A Video Tribute to Bond Screenwriter ‘Super’ Mankiewicz (1942-2010)

Exceptional screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz has died, aged 68. In his honour, we present the footage of 4 amazing movies improved by The Man With The Golden Pen.

Tom Mankiewicz, movie screenwriter and member of Hollywood’s legendary Mankiewicz family, has died at the age of 68. While the cause of death is not yet known, Mankiewicz had been engaged in a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Mankiewicz was best known for his screenwriting successes in association with the James Bond and Superman film franchises. He allowed some of the great roll-call of actors who took on the guise of James Bond to shine with snappy one-liners and ladykiller sweet talk when he wrote the screenplays for The Man with the Golden Gun, Diamonds are Forever and Live and Let Die.

This is without mentioning the unaccredited contributions he made to Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me.

He went on to rewrite the scripts for Superman: The Movie and its 1980 sequel Superman II. His efforts in this regard were vital according to director Richard Donner who was quoted in saying that:

“Making Superman was only possible because when Tom came in, he brought his sense of humour and brought those characters to life.”

Tom Mankiewicz was also creatively involved in a whole host of popular movies such as Gremlins, The Goonies, WarGames and the first draft of Tim Burton’s 1989 epic Batman.