My Life as a Mankiewicz: An Insider's Journey Through Hollywood
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Tom Mankiewicz (1942--2010) was a screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures and television series, perhaps best known for his work on the James Bond films, Superman (1978), Superman II (1980), and the television series Hart to Hart (1979--1984).
Robert Crane is coauthor of Bruce Dern: Things I've Said, but Probably Shouldn't Have -- An Unrepentant Memoir, Jack Nicholson: The Early Years, and SCTV: Behind the Scenes as well as a contributor to Hal Ashby: Interviews. He lives in Los Angeles.
"One of the few books about the American movie industry that shows, not tells, what is meant by the idea that the business is one of relationships." -- Tom Stempel, author of Understanding Screenwriting: Learning from Good, Not-Quite-So-Good, and Bad Screenplays
"Highly entertaining.... I came away from this book with a real appreciation of, and fondness for, how it works-- from premise to pitch to scrambling for finance to dealing with ego dilemmas to final screenplay and practical on-the-set problems. [Mankiewicz's] tremendous respect for small and large collaborators, from grips to stars, is contagious." -- Clancy Sigal, author of five books including Going Away and A Woman of Uncertain Character
"Mankiewicz details his journey through the inner world of the television and film industries, beginning with his first job as a production assistant on The Comancheros (1961), starring John Wayne." -- Turner Classic Movies
"Highly entertaining....[Mankiewicz's] tremendous respect for small and large collaborators, from grips to stars, is contagious." -- Clancy Sigal, author of five books including Going Away and A Woman of Uncertain Character
""A primer on the industry from someone who experienced it up close and personal throughout his whole life."--Yahoo! Movies" --
""A whirlwind tour through Hollywood history withy Tom as the affable guide."-- Movie Maker" --
""There hasn't been a great book on Hollywood in quite some time, which is why My Life as a Mankiewicz is such a treat."-- Script" --
""A treasure trove of observations and anecdotes about Hollywood from the 1960s to the 1980s and the people who made the movies back then."--Associated Press" --
""Details the developments of Menkiewicz's own career as a writer and director. It also recounts the wild, drug-fueled atmosphere of Hollywood and his romantic liaisons with big stars of the '60s, '70s, and '80s."-- Our Ventura Boulevard" --
""One of the few books about the American movie industry that shows, not tells, what is meant by the idea that the business is one of relationships."-- Slant Magazine" --
""A spirited and creatively non-linear account of his colorful and diverse career, transcending traditional storytelling by showing what it meant to be a Mankiewicz--in and out of the director's chair.... A top-notch read about a true class act."-- DGA Quarterly" --
""There are stories about how he shepherded the Bond transition from Sean Connery to Roger Moore, and his rewrite of Superman, which created the template for every superhero movie up to today."-- Maclean's" --
""After obligingly recapping his fractious family history in the opening pages, Mank dives headlong into the book's true purpose: serving up delicious Hollywood dish. He grew up on the sets of his father's films, and there is no reason to doubt his recollection of events. This time the tawdry Tinseltown stories feel true."-- Globe and Mail" --
""A fitting tribute to... a member of of the glmourous world of Hollywood during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s."-- Tucson Citizen" --
""Prime firsthand anecdotes fill this consistently readable and entertaining book."-- Washington Post" --
""A trove of cinematic tales and celebrity gossip."-- Biographile" --
""A brutally honest autobiogaphy."--National Board of Review" --
"" My Life as Mankiewicz is a treasure trove of observations and anecdotes about Hollywood from the 1960s to the 1980s and the people who made movies back then." -- Winston-Salem Journal" --
""A consistently readable and entertaining book." -- Washington Post" --
""One of the best personal accounts of show business ever published." -- Weekly Standard" --
""Every aspiring film writer, producer, director and movie fanatic should lay hands on this book."--Liz Smith, Huffington Post" --
"Tom Mankiewicz's novel My Life as a Mankiewicz has me enthralled. The movies. The name dropping. The little incidences. -- Daily Awareness" -- Daily Awareness
"You can hear Tom tell these stories--of navigating sexy, alluring Hollywood while burdened with the expectations that came with being the son of Joseph Mankiewicz. --Ben Mankiewicz" -- Ben Mankiewicz, The Week
"My Life as a Mankiewicz is a treasure-trove of observations and anecdotes about Hollywood from the 1960s to the 1980s and the people who made movies back then." -- Independence Daily Reporter
"Chock full of fascinating stories from his more than four decades in the Hollywood trenches...for those who enjoy gossipy Hollywood tomes written by intelligent, wryly cynical insiders, Being Mankiewicz is an entertaining and engrossing read." -- Hey U Guys
"From first page to last, this book is priceless." -- Chicago Tribune
"Crane is an engrossing, rather cathartic book of a son coming to terms of his famous father's celebrity and his unsolved, tragic death that somehow resulted from that celebrity." -- Montreal Times
"[P]leasant surprises in [Crane's] frank but affectionate book." -- WTBF-AM/FM
"...jam-packed... with delicious, trenchant tales of the famous and fabled." -- Chicago Tribune
""This enormously entertaining memoir gives the reader the benefit of a superb raconteur's vast store of anecdote and incident." -- Washington Times" --
""Tom Mankiewicz was as close to royalty as one can get in Hollywood.... He was also a raconteur of the highest order and many of his favorite stories appear in My Life as a Mankiewicz." -- Los Angeles Times" --
