CINEFILER

Herman J. Mankiewicz

Born
November 7, 1897
Died
March 5, 1953
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.
Academy Awards
Best Writing, Original Screenplay
Known For
Citizen Kane
(1941)
Screenplay
The Wizard of Oz
(1939)
Staff Writer
The Pride of the Yankees
(1942)
Screenplay
San Francisco
(1936)
Writer
Dinner at Eight
(1933)
Screenplay
Full Filmography
Writing
Stranded in Paris
(1926)
Adaptation
The Road to Mandalay
(1926)
Story
Figures Don't Lie
(1927)
Writer
A Gentleman of Paris
(1927)
Writer
The Spotlight
(1927)
Dialogue
Honeymoon Hate
(1927)
Dialogue
Fashions for Women
(1927)
Writer
Two Flaming Youths
(1927)
Dialogue
The City Gone Wild
(1927)
Dialogue
Serenade
(1927)
Dialogue
The Gay Defender
(1927)
Dialogue
The Water Hole
(1928)
Dialogue
Three Week Ends
(1928)
Dialogue
Something Always Happens
(1928)
Dialogue
What a Night!
(1928)
Dialogue
The Mating Call
(1928)
Dialogue
The Last Command
(1928)
Writer
Take Me Home
(1928)
Dialogue
Moran of the Marines
(1928)
Writer
The Magnificent Flirt
(1928)
Dialogue
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(1928)
Dialogue
The Drag Net
(1928)
Dialogue
The Big Killing
(1928)
Writer
Abie's Irish Rose
(1928)
Dialogue
Avalanche
(1928)
Screenplay and Dialogue
His Tiger Lady
(1928)
Dialogue
A Night of Mystery
(1928)
Dialogue
The Barker
(1928)
Dialogue
Love and Learn
(1928)
Dialogue
Thunderbolt
(1929)
Writer
The Man I Love
(1929)
Story
Fast Company
(1929)
Writer
The Love Doctor
(1929)
Dialogue
The Mighty
(1929)
Dialogue
The Dummy
(1929)
Writer
The Canary Murder Case
(1929)
Dialogue
True to the Navy
(1930)
Dialogue
Ladies Love Brutes
(1930)
Screenplay
The Royal Family of Broadway
(1930)
Adaptation
Men Are Like That
(1930)
Adaptation
The Vagabond King
(1930)
Screenplay
Honey
(1930)
Writer and Dialogue
Laughter
(1930)
Writer
Love Among the Millionaires
(1930)
Dialogue
Dude Ranch
(1931)
Writer
Ladies' Man
(1931)
Writer
Every Woman Has Something
(1931)
Adaptation
Man of the World
(1931)
Screenplay and Story
Leave the kitchen!
(1931)
Adaptation
Girl Crazy
(1932)
Adaptation
The Lost Squadron
(1932)
Dialogue
Dancers in the Dark
(1932)
Writer
Dinner at Eight
(1933)
Screenplay
Meet the Baron
(1933)
Story
Fast Workers
(1933)
Screenplay
Another Language
(1933)
Writer
Operator 13
(1934)
Writer
Come On, Marines!
(1934)
Writer
Stamboul Quest
(1934)
Screenplay
The Show-Off
(1934)
Screenplay
The Murder Man
(1935)
Writer
After Office Hours
(1935)
Screenplay
Escapade
(1935)
Screenplay
The Perfect Gentleman
(1935)
Writer
It's in the Air
(1935)
Writer
Love in Exile
(1936)
Writer
Suzy
(1936)
Writer
The Three Maxims
(1936)
Adaptation
San Francisco
(1936)
Writer
My Dear Miss Aldrich
(1937)
Screenplay and Original Story
John Meade's Woman
(1937)
Writer
Street of Shadows
(1937)
Writer
Live, Love and Learn
(1937)
Writer
The Emperor's Candlesticks
(1937)
Dialogue
It's a Wonderful World
(1939)
Original Story
The Wizard of Oz
(1939)
Staff Writer
Keeping Company
(1940)
Story
The Ghost Comes Home
(1940)
Staff Writer
Comrade X
(1940)
Writer
Rise and Shine
(1941)
Screenplay
Citizen Kane
(1941)
Screenplay
The Wild Man of Borneo
(1941)
Screenplay
The Pride of the Yankees
(1942)
Screenplay
Stand by for Action
(1942)
Screenplay
This Time for Keeps
(1942)
Characters
The Human Comedy
(1943)
Writer
The Good Fellows
(1943)
Screenplay
Christmas Holiday
(1944)
Screenplay
See Here, Private Hargrove
(1944)
Writer
The Spanish Main
(1945)
Screenplay
The Enchanted Cottage
(1945)
Writer and Screenplay
A Woman's Secret
(1949)
Screenplay
The Pride of St. Louis
(1952)
Screenplay
Dinner at Eight
(1989)
Writer
Acting
Production
Crew
Data provided by TMDB