Mankiewicz, Herman J.

Mankiewicz, Herman J. (1897–1953) screenwriter, movie producer; born in New York (brother of Joseph Mankiewicz). He began as a newspaperman, first as a foreign correspondent in Berlin, then as a New York drama editor. He moved to Hollywood in 1926, writing many screenplays and adaptations and serving as an executive producer on various films. He became embroiled in a controversy over the Academy Award-winning script for Citizen Kane (1941), which Orson Welles originally claimed to have written, but for which knowledgeable people insist Mankiewicz deserves most credit.