Herman J. Mankiewicz
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.
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Movies (102)
The Mad Dog of Europe
2026 · Self (archive footage)
The Battle Over Citizen Kane
1996
The Complete 'Citizen Kane'
1991 · Self
Dinner at Eight
1989 · Original Film Writer
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976 · Thanks
The Pride of St. Louis
1952 · Screenplay
A Woman's Secret
1949 · Producer, Screenplay
The Spanish Main
1945 · Screenplay
The Enchanted Cottage
1945 · Writer, Screenplay
Christmas Holiday
1944 · Screenplay
See Here, Private Hargrove
1944 · Writer
The Good Fellows
1943 · Screenplay
The Human Comedy
1943 · Writer
Stand by for Action
1942 · Screenplay
The Pride of the Yankees
1942 · Screenplay
This Time for Keeps
1942 · Characters
Rise and Shine
1941 · Screenplay
Citizen Kane
1941 · Newspaperman (uncredited), Screenplay
The Wild Man of Borneo
1941 · Theatre Play
Keeping Company
1940 · Story
Comrade X
1940 · Writer
The Ghost Comes Home
1940 · Staff Writer
It's a Wonderful World
1939 · Original Story
Live, Love and Learn
1937 · Writer
My Dear Miss Aldrich
1937 · Screenplay, Original Story
The Emperor's Candlesticks
1937 · Dialogue
Street of Shadows
1937 · Writer
John Meade's Woman
1937 · Writer
Love in Exile
1936 · Writer
Suzy
1936 · Writer
San Francisco
1936 · Writer
The Three Maxims
1936 · Adaptation
The Perfect Gentleman
1935 · Writer
It's in the Air
1935 · Writer
The Murder Man
1935 · Writer
Escapade
1935 · Screenplay
After Office Hours
1935 · Screenplay
Stamboul Quest
1934 · Screenplay
Operator 13
1934 · Writer
Come On, Marines!
1934 · Writer
The Show-Off
1934 · Screenplay
Dinner at Eight
1933 · Screenplay
Duck Soup
1933 · Producer
Meet the Baron
1933 · Story
Another Language
1933 · Writer
Fast Workers
1933 · Screenplay
Horse Feathers
1932 · Producer
Million Dollar Legs
1932 · Producer
Girl Crazy
1932 · Adaptation
The Lost Squadron
1932 · Dialogue
Dancers in the Dark
1932 · Writer
Monkey Business
1931 · Producer
Dude Ranch
1931 · Additional Dialogue
Ladies' Man
1931 · Writer
The Front Page
1931 · Undetermined Secondary Role (uncredited)
Man of the World
1931 · Screenplay, Story
Every Woman Has Something
1931 · Adaptation
Leave The Kitchen!
1931 · Adaptation
The Royal Family of Broadway
1930 · Adaptation
Laughter
1930 · Writer
Love Among the Millionaires
1930 · Dialogue
True to the Navy
1930 · Dialogue
Ladies Love Brutes
1930 · Screenplay
Honey
1930 · Writer, Dialogue
Men Are Like That
1930 · Adaptation
The Vagabond King
1930 · Screenplay
The Mighty
1929 · Dialogue
Fast Company
1929 · Writer
Thunderbolt
1929 · Writer
The Man I Love
1929 · Story, Screenplay
The Dummy
1929 · Writer
The Canary Murder Case
1929 · Additional Writing
The Love Doctor
1929 · Dialogue
What a Night!
1928 · Dialogue
Three Week Ends
1928 · Dialogue
Avalanche
1928 · Screenplay, Dialogue
Take Me Home
1928 · Dialogue
Moran of the Marines
1928 · Writer
The Barker
1928 · Dialogue
The Water Hole
1928 · Dialogue
The Mating Call
1928 · Newspaperman, Dialogue
The Big Killing
1928 · Writer
His Tiger Lady
1928 · Dialogue
The Magnificent Flirt
1928 · Dialogue
The Drag Net
1928 · Dialogue
Abie's Irish Rose
1928 · Dialogue
A Night of Mystery
1928 · Dialogue
Something Always Happens
1928 · Dialogue
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
1928 · Dialogue
The Last Command
1928 · Writer
Love and Learn
1928 · Dialogue
Serenade
1927 · Dialogue
Two Flaming Youths
1927 · Dialogue
The Gay Defender
1927 · Dialogue
Honeymoon Hate
1927 · Dialogue
The Spotlight
1927 · Dialogue
The City Gone Wild
1927 · Dialogue
Figures Don't Lie
1927 · Writer
A Gentleman of Paris
1927 · Writer
Fashions for Women
1927 · Writer
Stranded in Paris
1926 · Adaptation
The Road to Mandalay
1926 · Story
