Media Legacy Award Event: Ben Mankiewicz & Screening of People Will Talk

Running time: 140 mins

Though the name Mankiewicz is deeply ingrained in movie biz celluloid, current Turner Classic Movies (TCM) host Ben Mankiewicz grew up about as far from Hollywood as one can get. Born in Washington, D.C., Benjamin Fredrick Mankiewicz was raised in that other world of the surreal – politics, in which Ben’s father Frank, was deeply involved. Frank spent his early years in Beverly Hills, in a neighborhood populated by film industry heavyweights, such as the Marx Brothers, his father Herman (Oscar-winning Citizen Kane screenwriter), and uncle, the director Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve, Guys and Dolls). After fighting in WWII and obtaining degrees from UCLA, Columbia, and UC-Berkeley, Frank Mankiewicz left California for public service. He served as Robert Kennedy’s press secretary, as well as campaign manager for George McGovern, and head of National Public Radio. In Ben’s formative years, his father repeatedly emphasized that contributing to the greater good was far more valuable than creating make-believe worlds in the movies. As an undergrad at Tufts University, Ben majored in history, steering clear of the cinema, at least for a while. After taking a film class at Tufts, Mankiewicz developed a different, more enlightened perspective on the movies, using his concentration in history as a connecting thread. Regardless, Mankiewicz began to see film in a brand new light. In a 2015 Los Angeles Times interview with Susan King, he talked about the change: “That was a beginning of an appreciation that there was a historical context to put these movies in, to think about them not just as old pieces of art, but old pieces that were representative of a special time. That made it click with me.” Then TCM hired Mankiewicz who immediately engaged millions of viewers with his reverence of great movies and the artists who make them. Besides his TCM duties, Mankiewicz also produces and holds court on the YouTube show What The Flick? conducting in-depth interviews and offering movie industry insiders’ peeks into past and present films and TV series. But, it’s his TCM gig that he loves most, which is evident in his ardent respect for the network’s place in the densely crowded TV landscape. In an interview with the San Luis Obispo Tribune last year Mankiewicz articulated TCM’s value, to him, and to TCM’s fiercely loyal, expansive audience: “TCM is my bread and butter and that’s the job I care about most and the one I want to be associated with most. This is a TV channel that matters to people. It matters emotionally. It matters viscerally.”…“We want to continue to be the signature destination of people who want to foster and advance that connection between movies and the audiences.” As movies have become our surrogate, modern era mythology, that couldn’t be truer of these classics. And as the catalog of films continues to grow, there’s no better champion for these timeless tales, told in the dark, around the fire, than Ben Mankiewicz. - P.D. Crane The event will include a conversation with Mr. Mankiewicz, award presentation, and screening of the extraordinary movie People Will Talk. Starring screen legend Cary Grant, and directed by a gilded genius of the golden era of movies, Joseph Mankiewicz, People Will Talk is a provocative and brilliant comedy. Although contemporary in its subject and sensibilities, you cannot make a film like this in today’s studio system. Enjoy this rare opportunity to see this ‘sleeper’ masterpiece on the big screen as presented by the magnificent Ben Mankiewicz.