Herman Mankiewicz

Herman Mankiewicz
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Name	Herman Mankiewicz
Birth date	1897-11-07
Birth place	New York City
Death date	1953-03-05
Death place	Los Angeles
Occupation	Screenwriter, journalist
Notable works	Citizen Kane
Awards	Academy Award (contested)

Herman Mankiewicz Herman Mankiewicz was an American screenwriter and journalist who became a central figure in early Hollywood during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was instrumental in the development of the screenplay for Citizen Kane, collaborated with figures across New York City and Los Angeles, and moved between literary circles, newspapers, and film studios such as Paramount Pictures and RKO Pictures. His career intersected with prominent cultural actors, including Orson Welles, William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Goebbels-era controversies, and influential peers from the Algonquin Round Table to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Early life and education

Born in New York City to a family of Jewish immigrants, he attended Columbia University's Columbia College and was active in campus publications alongside contemporaries who later joined the literary and journalistic elite of New York. During his formative years he associated with figures tied to Harvard University and the broader Ivy League social world, and he later traveled to France and Germany where cultural movements influenced his satirical sensibility. His student years connected him to networks reaching The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and the newsrooms of The New York Times.

Career beginnings and journalism

Mankiewicz began as a reporter and drama critic at Theatres and newspapers in New York City, writing for outlets linked to The New York Times, New York Evening Mail, and syndicates that supplied material to papers like Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. He gained renown in literary salons alongside members of the Algonquin Round Table, interacting with personalities from Alexander Woollcott to Robert Benchley and editors from Vogue and Harper's Magazine. His journalism brought him into contact with publishers such as Random House and magazine editors at Life and Time, and set the stage for his recruitment by Hollywood studios seeking sophisticated writers.

Hollywood screenwriting and major works

Transitioning to screenwriting, he worked for studios including Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and RKO Pictures, alongside collaborators from United Artists and executives from David O. Selznick's circle. He contributed to screenplays and treatments for films connected to producers like Samuel Goldwyn, directors such as Frank Capra and Howard Hawks, and stars including Clark Gable, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Katharine Hepburn. His talent for satire and rapid prose made him sought after by producers at Columbia Pictures and writers' rooms linked to Screen Writers Guild efforts. He also wrote for stage productions and adapted material associated with playwrights like Noël Coward and George Bernard Shaw.

Academy Award and controversy over Citizen Kane

Mankiewicz received an Academy Award for his work on Citizen Kane, a film produced by RKO Pictures and directed by Orson Welles, which evoked the press empire of William Randolph Hearst and provoked responses from Hearst's circle and allies in San Simeon and Hearst Castle. The authorship of the screenplay sparked disputes involving Orson Welles, representatives of RKO Pictures, and critics from publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Variety. The controversy drew in commentators from Time and legal advisers connected to William Randolph Hearst’s media holdings, and later historians at institutions like American Film Institute debated credit and contribution. The dispute engaged members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and generated public controversy across Los Angeles and New York City cultural pages.

Later career and collaborations

After Citizen Kane, he continued to work with directors, producers, and writers across Paramount Pictures, MGM, and independent producers linked to Samuel Goldwyn. He collaborated with screenwriters and comedians from MGM Comedy rosters and contributed to projects involving stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Cary Grant, James Cagney, and directors including Billy Wilder and John Ford. His later assignments intersected with studio executives from Harry Cohn at Columbia Pictures and producers at United Artists, while he maintained ties to literary figures associated with The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, and the New York Herald Tribune. He also engaged with contemporaries in the Writers Guild of America and critics writing for The Atlantic.

Personal life and politics

Mankiewicz's personal life connected him to families prominent in entertainment and publishing, including siblings and relatives involved with Paramount Pictures executives and legal advisers within New York's publishing houses. Politically, he navigated the fraught cultural landscape of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, contending with pressures from advocates of isolationism, opponents of fascism in the film community, and debates mirrored in outlets such as The Nation and Commonweal. His friendships included writers and journalists from The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and critics at The New York Times Book Review. He maintained a social presence among figures from Broadway and the Hollywood intelligentsia, including contacts with producers linked to Producer's Guild of America-era networks.

Death and legacy

He died in Los Angeles in 1953, and posthumous assessments appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and film histories from the American Film Institute. His legacy influenced studies of screenwriting, biographies by scholars at Columbia University and UCLA, and entries in film reference works like Variety archives and British Film Institute catalogues. Later reassessments involved historians from Oxford University Press, critics at The New Yorker, and documentary filmmakers associated with PBS and BBC projects examining Hollywood's Golden Age and the origins of modern screen credit practices.

Cultural portrayals and assessments

Mankiewicz has been portrayed in films, biographies, and plays that examine Citizen Kane's making, with dramatizations by writers and directors linked to Orson Welles's circle, Peter Bogdanovich, and modern filmmakers featured at festivals like Cannes Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival. Critics and biographers from The New Yorker, The New York Times, and academic presses at Harvard University Press and Princeton University Press have debated his role, while dramatists from Broadway and producers in Los Angeles have staged his life in works shown at venues such as Lincoln Center and La Jolla Playhouse. His influence is discussed in curricula at film schools including University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and in retrospectives at institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and the American Film Institute Festival.

Category:American screenwriters Category:20th-century American writers