Wendell Mayes

Wendell Mayes (July 21, 1919 in Hayti, Missouri – March 28, 1992 in Santa Monica, California) was a Hollywood screenwriter. His father Von Mayes was a lawyer and his mother Irene (née Haynes) was a teacher.
Mayes began as an actor. An episode he wrote for the "Kraft Television Theatre" received a good review in a Los Angeles newspaper and Billy Wilder hired him to work on the script to the film The Spirit of St. Louis. That was his first credit in a successful screenwriting career.
For Anatomy of a Murder, Mayes received a New York Film Critics Circle Award for best screenplay in 1959 and an Oscar nomination in 1960. It is claimed to be one of the best trial movies of all time. Mayes died of cancer at the age of 72.
His screenwriting credits included:
The Spirit of St. Louis (with Billy Wilder and Charles Lederer), Warner Brothers, 1957
The Enemy Below, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1957
The Way to the Gold, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1957
From Hell to Texas (also known as Manhunt) (with Robert Buckner), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1958
The Hunters, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1958
The Hanging Tree (with Halsted Welles), Warner Brothers, 1959
Anatomy of a Murder, Columbia, 1959
North to Alaska (with John Lee Mahin, Martin Rackin, and Claude Binyon), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1960
Advise and Consent, Columbia, 1962
Von Ryan's Express (with Joseph Landon), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1965
In Harm's Way, Paramount, 1965
Hotel, Warner Brothers, 1967
The Stalking Moon (with Alvin Sargent), National General Pictures,1968
The Revengers, National General Pictures, 1972
The Poseidon Adventure (with Stirling Silliphant), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1972
Death Wish, Paramount, 1974
Bank Shot, United Artists, 1974
Go Tell the Spartans, Avco Embassy, 1978
Love and Bullets (with John Melson), Associated Film Distribution,1979
Monsignor, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1982