40 Facts About Tom Mankiewicz

Thomas Frank Mankiewicz was an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures and television whose credits included James Bond films and his contributions to Superman: The Movie and the television series Hart to Hart.

Tom Mankiewicz was the son of Joseph Mankiewicz and nephew of Herman Mankiewicz.

Tom Mankiewicz was born in Los Angeles on June 1,1942.

Tom Mankiewicz was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale College.

Tom Mankiewicz majored in drama at Yale, completing the first two years of the Yale Drama School while still an undergraduate.

Tom Mankiewicz's mother committed suicide in 1958, when Mankiewicz was 16 years old.

Wayne told Mankiewicz to remove his John F Kennedy button.

Tom Mankiewicz began to write, finishing an original screenplay, Please, about the last ninety minutes in the life of a suicidal young actress.

Tom Mankiewicz 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.

In 1967, Tom Mankiewicz joined forces with a friend, Jack Haley Jr.

Tom Mankiewicz was the sole writer and Haley won the Emmy for directing.

Tom Mankiewicz 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.

Tom 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.

In 1975, Tom Mankiewicz wrote the screenplay for Mother, Jugs and Speed, a dark comedy about ambulance drivers starring Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch and Harvey Keitel.

Tom Mankiewicz 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.

Tom Mankiewicz next performed a similar function on The Cassandra Crossing, starring Richard Harris, Sophia Loren, Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner, receiving shared screenplay credit.

Tom Mankiewicz was paid a consulting fee on each episode for an entire season while performing no actual writing services.

Tom Mankiewicz brought Mankiewicz aboard to do a complete overhaul in terms of length, dialogue and tone.

Tom Mankiewicz stayed on the production for more than a year, assisting Donner in other departments as well.

Tom Mankiewicz's credit remained where it was on Superman: The Movie, but he agreed to have it come just before the listed screenwriters on Superman II.

Goldberg knew Tom Mankiewicz wanted to direct and told him if he rewrote the two-hour script successfully he could direct it.

Tom Mankiewicz co-wrote and directed the pilot, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers.

Tom Mankiewicz received his "Creative Consultant" credit on each episode, while directing seven of them.

Tom Mankiewicz directed the final cable film, Till Death Do Us Hart, in Munich, Germany, coming full circle on the show.

Tom Mankiewicz wrote scenes for Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante's Gremlins, Spielberg and Richard Donner's The Goonies and John Badham's WarGames.

Tom Mankiewicz next wrote the first draft of Batman, the opening film for that successful series, although Mankiewicz's draft was never used.

Tom Mankiewicz created a TV series Gavilan and wrote a script for Clint Eastwood, Rainbow.

You see, Tom Mankiewicz didn't have sitting on his tail half a dozen very good producers.

Tom Mankiewicz was unhappy at Warner Bros and he decided to move over to Universal.

Tom Mankiewicz next did an uncredited rewrite on Legal Eagles, a romantic comedy with Robert Redford and Debra Winger.

Tom Mankiewicz then directed the film Delirious, starring John Candy and Mariel Hemingway.

Tom Mankiewicz later claimed he had been unofficially blacklisted when he left his agency, CAA.

Later, Tom Mankiewicz helped Richard Donner reconstruct Donner's version of Superman II, restoring all of the original footage he had shot that had been altered or replaced by the producers, including multiple sequences with Marlon Brando which were seen by the public for the first time.

Tom Mankiewicz served on the board of directors of the William Holden Wildlife Foundation, based there.

Tom Mankiewicz was closely involved with the Los Angeles Zoo, and was chairman of the board of trustees of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association.

Tom Mankiewicz was a past member of the board of directors of the Thoroughbred Owners of California.

Tom Mankiewicz remained active in the Writer's and Director's Guilds and was a former member of the board of governors of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Tom Mankiewicz died at his home in Los Angeles from pancreatic cancer on July 31,2010.

Tom Mankiewicz 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.

Tom Mankiewicz was a very close friend to Natalie Wood and Jerry Moss.