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Tom Mankiewicz

A prolific Hollywood screenwriter who was the son of director Joseph L. Mankiewicz and the nephew of writer Herman Mankiewicz, Tom Mankiewicz found initial success writing the popular television music special, "Movin' with Nancy" (NBC, 1967), before penning several James Bond movies, including "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971), "Live and Let Die" (1973) and "The Man with the Golden Gun" (1974). Perhaps his greatest success came with writing the final drafts of the original "Superman" (1978), which opened the door to a lucrative script doctoring career throughout the next decade. He wrote uncredited drafts of John Badham's popular techno-thriller "WarGames" (1983), Steven Spielberg's "Gremlins" (1984) and Richard Donner's "The Goonies" (1985). Turning back to television, Mankiewicz wrote and directed several episodes of the popular series "Hart to Hart" (ABC, 1979-1984), while receiving screenplay credit for Donner's medieval fantasy "Ladyhawke" (1985). He went on to direct two feature films, finding moderate success with the comedy adaptation of "Dragnet" (1987), while stumbling at the box office with the John Candy vehicle "Delirious" (1991). Though he kept a relatively low profile for the remainder of his career, there was no doubt that Mankiewicz made an indelible mark both on television and the silver screen.