S1 E55: Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies

Dennis is joined in studio by Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies, who talks about his 15 years with the network, and how it took some viewers awhile to warm up to him. He also talks about some of the upcoming guest programmers and special Christmas programming. Ben also talks about his grandfather Herman Mankiewicz who wrote the script for Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane", and shares some of Peter Bogdanovich's recollections of Welles. Ben also discusses the rest of his famous family: his his father Frank Mankiewicz work as campaign director for George McGovern's 1972 presidential run, his uncle Tony Mankiewicz who wrote three James Bond films, the first two Richard Donner "Superman" films and created the television series "Hart to Hart" and Joe Mankiewicz getting paid a million dollars for "Cleopatra" but wanting his name taken off of it all the same. This leads to a Dennis and Ben discussing how they think that film is underrated. They also talk about the work of Howard Hawks, why Dean Martin was the greatest talk show guest, and some of the great output from the studio system. He also talks about growing up an A's fan in Washington DC and what it was like for him to see a game in Oakland for the first time.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices