Born in Lawrence, Kansas. Working in TV from 1947, Mann directed over 100 live plays, the best known of which was Paddy Chayefsky's "Marty." In 1955 he directed a big-screen version, starring Ernest Borgnine as the lonely Bronx butcher in search of love. The success of the film -- it took the Palme d'Or at Cannes and won the Best Picture Oscar® -- paved the way for a number of low-budget movies on "small" subjects that flourished in the mid-1950s. Mann's other successes include the finely acted THE BACHELOR PARTY (1957), also scripted by Chayefsky, and DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS and SEPARATE TABLES (both1958) and THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS (1960). He made some deft comedies in the 1960s (LOVER COME BACK, 1961; THAT TOUCH OF MINK, 1962; DEAR HEART, 1964) and produced and directed MISTER BUDDWING (1966). Mann directed several competent TV adaptations, such as "Jane Eyre" (1971) and "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1979), in a career that was almost exclusively devoted to television after 1968. Mann was president of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) from 1967-1971.  Directing 1955: MARTY 1 nomination, 1 Award