“I took a pre-med course at Columbia. Then came the part where you disembowel frogs and earthworms, which horrified and nauseated me. But what really finished me was physics.”
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Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American filmmaker. A four-time Academy Award winner, he is best known for his witty and literate dialogue and his preference for voice-over narration and narrative flashbacks. Also known as an actor's director, Mankiewicz directed several prominent actors, including Bette Davis, Gene Tierney, Humphrey Bogart and Elizabeth Taylor, to several of their memorable onscreen…
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entertainment · American filmmaker (1909–1993) · film producer · film director · screenwriter · actor · translator · trade unionist · director · also Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz, Joseph Mankiewicz, Mankiewicz
Born 11 February 1909 · Died 5 February 1993 · Q51583
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I got a job at Metro and went in to see Louis 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.
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2026· 3 entries
Moviefone: Directed by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz (2008) - Where to Watch
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Moviefone: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
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2025· 1 entry
Variety: Venice Classics to Feature Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘Matador,’ Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Lolita,’ Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s ‘House of Strangers’
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2024· 2 entries
The Times Leader: Joseph L. Mankiewicz crafted numerous cinematic gems
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Joseph and Herman were both announced as inductees into the Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame
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2007· 1 entry
Directors Guild of America: Joseph L. Mankiewicz: Interviews
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1993· 4 entries
Died 1993-02-05.
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“I got a job at Metro and went in to see Louis 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.”
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Mankiewicz died in Bedford, New York, at the age of 83
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“Every screenwriter worthy of the name has already directed his film when he has written his script.”
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1983· 1 entry
Mankiewicz was a member of the jury at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival
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1975· 1 entry
Robert Redford approached Mankiewicz about directing All the President's Men (1976)
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1968· 1 entry
Mankiewicz signed a multi-picture deal with Warner Bros
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1964· 1 entry
Mankiewicz read Frederick Knott's play Mr
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1963· 1 entry
Cleopatra became the year's highest-grossing film and earned mixed reviews from film critics
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1962· 3 entries
The two were married in a New York courthouse
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Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton filmed their first scene together
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“The actors are almost more upset than I am. They gave three goddam good performances and, badly cut, they”
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1961· 3 entries
Mankiewicz was hired as writer and director
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Flew north to New York for dinner with his agent Charles Feldman and Spyros Skouras, who requested him to complete Walter Wanger's concurrent troubled production Cleopatra (1963), a film project Mankiewicz's Figaro In
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Mankiewicz took over as director from Rouben Mamoulian for Cleopatra (1963)
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1960· 1 entry
Alleged similarities to an unpublished manuscript inspired by Chevalier's life
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1956· 1 entry
Mankiewicz recruited film producer Walter Wanger to work for Figaro
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1954· 2 entries
Samuel Goldwyn hired Mankiewicz to write and direct the film version of the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls
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Mankiewicz met his third wife Rosemary Matthews while filming The Barefoot Contessa in Rome
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1953· 1 entry
Mankiewicz formed his own production company, Figaro, where he independently produced, wrote, and directed The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and The Quiet American (1958)
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1951· 3 entries
Awarded Academy Award for Best Director for All About Eve (1951).
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Awarded Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for All About Eve (1951).
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Mankiewicz relocated his family to New York
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1950· 5 entries
Awarded Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for A Letter to Three Wives (1950).
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Awarded Academy Award for Best Director for A Letter to Three Wives (1950).
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Zanuck finished reading Mankiewicz's script and immediately sent a memo: "Without any question of a doubt you have done a remarkable job
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Mankiewicz was bestowed two Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay
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And 1951, he won two Academy Awards each for writing and directing A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950)
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1949· 1 entry
Fox purchased the rights to Orr's story for $5,000, and Mankiewicz began writing the first draft while preparing for No Way Out
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1944· 1 entry
Mankiewicz began working for Twentieth Century-Fox, where he produced The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)
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1943· 1 entry
Young legally had Eric assume his stepfather Eugene Reynal's surname after she had remarried
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1940· 1 entry
And Tom Mankiewicz, born in 1942
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1939· 1 entry
At Mankiewicz's sister's apartment in New York
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1934· 1 entry
In the backyard garden of Herman and his wife Sara's house
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1933· 1 entry
Mankiewicz met Elizabeth Young, a New York socialite and descendant of the Schermerhorn family
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1932· 1 entry
Which included segments for If I Had a Million (1932)
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1929· 1 entry
Joseph was hired by Paramount Pictures, becoming the studio's youngest staff writer at the age of 20
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1928· 1 entry
Studied at Columbia University (1928).
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1924· 1 entry
Studied at Stuyvesant High School (1924).
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1909· 2 entries
Born 1909-02-11.
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“s The Dummy (with his brother Herman), The Man I Love, and Thunderbolt. David O. Selznick, then an assistant to Paramount general manager B. P. Schulberg, proposed that Joseph write the dialogue to Fast Company (1929), an adaptation of the 1928 play Elmer The Great by George M. Cohan and Ring Lardner. Mankiewicz”
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