Tom Mankiewicz was a deft and witty screenwriter whose scripts brought the cinematic heroes, James Bond and Superman, to life.
It could be said that Thomas Frank Mankiewicz was born to write screenplays. The year before his birth, his uncle Herman had co-written Citizen Kane with Orson Welles. And the year he was born his father, Joe, wrote the screenplay of Woman Of The Year for Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. His mother, the beautiful blonde Austrian actress Rosa Strader, had been a Max Reinhardt star in Vienna. She took her life when Mankiewicz was 16.
Studying drama at Yale, young Tom wanted to act but after watching one of his performances, his father told him, "Tom, marry them, divorce them, talk to them, write for them, direct them, go out with them, ignore them - but please don't be one."
His first job was as a production assistant on John Wayne's The Comancheros in 1961 and three years later on Gore Vidal's The Best Man. A surf movie called The Sweet Ride, his first screen credit, followed. It was not a success, nor was his script for a Broadway version of Georgy Girl, but David Picker from United Artists was impressed enough to recommend Tom to the producer, Albert "Cubby" Broccoli. Diamonds Are Forever, the seventh of the Bond film series, needed urgent surgery and Mankiewicz proved to be an adept and inspired surgeon.
Sean Connery was sufficiently impressed by the fee and the script to return to the role of 007. Connery called Mankiewicz "Boyo" and regarded him as his favourite 007 screenwriter. Mankiewicz wanted the trapeze act in a scene in Diamonds to be called "the Flying Broccolis", but Cubby refused to permit it.
Roger Moore, who succeeded Connery as Bond in Live And Let Die, also admired Mankiewicz's style, which particularly suited his lighter, flippant, less dangerous 007. His tendency for tongue-in-cheek was stronger on the next Bond production, The Man With The Golden Gun, loosely - very loosely - adapted from Ian Fleming's last novel.
His involvement with the franchise lasted almost a decade as he worked on rewrites of The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Mankiewicz said of Fleming's cinematic hero: "There's something idiosyncratic about Bond and that's the humour or an outrageous scene where people laugh. In The Spy Who Loved Me, Bond gets into this Lotus with Barbara Bach and they go into the ocean and they're under the ocean - the car's under the ocean. That's fine, that's Bond. But what makes that - what I'm proudest of - is the car turns, but he puts his blinker on under water. That's what Bond is to me - it's putting the blinker on and the audience roars. That's what made it different than others, y'know."
In 1976, three films for which he had written the script appeared - a disaster movie, The Cassandra Crossing; Bill Cosby's Mother, Jugs And Speed; and Michael Caine's The Eagle Has Landed. In 1977, he rescued a bloated, unwieldy script of Superman and had the superhero take Lois Lane up into the sky with him. He also rewrote Superman II and is credited with the screenplays for Ladyhawke and Dragnet.
In 1979, he turned to television, rewriting Sidney Sheldon's detective series, Double Twist, which became Hart To Hart and ran for 111 episodes until 1984. He was also a script consultant for Peter Falk's Colombo.
An animal lover, he owned thoroughbreds and a house in Kenya and chaired the fundraising arm of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo, who named a rare snow leopard cub, Tom, in his honour. Tom Mankiewicz was born on June 1, 1942, and died on July 31. He never married.
* The National
If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Why your domicile status is important
Your UK residence status is assessed using the statutory residence test. While your residence status – ie where you live - is assessed every year, your domicile status is assessed over your lifetime.
Your domicile of origin generally comes from your parents and if your parents were not married, then it is decided by your father. Your domicile is generally the country your father considered his permanent home when you were born.
UK residents who have their permanent home ("domicile") outside the UK may not have to pay UK tax on foreign income. For example, they do not pay tax on foreign income or gains if they are less than £2,000 in the tax year and do not transfer that gain to a UK bank account.
A UK-domiciled person, however, is liable for UK tax on their worldwide income and gains when they are resident in the UK.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
World Test Championship table
1 India 71 per cent
2 New Zealand 70 per cent
3 Australia 69.2 per cent
4 England 64.1 per cent
5 Pakistan 43.3 per cent
6 West Indies 33.3 per cent
7 South Africa 30 per cent
8 Sri Lanka 16.7 per cent
9 Bangladesh 0
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What is dialysis?
Dialysis is a way of cleaning your blood when your kidneys fail and can no longer do the job.
It gets rid of your body's wastes, extra salt and water, and helps to control your blood pressure. The main cause of kidney failure is diabetes and hypertension.
There are two kinds of dialysis — haemodialysis and peritoneal.
In haemodialysis, blood is pumped out of your body to an artificial kidney machine that filter your blood and returns it to your body by tubes.
In peritoneal dialysis, the inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. Wastes are taken out by means of a cleansing fluid which is washed in and out of your belly in cycles.
It isn’t an option for everyone but if eligible, can be done at home by the patient or caregiver. This, as opposed to home haemodialysis, is covered by insurance in the UAE.
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz S 450
Price, base / as tested Dh525,000 / Dh559,000
Engine: 3.0L V6 biturbo
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 369hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm at 1,800rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.0L / 100km
