Kanin, Fay (1917–)

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Kanin, Fay (1917–)

American screenwriter, playwright, and actress. Born Fay Mitchell, May 9, 1917, in New York, NY; dau. of David Mitchell (department store manager) and Bessie (Kaiser) Mitchell; attended Elmira College, 1933–36; University of Southern California, BA, 1937; m. Michael Kanin (screenwriter), April 1940; children: Joel (deceased); Josh.

Began career as script reader at RKO (1937); collaborating with husband, wrote Rhapsody (1954) and Teacher's Pet (1958), which won an Academy Award, and 2 successful plays, His and Hers (1954) and Rashomon (1959); had solo success with play Goodbye My Fancy (1948), which ran for 2 years on Broadway; wrote tv movies "Heat of Anger" (1971), "Tell Me Where it Hurts" (1974) and "Friendly Fire" (1979); served as president of Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Science for 4 terms, only the 2nd woman to hold that post; also served a long stint as president of Writers Guild of America and was board member of American Film Institute. Received Writers Guild Award and Emmy nomination for tv movie "Hustling" (1975); nominated for a Tony for book to musical Grind (1985).

See also Women in World History.