Ever Heard.
There Were Always Financial Crises. Someone Would Come Out from the East and Announce That the Business Was in Deep Trouble, and What Would Happen Was That They’d Reduce the Number of Matzo Balls in Louis B. Mayer’s Chicken Soup from Three to Two. Then They’d Fire a Couple of Secretaries and Feel Virtuous.
The Death of Hollywood Is Mel Brooks and Special Effects. If Mel Brooks Had Come up in My Day He Wouldn’t Have Qualified to Be a Busboy.
I Am Never Quite Sure Whether I Am One of the Cinema’s Elder Statesman or Just the Oldest Whore on the Beat.
I Don’t See Why Democracy Should Suddenly Equalize Literacy and Illiteracy. I Believe That People Should Have to Qualify for Voting Privileges. Each Person Should Have a Vote, but Some Should Count for More Than Others Because Some People Know More Than Others and Are Better Qualified to Vote.
Every Screenwriter Worthy of the Name Has Already Directed His Film When He Has Written His Script.
I Felt the Urge to Direct Because I Couldn’t Stomach What Was Being Done with What I Wrote.
It Was Difficult to Explain to People What It Was Like Living in the Studio. You Had Lunch There. You Had Dinner There. You Ran Movies After Dinner. It Never Stopped. Everything Functioned Twenty-four Hours a Day. You Didn’t Have to Leave the Studio to Register to Vote, Because They Came in and Got Your Voter Registration. You Didn’t Have to Leave the Studio to Renew Your Driving License. They Came to You. the Barber Shop Was Open Twenty-four Hours a Day If You Needed It. They Had a Dentist on the Lot. They Had a Doctor Full Time on the Lot. They Were Like Duchies, These Studios.
Myrna Loy Has a Smile That Automatically Changes the Subject.
Little-known facts about Joseph L. Mankiewicz — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Frank Mankiewicz, a noted writer and Democratic political strategist who worked as Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s press secretary, is Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s nephew. Frank Mankiewicz later served as Vice Chairman of Hill & Knowlton Public Relations in Washington, DC.
Mankiewicz directed 12 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: George Sanders, Anne Baxter, Bette Davis, Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter, Marlon Brando, Edmond O’Brien, Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison, Michael Caine, and Laurence Olivier. George Sanders and Edmond O’Brien won Oscars for their performances in Mankiewicz films.
Joseph L. Mankiewicz was the brother of writer Herman J. Mankiewicz and Erna Mankiewicz.
He is one of only three film directors to win the Academy Award for Best Director in consecutive years: John Ford for The Grapes of Wrath 1940 and How Green Was My Valley 1941, Mankiewicz for A Letter to Three Wives 1949 and All About Eve 1950, and Alejandro G. Iñárritu for Birdman 2014 and The Revenant 2015.
Granduncle of Timothy, Jesse, Antonia, and Nick Davis Johanna’s children, John Mankiewicz Don’s son, and Ben Mankiewicz and Josh Mankiewicz Frank’s sons.
Mankiewicz suffered from a painful dermatological condition that caused his fingertips to split, often brought on by stress. He can be seen in many photographs wearing white film editor’s gloves while directing.
Ernst Lubitsch was Mankiewicz’s cinematic idol.
As an MGM producer in 1938, Mankiewicz rewrote F. Scott Fitzgerald’s screenplay of the Erich Maria Remarque novel Three Comrades. Fitzgerald thereafter referred to him as Monkeybitch but still received his only screen credit for the adaptation.
To date Mankiewicz is the only filmmaker to have won Oscars for writing and directing in two consecutive years.
He directed four films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: A Letter to Three Wives 1949, All About Eve 1950, Julius Caesar 1953, and Cleopatra 1963. All About Eve won Best Picture. He also wrote the screenplays for all four and for other Best Picture nominees Skippy 1931 and Broadway Melody of 1936 1935, and produced The Philadelphia Story 1940.
Upon his death, his remains were interred at Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Churchyard in Bedford, Westchester County, New York.
Mankiewicz only directed one live stage production: Puccini’s opera La bohème for the Metropolitan Opera in 1952. It remained in the Met’s repertoire through 1976, performed over 300 times, and featured all three Tenors as Rodolfo.
He fathered Eric Reynal with first wife Rosemary Mathews; producer Christopher Mankiewicz and writer-director Tom Mankiewicz with second wife Rose Stradner; and Alexandra Mankiewicz with third wife Elizabeth Young.
Uncle of Don Mankiewicz and the late novelist Johanna Mankiewicz Davis.
Mankiewicz produced three films selected for the National Film Registry: Fury 1936, The Philadelphia Story 1940, and Woman of the Year 1942. He directed two films in the registry: All About Eve 1950 and King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis 1969.
He served as President of the Screen Directors Guild from 1950 to 1951.
In 1965, Mankiewicz was awarded the Italian Order of Merit for having made four movies in Italy. He was the first American to receive this honor.
He directed two films in which Julius Caesar and Mark Antony appear as major characters: Julius Caesar 1953 and Cleopatra 1963.
Tom Pelphrey portrayed Mankiewicz in the 2020 film Mank.
Mankiewicz was a member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1983.
Distantly related to Zev Chafets; Chafets’ cousin Joseph Stenbuck was married to Mankiewicz’s sister Erna.
Biographies include those by John Wakeman in World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945, and by Cheryl Bray Lower & R. Barton Palmer in Joseph L. Mankiewicz: Critical Studies and Guide to Resources.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Celebrities similar to Joseph L. Mankiewicz — same craft, ranked by reach.
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