Joseph L. Mankiewicz


Director, Screenwriter
Joseph L. Mankiewicz

About

Also Known As
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz, Joseph Mankiewicz
Birth Place
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA
Born
February 11, 1909
Died
February 05, 1993
Cause of Death
Heart Failure

Biography

Having followed brother Herman J. Mankiewicz's footsteps into motion pictures, Joseph L. Mankiewicz went from prominent writer to prolific producer to esteemed director over the course of his long career. Along the way, he won a total of four Academy Awards - two for writing and two for directing. Mankiewicz entered the business as a writer, working for Paramount Pictures and later MGM, ...

Photos & Videos

Suddenly, Last Summer - Movie Poster
Guys and Dolls - Movie Posters

Family & Companions

Elizabeth Young
Wife
Married in 1934; divorced in 1937; mother of Eric Mankiewicz.
Rosa Stradner
Wife
Married in 1939 until her death in 1958; mother of Christopher and Thomas.
Judy Garland
Companion
Actor, singer. Had on again, off again relationship in the 1940s.
Rosemary Mankiewicz
Wife
Married in 1962; mother of Alexandra.

Biography

Having followed brother Herman J. Mankiewicz's footsteps into motion pictures, Joseph L. Mankiewicz went from prominent writer to prolific producer to esteemed director over the course of his long career. Along the way, he won a total of four Academy Awards - two for writing and two for directing. Mankiewicz entered the business as a writer, working for Paramount Pictures and later MGM, where he segued into producing. He was finally given a shot at directing after 20 years in Hollywood, and almost immediately earned a reputation as a literate director with films like "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (1947) and "A Letter to Three Wives" (1948). He hit directorial peak with "All About Eve" (1950), a showbiz slice-of-life that earned a record 14 Academy Award nominations and won six. From there, he directed the excellent, but little-known spy movie "5 Fingers" (1952) and steered Marlon Brando toward a third Oscar nomination for his performance in "Julius Caesar" (1953). After helming "The Barefoot Contessa" (1954), he helmed the musical "Guys and Dolls" (1955) and personal favorite "The Quiet American" (1958). He later suffered a career setback due to "Cleopatra" (1963), a massively over-budget epic that nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox. Though he would only direct one more feature, Mankiewicz sealed his legend as an esteemed member of a prominent Hollywood clan.

Born on Feb. 11, 1909 in Wilkes-Barre, PA, Mankiewicz was raised by his father, Franz, a German immigrant who became a teacher, and his mother, Johanna, a dressmaker. At four years old, his family moved to New York City, where Mankiewicz attended PS 64 and Stuyvesant High School. After earning his bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1928, he worked as a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune in Berlin before moving to Hollywood, where brother Herman J. Mankiewicz had already become one of motion pictures' highest-paid screenwriters. In fact, his brother was head of the scenario department at Paramount Pictures and gave Mankiewicz a $60-a-week writing contract. He actually began his career with a bit part as a reporter in William Wellman's crime drama, "Woman Trap" (1929), before he wrote the intertitles on Victor Fleming's first sound film "The Virginian" (1929), starring Gary Cooper and Walter Huston. Mankiewicz soon wrote scripts for a pair of comedies, "Fast Company" (1930) and "Slightly Scarlet" (1930), before penning the all-star review "Paramount on Parade" (1930), which featured the likes of Jean Arthur, Clara Bow, Gary Cooper, Fredric March and William Powell.

Having found consistent work as a screenwriter, Mankiewicz co-wrote his first big success, "Skippy" (1931), which starred youngest-ever Oscar nominee Jackie Cooper as an enterprising lad who helps his poor best friend (Robert Coogan) raise money for a dog license, only to suffer a shocking tragedy at the hands of a mean dogcatcher. While Cooper made history with his performance, Mankiewicz faired pretty well himself with an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. After co-writing the lesser-known sequel, "Sooky" (1931), he penned the scripts for "Newly Rick" (1931), "This Reckless Age" (1932) and "Sky Bride" (1932), before working with his brother, who served as a producer on the W.C. Fields comedy "Million Dollar Legs" (1932). Following the Paramount anthology "If I Had a Million" (1932), he wrote the black-and-white Bing Crosby musical "Too Much Harmony" (1933), the adaptation of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" (1933) starring W.C. Fields, the crime-themed "Manhattan Melodrama" (1934) with William Powell, Clark Gable and Myrna Loy, and the romantic comedy-drama "Forsaking All Others" (1934), starring Gable, Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery.

By this point in his career, Mankiewicz had moved away from Paramount in favor of MGM, where he began producing motion pictures like Crawford's "The Gorgeous Hussy" (1936), Fritz Lang's classic courtroom drama "Fury" (1936) and the Crawford comedy "The Bride Wore Red" (1937). He went on to produce Frank Borzage's "Three Comrades" (1938), "The Shopworn Angel" (1938) with James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1939) starring Mickey Rooney, and George Cukor's all-time classic "The Philadelphia Story" (1940), with Cary Grant, James Stewart and Katharine Hepburn. Two years later, he produced another Hollywood classic, "Woman of the Year" (1942), a romantic comedy starring Hepburn as a hotshot newspaper reporter who falls in love with and marries a lowly sports writer (Spencer Tracy). It was the legendary screen team's first of many films together. At this point, however, Mankiewicz wanted to move into directing, but had to leave MGM and switch over to 20th Century Fox to do so. After writing and producing "The Keys of the Kingdom" (1944) for Fox, Mankiewicz made his directing debut with "Dragonwyck" (1946), a gothic period drama about the wealthy heir of a feudal dynasty (Vincent Price) who slips into insanity after poisoning his wife in order to marry a distant relative (Gene Tierney).

Now moved fully into directing, Mankiewicz entered the prime of his career, helming a number of classic movies while amassing several Academy Award nominations and a pair of Best Director statuettes by the time he was finished. He directed Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison in "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (1947), an adaptation of Josephine Leslie's romantic fantasy novel about a young widow (Tierney) who moves to a seaside cottage where she encounters the ghost of a roguish sea captain (Harrison) and falls in love with him. After directing Harrison in the World War II thriller "Escape" (1948), Mankiewicz began cementing his reputation as one of Hollywood's more literary directors with "A Letter to Three Wives" (1948), a witty comedy about three women (Linda Darnell, Jeanne Crain and Ann Sothern) who are about to embark on a boat trip, only to receive a letter from a mysterious lady informing them that she is about to run off with one of their husbands. The author declines to name which husband she will be joining, leaving all three to examine through flashbacks what exactly went wrong in their marriages. Nominated for three Oscars, including Best Picture, Mankiewicz won two for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.

Mankiewicz went on to direct the psychological drama "House of Strangers" (1949) starring Edward G. Robinson, and the race-themed drama "No Way Out" (1950), which featured Sidney Poitier in his feature debut. He next helmed his greatest accomplishment, "All About Eve" (1950), a witty showbiz dramedy about an aging Broadway star, Margo Channing (Bette Davis) who takes on a seemingly naïve fan, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) as her personal assistant, only to learn that the Eve is using her and everyone else to advance her own theatrical career. Once again, Mankiewicz directed from his own script which featured many unforgettable lines - none better or more famous than Davis warning partygoers to "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night." Nominated for an astounding 14 Academy Awards, "All About Eve" took home six Oscars, including Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture. Mankiewicz followed up with the politically themed comedy "People Will Talk" (1951) starring Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain, and the true-to-life spy drama, "5 Fingers" (1952), which earned him his third Oscar nomination for Best Director.

Working with famed producer and actor John Houseman, Mankiewicz directed his first Shakespeare film with "Julius Caesar" (1953), a surprisingly visual adaptation of the historical play that starred James Mason as the reluctant traitor Brutus, John Gielgud as Cassius, and Marlon Brando as the loyal Marc Antony. He next directed Humphrey Bogart in "The Barefoot Contessa" (1954), a biting if rather derivative showbiz drama that depicted Bogie as a down-and-out director who launches a comeback by turning a nightclub dancer (Ava Gardner) into a star. Supporting actor Edmund O'Brien, who played a sweaty publicist, won an Oscar for his performance, while Mankiewicz earned another nomination for Best Screenplay. He went on to direct the musical "Guys and Dolls" (1955), starring Brando, Frank Sinatra and Jean Simmons, and changed the core conceit of Graham Greene's "The Quiet American" (1958), which was originally a polemic against American involvement in Southeast Asia, giving the film a pro-interventionist stance instead.

Up to this point, Mankiewicz had enjoyed a great deal of critical and commercial success, but the first signs of trouble came with "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959), an adaptation of Tennessee Williams' one-act play about a wealthy Southern woman (Katharine Hepburn) who tries to convince a noted surgeon (Montgomery Clift) to lobotomize her debutante niece (Elizabeth Taylor), who has suffered from serious mental issues ever since the tragic death of her cousin. Williams reportedly despised the script, while Mankiewicz blamed the playwright for mediocre source material. Meanwhile, Clift was suffering from the ill effects of a 1956 car crash that had disfigured his once handsome face, and was increasingly dependent on drugs and alcohol, making him unable to do long takes or even work a full day. Mankiewicz's treatment of Clift was so poor that Hepburn reportedly spat in his face after her last day on set. Despite the innumerable problems behind the scenes, "Suddenly, Las Summer" was a box-office hit, earning Academy Award nominations for both Hepburn and Taylor.

In 1960, Mankiewicz made the career-destroying mistake of taking over production of "Cleopatra" (1963) from initial director, Rouben Mamoulian, who resigned in the early stages of filming. Mankiewicz had jumped onboard a movie that was already several million dollars over budget with no useable footage, since several key actors left for other work. Making matters worse, titular star Elizabeth Taylor fell seriously ill and required an emergency tracheotomy, which shut down the movie. Later production had to be moved from London to Rome in order to facilitate her recovery. Meanwhile, her and co-star Richard Burton engaged in a scandalous affair - both were married at the time - which caused negative headlines worldwide and damaged goodwill further. Mankiewicz was subsequently fired after production, but rehired since nobody could cobble together the footage for a usable cut. He eventually turned in a film clocking six hours, which the studios whittled down to just three over Mankiewicz's vehement objections. When all was said and done, "Cleopatra" - a rather impressive film centered around the love affair between the Egyptian queen and Marc Antony (Burton) - was major box-office flop that almost bankrupted 20th Century Fox. Ironically, the film was the highest-grossing movie of 1963, the only such film to be the biggest money maker of the year to still lose money.

The fallout from "Cleopatra" on Mankiewicz's career was lasting. In fact, he would make only one more studio film, "There Was a Crooked Man." (1970). Meanwhile, he turned to television to direct "Carol for Another Christmas" (ABC, 1964), a modernization of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol starring Peter Sellers, Sterling Hayden and Eva Marie Saint. After the low-budget crime comedy "The Honey Pot" (1967) with Rex Harrison, Cliff Robertson and Maggie Smith, Mankiewicz directed "There Was a Crooked Man." before completing his final film. "Sleuth" (1972), a sophisticated double-cross murder yarn starring Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier that earned Mankiewicz his final Academy Award nomination for Best Director. While not comparable to the director's best work of the 1940s and 1950s, the independently produced film was a spectacular showcase for the two actors, who were the only characters in the film. Following "Sleuth," Mankiewicz retired and left the family business to his sons, writer-director Tom Mankiewicz - who would achieve fame as the uncredited but later acknowledged screenwriter of "Superman: The Movie" (1978) - and producer Christopher Mankiewicz. He eventually passed away on Feb. 5, 1993 in Bedford, NY. He was 83 years old.

By Shawn Dwyer

Filmography

 

Director (Feature Film)

Sleuth (1972)
Director
King: A Filmed Record ... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
Connecting seq Director
There Was a Crooked Man ... (1970)
Director
The Honey Pot (1967)
Director
A Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
Director
Cleopatra (1963)
Director
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
Director
The Quiet American (1958)
Director
Guys and Dolls (1955)
Director
The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
Director
Julius Caesar (1953)
Director
5 Fingers (1952)
Director
People Will Talk (1951)
Director
No Way Out (1950)
Director
All About Eve (1950)
Director
House of Strangers (1949)
Director
A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Director
Escape (1948)
Director
The Late George Apley (1947)
Director
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
Director
Dragonwyck (1946)
Director
Somewhere in the Night (1946)
Director

Cast (Feature Film)

MGM: When the Lion Roars (1992)
Hello Actors Studio (1987)
Himself
The Spencer Tracy Legacy (1986)
50 Years of Action! (1986)
Himself
Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano (1984)
Woman Trap (1929)
Reporter

Writer (Feature Film)

A Letter to Three Wives (1985)
From Story
A Letter to Three Wives (1985)
Story By
The Honey Pot (1967)
Screenwriter
Cleopatra (1963)
Screenwriter
The Quiet American (1958)
Written for Screen by
Guys and Dolls (1955)
Written for Screen by
The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
Writer
People Will Talk (1951)
Written for Screen by
No Way Out (1950)
Writer
All About Eve (1950)
Wrt for the Screenplay by
A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Screenwriter
House of Strangers (1949)
Wrt of retakes
Escape (1948)
Contract Writer
Dragonwyck (1946)
Wrt for the Screenplay
Somewhere in the Night (1946)
Screenwriter
The Keys of the Kingdom (1945)
Screenwriter
I Live My Life (1935)
Screenwriter
After Office Hours (1935)
Contr to dial
Redheads on Parade (1935)
Contr to trmt
Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
Screenwriter
Forsaking All Others (1934)
Screenwriter
Our Daily Bread (1934)
Dial
Too Much Harmony (1933)
Original Story
Alice in Wonderland (1933)
Screenwriter
Diplomaniacs (1933)
Screenwriter
Emergency Call (1933)
Screenwriter
Diplomaniacs (1933)
Original Story
Sky Bride (1932)
Screenwriter
This Reckless Age (1932)
Screenwriter
Million Dollar Legs (1932)
Original Story
If I Had a Million (1932)
[Adapted "The Three Marines" and "China Shop"; Story "Violet"]
Finn and Hattie (1931)
Screenwriter
Sooky (1931)
Screenwriter
Forbidden Adventure (1931)
Screenwriter
The Gang Buster (1931)
Dial
June Moon (1931)
Screenwriter
Skippy (1931)
Screenwriter
Only Saps Work (1930)
Screenwriter
The Social Lion (1930)
Adaptation
Slightly Scarlet (1930)
Screenwriter
Amor audaz (1930)
Screenwriter
The Social Lion (1930)
Dial
The Saturday Night Kid (1929)
Titles
Fast Company (1929)
Dial
River of Romance (1929)
Titles
Thunderbolt (1929)
Titles

Producer (Feature Film)

There Was a Crooked Man ... (1970)
Producer
The Honey Pot (1967)
Producer
A Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
Producer
The Quiet American (1958)
Producer
The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
Producer
The Keys of the Kingdom (1945)
Producer
Woman of the Year (1942)
Producer
Reunion in France (1942)
Producer
The Feminine Touch (1941)
Producer
Strange Cargo (1940)
Producer
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Producer
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939)
Producer
The Shining Hour (1938)
Producer
A Christmas Carol (1938)
Producer
Three Comrades (1938)
Producer
The Shopworn Angel (1938)
Producer
Mannequin (1937)
Producer
The Bride Wore Red (1937)
Producer
Double Wedding (1937)
Producer
The Gorgeous Hussy (1936)
Producer
Fury (1936)
Producer
Love on the Run (1936)
Producer
Three Godfathers (1936)
Producer

Music (Feature Film)

A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Composer

Misc. Crew (Feature Film)

Hello Actors Studio (1987)
Other
50 Years of Action! (1986)
Other
A Letter to Three Wives (1985)
Other

Cast (Special)

Ava Gardner (1992)
Night of 100 Stars III (1990)
Richard Burton: In From the Cold (1989)
W.C. Fields Straight Up (1986)
George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey (1984)
Himself

Misc. Crew (Special)

George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey (1984)
Other

Life Events

1928

Moved to Hollywood

1929

Played a bit part as a reporter in the feature film, "Woman Trap"

1933

Was a co-founder of the Screen Writer's Guild

1946

Directed first film, "Dragonwyck"

1961

Career harmed by the costly, scandal-ridden and prolonged filming of "Cleopatra"

1963

Was one of five filmmakers (along with Carl Foreman, Jean-Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa and Elia Kazan) interviewed in the documentary short, "The Directors"

Photo Collections

Suddenly, Last Summer - Movie Poster
Here is the American One-Sheet Movie Poster from Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). One-sheets measured 27x41 inches, and were the poster style most commonly used in theaters.
Guys and Dolls - Movie Posters
Here are a few original release American movie posters for MGM's Guys and Dolls (1955), starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, and Frank Sinatra.

Videos

Movie Clip

Guys And Dolls (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Have We Got A Bet? Sinatra and Brando (as Damon Runyon's rival hustlers Nathan Detroit and Sky Masterson) did not click, and Marlon is said to have caused Frank to eat tons of cheesecake in this, their first scene together, in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Guys And Dolls, 1955.
Guys And Dolls (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Adelaide Frank Sinatra (as Nathan Detroit) with his one ballad, Frank Loesser's "Adelaide," sung to his fianceè (Vivian Blaine), which he chose to sing not-fully in character, in the Samuel Goldwyn production of Guys And Dolls, 1955, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Julius Caesar (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Open, Senseless Things Stately opening and comments from tribunes Flavius (Michael Pate) and Marullus (George MacReady), from Joseph L. Mankiewiecz's 1953 MGM production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, starring Marlon Brando, John GIelgud, Louis Calhern and James Mason.
Julius Caesar (1953) -- (Movie Clip) I Never Stood On Ceremony Calpurnia (Greer Garson) speaks at least one everlasting Shakespeare phrase, pleading with husband Caesar (Louis Calhern) to not go to the senate today, Decius (the "other" Brutus, John Hoyt) intruding, in the Joseph L. Mankiewicz and MGM 1953 version of Julius Caesar.
Julius Caesar (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Just the first portion of the famous speech, Marlon Brando as "Mark Antony," come not to praise but to bury, in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, 1953.
Julius Caesar (1953) -- (Movie Clip) Not In Our Stars... On a balcony with a statue of Caesar, Cassius (John Gielgud) tempts Brutus (James Mason) with murderous ideas, in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1953 production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
Million Dollar Legs (1932) -- (Movie Clip) Klopstokia, Goats And Nuts Opening with pace and absurdity, Edward Cline directing for producer Herman J. Mankiewicz from a story by his brother Joseph L. ., we meet George Barbier as Baldwin, top-billed Jack Oakie as his salesman Tweeny and Susan Fleming with Dickie Moore as her little brother, in Million Dollar Legs, co-starring W.C. Fields.
Million Dollar Legs (1932) -- (Movie Clip) Put Yourself Under Arrest! Introducing second-billed W.C. Fields, president of Klopstokia, dueling with a Dictaphone when he’s intercepted by smitten salesman Tweeny (Jack Oakie), and we soon discover his crush (Susan Fleming) is the president’s daughter, in Million Dollar Legs, 1932, from a story by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Million Dollar Legs (1932) -- (Movie Clip) The Usual Oath Of Allegiance Hugh Herbert the ringleading secretary of treasury, Billy Gilbert sneezing, Vernon Dent, Teddy Hart, Irving Bacon also in the cabinet, as W.C. Fields, of course the President, asserts his dominance, in the nutso Paramount comedy in Million Dollar Legs, 1932, from producer Herman J. Mankiewicz, from a story by his brother Joseph L.
Manhattan Melodrama (1934) -- (Movie Clip) Skip it, Kid Old pal and gangster Blackie (Clark Gable) visits the new D-A Jim (William Powell), with lots of catching-up to do, in W.S. Van Dyke's Manhattan Melodrama, 1934, from a script by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Oliver H.P. Garrett.
Letter To Three Wives, A -- (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Pomp And Hysteria Now well inside complex flashbacks, radio soap opera writer Rita (Ann Sothern), with husband George (Kirk Douglas), who's not excited about the dinner she's planned, gets a gift from local vixen Addie (voice by Celeste Holm), in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's A Letter To Three Wives, 1948.
House Of Strangers (1949) -- (Movie Clip) The Bank Will Open When I Get There Artful introduction of top-billed Edward G. Robinson as Gino Monetti (we’ve seen his portrait earlier, at the family-owned Manhattan bank), with Richard Conte as just-paroled son Max, visiting the vacant family home, and playing some Verdi, Joseph L. Mankiewicz directing, Luther Adler the elder son, in House Of Strangers, 1949.

Trailer

Letter to Three Wives, A - (Original Trailer) In A Letter to Three Wives (1949), a woman claims to have run off with one of their husbands. But which?
Cleopatra (1963) -- (Original Trailer) Hefty trailer for the original release of the 20th Century-Fox epic, by then already famous for its gigantic cost and the affair between the stars, for Cleopatra, 1963, with Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Rex Harrison.
There Was A Crooked Man (1970) -- Original Trailer The bulky trailer for the ambitious Kirk Douglas comic Western by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, co-written by the Bonnie And Clyde team, David Newman and Robert Benton, with Henry Fonda, Hume Cronyn and Burgess Meredith, There Was A Crooked Man, 1970.
Guys And Dolls - (Original Trailer) Ed Sullivan hosts the trailer for the movie version of the Broadway musical Guys And Dolls (1955) starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.
Julius Caesar - (Re-issue Trailer) Marlon Brando heads an all-star cast in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's film of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (1953).
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The (1939) - (Original Trailer) Mickey Rooney is Mark Twain's classic troublemaker who helps a runaway slave (Rex Ingram) escape to the North.
Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The - (Original Trailer) A spirited widow (Gene Tierney) rents a haunted cottage and builds an emotional bond with the resident ghost (Rex Harrison) in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Shopworn Angel, The - (Original Trailer) A showgirl (Margaret Sullavan) gives up life in the fast line for a young soldier (James Stewart) on his way to fight World War I in The Shopworn Angel (1938).
Alice in Wonderland (1933) - (Original Trailer) A trip through the looking glass and down a rabbit hole sends an English girl into a world of fantastic characters and strange potions in Alice in Wonderland (1933).
Barefoot Contessa, The - (Original Trailer) A Spanish dancer becomes an international star but still longs to get her feet in the dirt in The Barefoot Contessa (1954) starring Ava Gardner.
Dragonwyck - (Original Trailer) A farm girl (Gene Tierney) signs on as governess in a gloomy mansion in Dragonwyck (1946).
Feminine Touch, The -- (Original Trailer) Humorous poet Ogden Nash co-wrote The Feminine Touch (1941) with Don Ameche as an expert on jealousy who has his theories tested when his publisher goes after his wife.

Family

Herman J Mankiewicz
Brother
Screenwriter. Born in 1897; died in 1953.
Eric Mankiewicz
Son
Mother, Elizabeth Young.
Christopher Mankiewicz
Son
Mother, Rosa Stradner.
Tom Mankiewicz
Son
Screenwriter, director, producer. Born on June 1, 1942; mother, Rosa Stradner.
Alexandra Mankiewicz
Daughter
Mother, Rosemary Matthews.

Companions

Elizabeth Young
Wife
Married in 1934; divorced in 1937; mother of Eric Mankiewicz.
Rosa Stradner
Wife
Married in 1939 until her death in 1958; mother of Christopher and Thomas.
Judy Garland
Companion
Actor, singer. Had on again, off again relationship in the 1940s.
Rosemary Mankiewicz
Wife
Married in 1962; mother of Alexandra.

Bibliography