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