Tom Mankiewicz

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 and the television series Hart to Hart. He was the son of Joseph Mankiewicz and nephew of Herman Mankiewicz. 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.

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. In 1967, Mankiewicz joined forces with a friend, Jack Haley Jr. to come up with a musical television special tailored for the then hugely popular Nancy Sinatra: Movin' with Nancy, co-starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Lee Hazlewood. Mankiewicz was the sole writer and Haley won the Emmy for directing. This was followed by The Beat of the Brass, starring Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass in 1968.

Simultaneously, 20th Century Fox had optioned his original screenplay and after reading it, producer Joe Pasternak hired him to write The Sweet Ride about the California surfing community, starring Tony Franciosa, Bob Denver, and introducing Jacqueline Bisset.

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.

This began a long relationship with the Bond films. Mankiewicz received sole writing credit on the next, Live and Let Die, shared credit with Maibaum on The Man with the Golden Gun, did an uncredited rewrite on The Spy Who Loved Me, and helped Broccoli and director Lewis Gilbert get Moonraker off the ground.

Script doctor In 1975, Mankiewicz wrote the screenplay for Mother, Jugs and Speed, a dark comedy about ambulance drivers starring Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch and Harvey Keitel. He co-produced the film with director Peter Yates who later asked Mankiewicz to come to the British Virgin Islands to do a major rewrite on Yates’ next film, The Deep, with Robert Shaw and Jacqueline Bisset. The film was a huge box office success and cemented Mankiewicz's reputation as a "script doctor."

He next performed a similar function on The Cassandra Crossing, starring Richard Harris, Sophia Loren, Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner, receiving shared screenplay credit. This was followed by his screenplay for The Eagle Has Landed, a World War II thriller with Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall.

During this time actor Peter Falk asked Universal Studios to hire Mankiewicz to read the scripts for his 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."

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."

Mankiewicz next co-executive produced the film Hot Pursuit with John Cusack and Ben Stiller.

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."

Mankiewicz next did an uncredited rewrite on Legal Eagles, a romantic comedy with Robert Redford and Debra Winger. He then directed the film Delirious, starring John Candy and Mariel Hemingway. Next, he directed the season's opening episode of HBO's Tales from the Crypt. This was followed by his directing the Showtime film, Taking the Heat, with Alan Arkin, Peter Boyle, George Segal and Tony Goldwyn.

Mankiewicz's career slowed down in the 1990s. He later claimed he had been unofficially blacklisted when he left his agency, CAA.

"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."

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.

In his book, Mankiewicz claimed he lost his virginity to Joan O'Brien while making The Comancheros. He also had affairs with actresses Dorothy Provine, Suzy Kendall, Carol Lynley, Tuesday Weld, Diane Cilento, Elizabeth Ashley, Jean Simmons, Kate Jackson, Stefanie Powers and Margot Kidder. He was also a very close friend to Natalie Wood and Jerry Moss.

Filmography Film Year Title Director Writer Notes 1968 The Sweet Ride 1971 Diamonds Are Forever 1973 Live and Let Die 1974 The Man with the Golden Gun 1976 Mother, Jugs and Speed Also producer The Cassandra Crossing The Eagle Has Landed 1985 Ladyhawke Also consultant 1987 Dragnet 1991 Delirious

Uncredited writer The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) Moonraker (1979) WarGames (1983) Gremlins (1984) City Heat (1984) Legal Eagles (1986)

Creative consultant Superman (1978) Superman II (1980)

Executive producer Hot Pursuit (1987)

Television Year Title Director Writer Notes1967 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Episode "Runaway Bay" Movin' With Nancy TV special 1968 The Beat of the Brass 1978 Mother, Jugs & Speed 1979–1984 Hart to Hart Also creative consultant and contributing writer 1982 Gavilan Also creator and contributing writer 1991 Tales from the Crypt Episode "Loved to Death" 1993 Taking the Heat TV movie 1996 Hart to Hart: Till Death Do Us Hart

Co-producer Livin' Large (1989) (TV movie)

Theatre Georgy (1970)Book

Books My Life as a Mankiewicz: An Insider's Journey Through Hollywood (with Robert Crane) Publisher: University Press of Kentucky (2012).

Unfilmed screenplays Please Mothers and Daughters (1964)from the book by Evan Hunter Past All Dishonour (1965)from novel by James M. Caina partnership with Robert Wagner M. 38 (1966)a suspense comedy for producer Harry Keller Austin David (1970) from novel by Giles Tippette for producer Quinn Martin The Farm from novel by Sylvia Wallace about a fat farm draft of Batman (1981)for Peter Guber and Jon Peters Rainbow (1980s)about a con man in the Depression The Practice (1985)medical thriller Skin Tight(early 1990s) with Burt Reynolds from novel by Carl Hiaasen