Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Mankiewicz in a 1950 publicity photograph
Born	Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (1909-02-11)February 11, 1909 Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	February 5, 1993(1993-02-05) (aged 83) Bedford, New York, U.S.
Other names	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Alma mater	Columbia University (BA)
Occupations	Screenwriter director producer
Years active	1929–1972
Spouses	Elizabeth Young ​ ​ (m. 1934; div. 1937)​ Rose Stradner ​ ​ (m. 1939; died 1958)​ Rosemary Matthews ​ (m. 1962)​
Children	4, including Tom Mankiewicz
Relatives	Herman J. Mankiewicz (brother) See Mankiewicz family

Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (/ˈmæŋkəwɪts/; February 11, 1909 – February 5, 1993) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in consecutive years for A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950), the latter of which was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six.^[1]

Comfortable in a variety of genres and able to elicit career performances from actors and actresses alike, Mankiewicz combined ironic, sophisticated scripts with a precise, sometimes stylized mise en scène.

Mankiewicz worked for seventeen years as a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures and as a writer and producer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer before getting a chance to direct at 20th Century Fox. Over six years, he made 11 films for Fox.

During his over 40-year career in Hollywood, Mankiewicz wrote approximately 48 screenplays. He also produced more than 20 films, including The Philadelphia Story (1940) which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Woman of the Year (1942), for which he introduced Katharine Hepburn to Spencer Tracy.^[1]