In 2006 I met him at his house up in the hills and interviewed him. I remember being a little intimidated because I really admired his writing and I felt I wasn't anywhere near good enough to even be in his vicinity. He alleviated those concerns by being a complete gentlemen and I just listened to him recalling all his stories about writing Bond and Superman. In subsequent years I kept in touch via email but I never sent any of my scripts to him - just knowing him was enough.

Superman is one my favourite films and Tom Mankiewicz was a big part of its success -- he structured the novel-like script in very little time plus stayed on for at least a year helping Dick Donner with locations and further script revisions.

Unfortunately, when I met him in 2006 he didn't look well. He tried to hide it but the writing was on the wall. :(

Check out this interview:

http://www.scriptmag.com/2010/04/29/masters-of-screenwriting-interview-tom-mankiewicz-part-1-of-2/

Sad news indeed. SUPERMAN was the movie that made me want to be a filmmaker and many of the reasons that film succeded have to do with his contribution and the great working relationship he had with Richard Donner.

I was surprised to read he was only 68. In the interviews on the DVD for the Donner Cut of Superman II (released in 2006), he appeared to be in his mid-70s. Clearly his illness aged him. At least he got to see the Donner Cut (which contained much more of his material in it) restored before his death.

DSC, is there a place we can read your interview?

Bitter, I need to reformat the interview, and maybe ask Scott to host it for me. The scriptmag interview pretty much covers the nuts and bolts of his writing process, I just let him rattle off more general stories about his career.

Superman is the film that got me into movies. We must correspond later, Bitter :)

It’s a terrible tragedy that Tom Mankiewicz has passed away. You can help remember him by contributing to his memorial website at http://tommankiewicz.people2remember.com/

:(.

Was a great mentor. I literally would have given up screenwriting had it not been for Tom. :(

James, if you're of the mind to share, I'm sure everyone at GITS would love to hear the story of how Tom convinced you to keep writing