Don Mankiewicz obit

Don Mankiewicz, Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter for ‘I Want to Live!,’ Dies at 93

He also wrote the the pilot episodes of the TV classics 'Marcus Welby, M.D.' and 'Ironside.' His son is 'House of Cards' exec producer John Mankiewicz. 

He was not on the list.

Don Mankiewicz, a member of a luminous Hollywood family who earned an Oscar nomination for I Want to Live! and penned the pilot episodes for two classic TV shows, has died. He was 93.

Mankiewicz died Saturday of congestive heart failure at his home in Monrovia, Calif., his son, House of Cards screenwriter and executive producer John Mankiewicz, told the Los Angeles Times.

Mankiewicz wrote the first episodes of Marcus Welby, M.D., the 1969-76 ABC medical drama that starred Robert Young and James Brolin, and Ironside, the 1967-75 NBC cop drama with Raymond Burr as a wheelchair-bound chief of detectives.

The Beverly Hills native was a son of Herman J. Mankiewicz, who with Orson Welles won the screenplay Oscar for 1941’s Citizen Kane, and a nephew of Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who won Oscars for writing and directing the 1950 best picture winner All About Eve.

His brother, Frank Mankiewicz, who served as as a top aide to presidential candidates Robert Kennedy and George McGovern, died in October. Frank’s son is Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz.

Don Mankiewicz co-wrote the fact-based I Want to Live! (1958), directed by Robert Wise, about a prostitute (played by best actress Oscar winner Susan Hayward) who was convicted of murder and put to death in the gas chamber.

He also wrote the original first-season Star Trek episode “Court Martial”; the 1964-65 NBC miniseries Profiles in Courage, an adaptation of President John F. Kennedy’s book; and installments of Playhouse 90, Mannix, McMillan & Wife, Simon & Simon and MacGyver.

Mankiewicz graduated from Columbia University, served in the U.S. Army and worked as a staff writer for the New Yorker. His novel, Trial, was made into a 1955 film of the same name that starred Glenn Ford.

The WGA West honored the writer in 2008 with its 2008 Morgan Cox Award for his exemplary service to the guild and his help in empowering fellow scribes.

In addition to his son, survivors also include his wife of more than 40 years, Carol, and his other children, Jan, Sandy and Jane.

Novels

See How They Run (1951)

Trial (1955)

It Only Hurts a Minute (1966)

 

Filmography

 

Films

Year     Film            Credit            Notes

1953    Fast Company            Adaption by   

1954    The Big Moment            Written by       

1955    Trial            Written by        Based on the novel of the same name

1957    House Of Numbers            Screenplay by Co-Wrote screenplay with Russell Rouse, Based on the novel House Of Numbers by Jack Finney

1958    Le imprese di una spada leggendaria            Screenplay by

I Want to Live!            Screenplay by Co-Wrote screenplay with Nelson Gidding

1962    The Chapman Report            Screenplay by Co-Wrote screenplay with Wyatt Emory Cooper, Gene Allen, and Grant Stuart, Based on the novel The Chapman Report by Irving Wallace

The Road to the Wall            Screenplay by

1965    Who Has Seen the Wind?            Screenplay by Based on the novel The Land Bird By Tad Mosel

1967    A Man Called Ironside            Screenplay by Co-Wrote screenplay with Collier Young, TV Pilot for "Ironside"

1968    Split Second to an Epitaph            Screenplay by Co-Wrote screenplay with Sy Salkowitz

1973    The Bait            Screenplay by Co-Wrote screenplay with Gordon Colter, Based on the novel "The Bait" by Dorothy Uhnak

1975    The Black Bird            Story by        Co-Wrote Story with Gordon Colter

1979            Sanctuary of Fear            Screenplay by, Supervising Producer         

1983    I Want to Live            Screenplay by            Remake of the 1958 Film of The Same Name

Television

Year     TV Series   Credit            Notes

1950-53            Studio One in Hollywood            Writer            2 Episodes

1951    Schlitz Playhouse            Writer            1 Episode

1953    Your Jeweler's Showcase            Writer            1 Episode

1955    TV Reader's Digest            Writer            1 Episode

Lux Video Theatre Writer            1 Episode

The Joseph Cotten Show            Writer            1 Episode

Star Stage            Writer            2 Episodes

1956    The Ford Television Theater Writer            1 Episode

1957            Playhouse 90    Writer            1 Episode

1958    Kraft Television Theatre Writer            2 Episodes

1959            Armchair Theatre            Writer            1 Episode

1959-61            One Step Beyond            Writer            6 Episodes

1961    Bus Stop     Writer            1 Episode

1961-63            Armstrong Circle Theatre Writer            4 Episodes

1962    The DuPont Show of the Week            Writer            1 Episode

General Electric Theater Writer            1 Episode

1964-65            Profiles in Courage            Writer            6 Episodes

1966    Hawk            Writer            2 Episodes

The Trials of O'Brien            Writer            1 Episode

1967    Star Trek: The Original Series            Writer            1 Episode

1967-68            Ironside          Writer            5 Episodes

1969    Mannix            Writer            1 Episode

1969-70            Marcus Welby, M.D.            Writer            2 Episodes

1971    Sarge            Writer            1 Episode

1973-77            McMillan & Wife            Writer            3 Episodes

1976-77            Lanigan's Rabbi            Writer, Supervising Producer            2 Episodes

1977    Rosetti and Ryan            Writer            2 Episodes

1982-83            Hart to Hart            Executive Script Consultant            14 Episodes

1983    Simon & Simon            Writer, Executive Story Consultant       

Murder Ink            Writer            Television Movie

1985    Crazy Like a Fox            Executive Story Consultant            4 Episodes

1986            MacGyver       Writer            1 Episode

1987            Adderly            Executive Story Consultant            1 Episode

1995    The Marshal            Writer            1 Episode