---
name: "Wendell Mayes"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/wendell-mayes"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "22 July 1918"
died: "28 March 1992"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-20T03:32:17.070640+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Wendell Mayes

Writer. Born 22 July 1918 in Hayti, Missouri, USA. Died 28 March 1992.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 22 July 1918, Hayti, Missouri, USA
- **Died:** 28 March 1992
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Mayes, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1750519, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0562606/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/844

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Anatomy of a Murder*](https://film.one/film/anatomy-of-a-murder.md) (87)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Wendell Mayes was an American screenwriter whose career spanned from the mid-1950s until the early 1990s. He began as an actor before turning to writing for television and film. His first major screen credit was a co-writing role on *The Spirit of St. Louis* (1957), after which he worked extensively with director Otto Preminger.

Mayes received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for his screenplay for *Anatomy of a Murder* (1959). Other notable credits include *Advise & Consent* (1962), *In Harm's Way* (1965), *The Poseidon Adventure* (1972) and *Death Wish* (1974). He died of cancer on 28 March 1992 in Santa Monica, California.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, chicagotribune.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Anatomy of a Murder* (1959), Fi1m 87, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/anatomy-of-a-murder.md)

## Complete filmography (22)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Death Wish* (2018), Screenplay
- *Criminal Behavior* (1992), Teleplay
- *Monsignor* (1982), Screenplay
- *Love and Bullets* (1979), Story, Writer
- *Go Tell the Spartans* (1978), Screenplay
- *The Bank Shot* (1974), Writer
- *Death Wish* (1974), Screenplay
- *The Poseidon Adventure* (1972), Screenplay
- *The Revengers* (1972), Screenplay
- *The Stalking Moon* (1968), Adaptation
- *Hotel* (1967), Adaptation, Producer
- *Von Ryan's Express* (1965), Screenplay
- *In Harm's Way* (1965), Screenplay
- *Advise & Consent* (1962), Screenplay
- *North to Alaska* (1960), Screenplay
- *Anatomy of a Murder* (1959), Screenplay — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/film/anatomy-of-a-murder.md)
- *The Hanging Tree* (1959), Screenplay
- *The Hunters* (1958), Screenplay
- *From Hell to Texas* (1958), Screenplay
- *The Enemy Below* (1957), Screenplay
- *The Way to the Gold* (1957), Screenplay
- *The Spirit of St. Louis* (1957), Screenplay

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1960: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Anatomy of a Murder*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/wendell-mayes