Abby Mann

Writer

December 1, 1927 (80 years)

† March 25, 2008

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Biography

Abby Mann (1927–2008) was an American screenwriter and producer, best known for his socially conscious dramas and sharp character portrayals. He won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), which explored the moral responsibilities of judges during the Nazi regime. Mann later created the iconic television detective Kojak (1973), blending gritty realism with social commentary. Throughout his career, he was recognized for tackling controversial themes such as …

Filmography

5.4

Studio One

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions.

7.2

Kojak

A bald, lollipop sucking police detective with a fiery righteous attitude battles crime in New York City.

7.6

Playhouse 90

Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of the mid-1950s were usually hour-long shows, the title highlighted the network's intention to present something unusual, a weekly series of hour-and-a-half dramas rather than 60-minute plays. Playhouse 90 began as a pitch by Frank Stanton—the formidable, forward-thinking right-hand man to CBS chairman William S. Paley—during a brainstorming session for program ideas. The project was ultimately developed by Hubbell Robinson, a CBS vice president who received no screen credit on Playhouse 90 but is often described as its creator.

5.0

Medical Story

Medical Story is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from September 4, 1975, until January 8, 1976. Police Story's producers probe the medical world! Result: strong medicine!

8.0

Judgment at Nuremberg

In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal to answer charges of crimes against humanity. Chief Justice Haywood hears evidence and testimony not only from lead defendant Ernst Janning and his defense attorney Hans Rolfe, but also from the widow of a Nazi general, an idealistic U.S. Army captain and reluctant witness Irene Wallner.

4.4

Kojak

Kojak is an American television series starring Ving Rhames, airing on the USA Network cable channel, and on ITV4 in the United Kingdom. It was a reimagined version of the 1973-1978 series starring Telly Savalas. Rhames portrays Lieutenant Theo Kojak of the New York City Police Department, a skilled plain clothes detective with a shaved head and an affinity for jazz, fine clothing, and lollipops. As with the original series, he is fond of the catchphrase "Who loves ya, baby?" The series lasted for one season.

6.6

King

The story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., stretching from his days as a Southern Baptist minister in the South of the 1950s until his assassination in Memphis in 1968.

5.8

The Atlanta Child Murders

The Atlanta Child Murders is a TV miniseries that aired on February 10 and 12, 1985 on CBS. Inspired by true events, the miniseries examines the so-called "Atlanta child murders" of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

7.7

Sinatra

Sinatra is a 1992 CBS miniseries biography and drama, starring Philip Casnoff as singer Frank Sinatra, developed and executive produced by Frank's youngest daughter Tina Sinatra.

6.6

Ship of Fools

Passengers on a ship traveling from Mexico to Europe in the 1930s represent society at large in that era. The crew is German, including the ship's Dr. Schumann, who falls in love with one of the passengers, La Condesa. A young American woman, Jenny, is traveling with the man she loves, David. Jenny is fascinated and puzzled by just who some of the other passengers are.

5.9

The Detective

New York City Police detective Joe Leland investigates the grisly murder of Teddy Leikman, the gay son of a politically influential department store owner. While investigating, he discovers links to official corruption in NYC in this drama that delves into a world of sex and drugs, homophobia, homosexuality and bisexuality.

7.0

Indictment: The McMartin Trial

The McMartin family's lives are turned upside down when they are accused of serious child molestation. The family run a school for infants. An unqualified child cruelty "expert" videotapes the children describing outrageous stories of abuse. One of the most expensive and long running trials in US legal history, exposes the lack of evidence and unprofessional attitudes of the finger pointers which kept one of the accused in jail for over 5 years without bail.

6.8

A Child Is Waiting

Dr. Matthew Clark is the head of a state institution for intellectually disabled children. Jean Hansen, a former music teacher anxious to give her life some meaning, joins the staff of the hospital. Jean, who tries to shelter the children with her love, suspiciously regards Dr. Clark's stern training methods. She becomes emotionally involved with 12-year-old Reuben Widdicombe, who has been abandoned by his divorced parents.

5.9

Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story

A biographical portrayal of Simon Wiesenthal, famous Nazi Hunter. From his imprisonment in a Nazi Concentration Camp, the film follows his liberation and his rise to become one of the leading Nazi hunters in the world, bringing such criminals to justice as Adolf Eichmann and Klaus Barbee. (Written by Anthony Hughes)

N/A

Skag

Pete "Skag" Skagska is a 56-year-old union foreman of a Pittsburgh steel mill until a crippling stroke forces him to stay home and try to put his life back together and deal with family problems.

7.5

Kojak: Ariana

One of Kojak's old enemies uses Ariana, a young Greek girl, as bait to trap the legendary New York detective. Meanwhile, Kojak finds himself a brash young associate.

5.2

Kojak: The Price of Justice

When the bodies of two young boys are discovered in the Harlem River, their mother is the obvious suspect, particularly with her scandalous past. But what appears to be an open-and-shut case soon becomes something much more sinister.

N/A

War and Love

Jacek, who is Jewish, miraculously manages to survive World War II in Nazi-occupied Poland. As a subplot to Jacek's story, which also involves a love affair with Haling ( Kyra Sedgwick ) and German soldiers' repeated attempts to kill him, is a tale of how young kids in the Warsaw ghetto devise their own method of fighting oppression.

N/A

NBC: The First Fifty Years

A celebration of 50 years of NBC broadcasting in radio and television, since first going on the airwaves on 15 November 1926.

6.6

Report to the Commissioner

Police officer Patty Butler, alias "Chicklet," is the live-in girlfriend of Thomas 'Stick' Henderson to gather evidence. Detective Bo Lockley is instructed to try to find her, not knowing she's also a cop.