Trivia

Uncle of Frank Mankiewicz, noted writer and Democratic political strategist who once worked as Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's press secretary. Frank Mankiewicz serves as Vice Chairman of Hill & Knowlton Public Relations in Washington, DC.

Directed 12 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: George Sanders, Anne Baxter, Bette Davis, Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter, Marlon Brando, Edmond O'Brien, Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison, Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier. Sanders and O'Brien won Oscars for their performances in one of Mankiewicz's movies.

Brother of writer Herman J. Mankiewicz and Erna Mankiewicz.

Suffered from a painful dermatological condition which caused his fingertips to split open. This ailment was often brought on by the stress of filmmaking, and he can be seen in many photographs wearing white film editor's gloves while directing.

Granduncle of Timothy, Jesse, Antonia and Nick Davis (Johanna's children), John Mankiewicz (Don's son), Ben Mankiewicz and Josh Mankiewicz (Frank's sons).

He is still one of only three film directors to win the Academy Award for Best Director two years in a row, winning for A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950). The other directors are John Ford, who won for The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and How Green Was My Valley (1941), and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, who won for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) and The Revenant (2015).

Ernst Lubitsch was his cinematic idol.

As an MGM producer in 1938, rewrote F. Scott Fitzgerald's screenplay of the Erich Maria Remarque novel "Three Comrades." Fitzgerald from then on would refer to him as "Monkeybitch." Fitzgerald nevertheless received his only screen credit for the adaptation.

To date the only filmmaker to have won Oscars for writing and directing two years in a row. (2011).

Wrote the screenplay for six Oscar Best Picture nominees: Skippy (1931), Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935) (uncredited), A Letter to Three Wives (1949), All About Eve (1950), Julius Caesar (1953) and Cleopatra (1963). He also directed the last four of these. He won Best Screenplay and Best Director in consecutive years for A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950). All About Eve also won for Best Picture.

Upon his death, his remains were interred at Saint Matthew's Episcopal Churchyard in Bedford, Westchester County, New York.

Father of Eric Reynal with his first wife, producer Christopher Mankiewicz and writer-director Tom Mankiewicz with his second, and Alexandra Mankiewicz with his third.

Though often thought of as a "theatrical" director, Mankiewicz only directed one live stage production in his life, Puccini's opera "La bohème" for the Metropolitan Opera which opened in 1952. It remained in the Met's repertoire through 1976 and was performed over 300 times in the "old Met" at 39th Street and Broadway (torn down in 1966) and the "new house" at Lincoln Center. All of the "Three Tenors" - Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and José Carreras - appeared as Rodolfo in the production.

Uncle of Don Mankiewicz and the late novelist Johanna Mankiewicz Davis.

He has produced three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Fury (1936), The Philadelphia Story (1940) and Woman of the Year (1942). He has also directed two films that are in the registry: All About Eve (1950) and King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1969).

Was awarded the Italian Order of Merit in 1965, in gratitude for his having made four movies in Italy. He was the first American to receive the honor.

(1950-1951) President of the Screen Directors Guild.

He directed two films which featured Julius Caesar and Mark Antony as major characters: Julius Caesar (1953) and Cleopatra (1963).

Distantly related to Zev Chafets. Chafets' cousin, Joseph Stenbuck, was married to his sister, Erna Mankiewicz.

Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1983

He is portrayed by Tom Pelphrey in Mank (2020).

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 714-722. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987. Biography in: Cheryl Bray Lower & R. Barton Palmer, "Joseph L. Mankiewicz: Critical Studies and Guide to Resources with Annotated Bibliography and Filmography." Pages 5-23. Jefferson NY: McFarland & Co., 2001.