Oscar-winning screenwriter Abby Mann dies aged 80
Friday, 28 Mar 2008 15:30
Telly Savalas in the Marcus-Nelson Murders, written by Abby Mann
The Oscar-winning screenwriter Abby Mann, who was behind numerous socially-conscious dramas, has died at the age of 80.
Mann died of heart failure on Tuesday in Beverly Hills.
He was awarded the Oscar for best writing for the 1961 film Judgement at Nuremberg and was nominated for the best writing award again in 1966 for Ship of Fools.
Mann also won several Emmys, including one for The Marcus-Nelson Murders, which formed the basis for the Kojak series.
His work was known for exposing injustice and inequality.
When he accepted the Oscar for Nuremberg he said: "A writer worth his salt at all has an obligation not only to entertain but to comment on the world in which he lives."
"Abby was brought along by great producers like Herbert Brodkin, but his passion was his own," said Del Reisman, former Writers Guild of America, West, president.
"From his earliest days as a writer, he was guided by a moral compass that never wavered."
Mann is survived by a wife and a son.