Loring Mandel dead at 91: Emmy-winning TV writer dies at home

Playwright and screenwriter Loring Mandel has passed away from cancer at the age of 91. Loring Mandel, who was born in Chicago on May 5, 1928, won two primetime Emmys in his lifetime. Loring Mandel won his first Emmy in 1968 for ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ on “CBS Playhouse.’ His second Emmy was for the telefilm ‘Conspiracy,’ which featured the likes of Kenneth Branagh and Stanley Tucci. 

Loring Mandel studied at the University of Wisconsin and served in the Korean War, he began his career as a writer when he moved to New York. When he began writing, Loring Mandel worked on local and national radio in Chicago. Loring Mandel then wrote for television series such as ‘Love of Life’ and ‘Studio One in Hollywood.’ Although he won two Emmys, Loring Mandel received five Emmy nominations throughout his career. He received his first Emmy nomination in 1959 for his ‘Project Immortality’ script on ‘Playhouse 90,’ which also won him a Sylvania award. 

According to Variety, “In addition, Mandel also served as a president of the WGA East in the 1970s, and in 2004, he was given the guild’s Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for lifetime contributions to television. His papers, scripts, articles and correspondence are located at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.”

Loring Mandel is survived by his wife Dorothy, the couple married in 1950, Loring also had two sons, Joshua and Alan, and three granddaughters. When it came to movies, Loring Mandel wrote the screenplays for the 1967 film Countdown which starred James Caan and Robert Duvall, the 1979 movie Promises in the Dark and the 1984 movie The Little Drummer Girl, which Diane Keaton starred in.