20th Century Fox were looking for a director for '' Cleopatra '' starring Elizabeth Taylor . She would only approve two men , George Stevens or Mankiewicz . Mankiewicz accepted a lucrative contract , which he came to regret . The film consumed two years of Mankiewicz 's life and ended up both derailing his career and causing severe financial losses for the studio , Twentieth Century-Fox , which were not fully recovered until Rodgers and Hammerstein 's popular and acclaimed '' The Sound of Music '' was released two years later . Mankiewicz produced and directed '' Carol for Another Christmas '' ( 1964 ) for television . He wrote and directed '' The Honey Pot '' ( 1967 ) for Charles K. Feldman and produced and directed '' There Was a Crooked Man ... '' ( 1970 ) , as well as doing some uncredited work on the documentary '' King : A Filmed Record ... Montgomery to Memphis '' ( 1970 ) . Mankiewicz garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Direction in 1972 for '' Sleuth '' , his final directing effort , starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine . In 1983 , he was a member of the jury at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival
33rd Berlin International Film Festival
33rd Berlin International Film Festival
Joseph L. Mankiewicz