Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Birthday: 11 February 1909, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA

Birth Name: Joseph Leo Mankiewicz

Height: 178 cm

Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on February 11, 1909, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz first worked for the movies as a translator of intertitles, employed by Paramount in Berlin, the UFA's American distributor at the time (1928). He became a dialoguist, then a screenwriter on numerous Paramount productions in Hollywood, most of them Jack Oakie vehicles. Still in his 20s, he produced first-class MGM films, including The Philadelphia Story (1940). Having left Metro after a dispute with studio chief Louis B. Mayer over Judy Garland, he then worked for Darryl F. Zanuck at 20th Century-Fox, producing The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), when Ernst Lubitsch's illness first brought him to the director's chair for Dragonwyck (1946). Mankiewicz directed 20 films in a 26-year period, successfully attempted every kind of movie from Shakespeare adaptation to western, from urban sociological drama to musical, from epic film with thousands of extras to a two-character picture. A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950) brought him wide recognition along with two Academy Awards for each as a writer and a director, seven years after his elder brother Herman J. Mankiewicz won Best Screenplay for Citizen Kane (1941). His more intimate films like The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), The Barefoot Contessa (1954)--his only original screenplay--and The Honey Pot (1967) are major artistic achievements as well, showing Mankiewicz as a witty dialoguist, a master in the use of flashback and a talented actors' director (he favored English actors and had in Rex Harrison a kind of alter-ego on the screen). Show less «

I am never quite sure whether I am one of the cinema's elder statesman or just the oldest whore on t...Show more »

I am never quite sure whether I am one of the cinema's elder statesman or just the oldest whore on the beat. Show less «

[To Katharine Hepburn on the set of Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)] We will resume shooting, Miss Hepb...Show more »

[To Katharine Hepburn on the set of Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)] We will resume shooting, Miss Hepburn, when the Directors Guild card, which I ordered for you, arrives from Hollywood. Show less «

[on the birth of the famous line usually attributed to Spencer Tracy] I was walking into the commiss...Show more »

[on the birth of the famous line usually attributed to Spencer Tracy] I was walking into the commissary on the day Kate [Katharine Hepburn] and Spencer met for the first time in the corridor. Kate said, "I'm afraid I'm a little tall for you, Mr Tracy". I turned to her and said, "Don't worry, Kate, he'll soon cut you down to size". Show less «

There were always financial crises. Someone would come out from the east and announce that the busin...Show more »

There were always financial crises. Someone would come out from the east and announce that the business was in deep trouble, and what would happen was that they'd reduce the number of matzo balls in Louis B. Mayer's chicken soup from three to two. Then they'd fire a couple of secretaries and feel virtuous. Show less «

The death of Hollywood is Mel Brooks and special effects. If Mel Brooks had come up in my day he wou...Show more »

The death of Hollywood is Mel Brooks and special effects. If Mel Brooks had come up in my day he wouldn't have qualified to be a busboy. Show less «

It was difficult to explain to people what it was like living in the studio. You had lunch there. Yo...Show more »

It was difficult to explain to people what it was like living in the studio. You had lunch there. You had dinner there. You ran movies after dinner. It never stopped. Everything functioned twenty-four hours a day. You didn't have to leave the studio to register to vote, because they came in and got your voter registration. You didn't have to leave the studio to renew your driving license. They came to you. The barber shop was open twenty-four hours a day if you needed it. They had a dentist on the lot. They had a doctor full time on the lot. They were like duchies, these studios. Show less «

Every screenwriter worthy of the name has already directed his film when he has written his script.

I think it can be said fairly that I've been in on the beginning, rise, peak, collapse, and end of t...Show more »

I think it can be said fairly that I've been in on the beginning, rise, peak, collapse, and end of the talking picture. Show less «

(on Joan Crawford): The consummate movie star, she dressed the part, played it off screen and on, an...Show more »

(on Joan Crawford): The consummate movie star, she dressed the part, played it off screen and on, and adored every moment of it. Show less «

I don't see why democracy should suddenly equalize literacy and illiteracy. I believe that people sh...Show more »

I don't see why democracy should suddenly equalize literacy and illiteracy. I believe that people should have to qualify for voting privileges. Each person should have a vote, but some should count for more than others because some people know more than others and are better qualified to vote. Show less «

[on Katharine Hepburn] The most experienced amateur actress in the world.

I felt the urge to direct because I couldn't stomach what was being done with what I wrote.

(on Cecil B. DeMille): De Mille had his finger up the pulse of America.

(on Judy Garland): The most remarkably bright, gay, happy, helpless, and engaging girl I've ever met...Show more »

(on Judy Garland): The most remarkably bright, gay, happy, helpless, and engaging girl I've ever met. Show less «

[at the premier of Cleopatra (1963) when host Bert Parks called the film "a wonderful, wonderful ach...Show more »

[at the premier of Cleopatra (1963) when host Bert Parks called the film "a wonderful, wonderful achievement"] You must know something I don't. Show less «

I got a job at Metro and went to see Louis B. Mayer, who told me he wanted me to be a producer. I sa...Show more »

I got a job at Metro and went to see Louis B. 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. Show less «

[at the premiere of Cleopatra (1963) after being asked how he felt now that the movie was finally in...Show more »

[at the premiere of Cleopatra (1963) after being asked how he felt now that the movie was finally in the can and about to have its first showing] I feel like the guillotine is about to drop. Show less «

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Joseph L. Mankiewicz's FILMOGRAPHY

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