Brandon is heading to the TCM Classic Film Festival! Earlier this week, he sat down with TCM Host Ben Mankiewicz for a preview of what is to come.Topics include the opening night presentation of Rio Bravo, Warner Brothers' 100th anniversary celebration and some of Ben's favorite aspects of the festival.

 

Ben Mankiewicz is the primetime host of Turner Classic Movies. When he made his TCM debut in September 2003, he became only the second host hired in the network's history. 

During his career at TCM, he has introduced thousands of movies on the air. Additionally, he’s become one of the best interviewers in the business, leading thoughtful and entertaining long-form conversations with more than two hundred of the industry’s top talents, including Mel Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Sophia Loren, Martin Scorsese, Warren Beatty, Ava DuVernay, Annette Bening, Robert Redford, Quentin Tarantino, Jodie Foster, Brad Bird, Faye Dunaway, Lou Gossett, Jr., and Michael Douglas. 

Mankiewicz is the host of TCM’s first podcast, The Plot Thickens. Each of the four seasons, I’m Still Peter Bogdanovich, The Devil’s Candy, Lucy and Here Comes Pam were met with outstanding reviews and industry awards.

Since 2019, Mankiewicz has served as a contributor to the Peabody and Emmy-winning news magazine, CBS News Sunday Morning, and has hosted the American Society of Cinematographers Awards since 2018.

Prior to TCM, Mankiewicz worked as a reporter and anchor in Charleston, SC, and Miami, FL, twice being named Best Anchor in South Florida by The New Times. Additionally, he contributes to The Young Turks, an online political show he co-founded with Cenk Uygur in 2002.

Mankiewicz moved to Los Angeles nearly 75 years after his grandfather, screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (“Mank” to his all his friends), headed west to work in the movie business. Soon after arriving, Herman cabled his friend Ben Hecht in New York, "There are millions to be grabbed out here and your only competition is idiots. Don't let this get around." His grandson is now proudly one of those idiots.

He's a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Tufts University, and Georgetown Day High School in Washington, DC, the school with the worst mascot in recorded history: the Grasshoppers.

Mankiewicz lives in Santa Monica with his beautiful wife, their beautiful daughter, one perfect dog, and one other dog, who’s available for adoption at any time. Seriously, please take him