Celebrity Biographies
Andrew J. Fenady
A Hollywood novelist and screenwriter, he wrote “Chisum,” a classic western. Andrew J. Fenady died on April 16, 2020, at the age of 91, at his residence in Los Angeles, where he lived for six decades, according to his son, Duke Fenady, producer and screenwriter.
Born on October 4, 1928, Andrew J. Fenady graduated from the University of Toledo (Ohio), his hometown. For one season he tried his hand at acting at the Priscilla Beach Theater in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and at Clare Tree Major’s National Classical Theater in Pleasantville, New York.
In 1953 he moved to Los Angeles, where he found a job as a writer for the television show Confidential File , which talked about current events. The space, which became a huge success, was directed by Irvin Kershner , later director of The Empire Strikes Back . Both would make their screen debuts in the crime drama Stakeout on Dope Street , followed by The Young Captives .
From that moment, Andrew J. Fenady began a solid career as a screenwriter, which culminated when he wrote the screenplay for Chisum , a western directed by Andrew V. McLaglen , which starred John Wayne . It was based on one of his own novels. He was also responsible for Terror in the wax museum , from 1973, directed by Georg Fenady , his brother.
He married Mary Frances, his college sweetheart in June 1956. She died of cancer a few months before he did. The marriage had had five children.