Screenwriter, Producer. Themes of social injustice and the abuse of power were prevalent in his work, which was mostly based on actual events. Mann won an Academy Award for "Judgement at Nuremburg" (1961) and received an Oscar nomination for "Ship of Fools" (1965). His Emmy-winning script for "The Marcus-Nelson Murders" (1973) spawned the TV series "Kojack" (1973 to 1978), starring Telly Savalas. The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Mann was born Abraham Goodman in Philadelphia and raised in East Pittsburgh. Poor eyesight kept him from World War II service and he studied literature at Temple University and New York University before venturing into television in the early 1950s. He went on to write for such series as "Cameo Theatre", "Lux Video Theatre", "Robert Montgomery Presents", and "Studio One". "Judgement at Nuremburg", based on transcripts of the Nazi war crimes trials, was originally produced as a 1959 episode of "Playhouse 90" and greatly expanded for director Stanley Kramer's all-star feature version. Another of Mann's TV scripts, "A Child Is Waiting", was made into a 1963 film starring Judy Garland. From the 1970s he was also active as a TV producer and he took a stab at directing with the miniseries "King" (1978), based on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Although he was billed as the creator of "Kojack" throughout the show's history, Mann was not involved in its production and loathed what the network did with his original concept. He continued to explore controversial stories and won Emmys for "Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story" (1989) and "Indictment: The McMartin Trial" (1995). His other credits include the theatrical features "The Condemned of Altona" (1962), "The Detective" (1968), "Report to the Commissioner" (1975), and "War and Love" (1985), and the telefilms "The Atlanta Child Murders" (1985), "Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story" (1992), "Sinatra" (1992), and "Whitewash: The Clarence Bradley Story" (2002). Mann adapted "Judgement at Nuremburg" for the Broadway stage in 2001.
Screenwriter, Producer. Themes of social injustice and the abuse of power were prevalent in his work, which was mostly based on actual events. Mann won an Academy Award for "Judgement at Nuremburg" (1961) and received an Oscar nomination for "Ship of Fools" (1965). His Emmy-winning script for "The Marcus-Nelson Murders" (1973) spawned the TV series "Kojack" (1973 to 1978), starring Telly Savalas. The son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Mann was born Abraham Goodman in Philadelphia and raised in East Pittsburgh. Poor eyesight kept him from World War II service and he studied literature at Temple University and New York University before venturing into television in the early 1950s. He went on to write for such series as "Cameo Theatre", "Lux Video Theatre", "Robert Montgomery Presents", and "Studio One". "Judgement at Nuremburg", based on transcripts of the Nazi war crimes trials, was originally produced as a 1959 episode of "Playhouse 90" and greatly expanded for director Stanley Kramer's all-star feature version. Another of Mann's TV scripts, "A Child Is Waiting", was made into a 1963 film starring Judy Garland. From the 1970s he was also active as a TV producer and he took a stab at directing with the miniseries "King" (1978), based on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Although he was billed as the creator of "Kojack" throughout the show's history, Mann was not involved in its production and loathed what the network did with his original concept. He continued to explore controversial stories and won Emmys for "Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story" (1989) and "Indictment: The McMartin Trial" (1995). His other credits include the theatrical features "The Condemned of Altona" (1962), "The Detective" (1968), "Report to the Commissioner" (1975), and "War and Love" (1985), and the telefilms "The Atlanta Child Murders" (1985), "Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story" (1992), "Sinatra" (1992), and "Whitewash: The Clarence Bradley Story" (2002). Mann adapted "Judgement at Nuremburg" for the Broadway stage in 2001.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
Advertisement
