Jerome Cady, a renowned Hollywood screenwriter, was born on August 15th, 1903, and tragically passed away on November 7th, 1948, at the age of 45.
Initially, Cady's career as a film writer seemed poised for greatness, with a promising trajectory that took him from writing for Charlie Chan movies in the late 1930s to penning respected war films such as Guadalcanal Diary (1943),a successful adaptation of Forever Amber (1947),and the police procedural Call Northside 777 (1948).
Despite this success, Cady's life was cut short in a shocking and tragic turn of events. Onboard his yacht off Catalina Island, he succumbed to a sleeping pill overdose, bringing an abrupt end to his promising career. At the time of his death, he was working on a treatment for a documentary about the Northwest Mounted Police.
One of Cady's most notable achievements was receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Wing and a Prayer in 1944.
Born in West Virginia, Cady began his career as a newspaper copy boy, later becoming a reporter for the Los Angeles Record. He then joined the continuity staff of KECA-KFI, Los Angeles, in June 1932. Cady spent time in New York in the 1930s, working as the director of radio for Fletcher & Ellis Inc., before returning to Los Angeles in 1936.
Throughout his career, Cady worked for various studios, including 20th Century Fox, which he joined in 1940, after previously being employed at RKO between radio jobs.
