Daniel Fuchs, Screenplay Won Oscar

LOS ANGELES - Daniel Fuchs, who won acclaim for his trilogy of novels on Jewish life and an Academy Award as a screenwriter, is dead at age 84.

Fuchs died of heart failure July 26 at his Los Angeles home, his son Thomas said Monday.

Fuchs won critical praise for a 1930s trilogy based on his New York City childhood: "Summer in Williamsburg," "Homage to Blenholt" and "Low Company."

The books wracked up few sales when they first were published. They won renewed critical popularity in 1961 and 1972 reprints.

In Hollywood, Fuchs won the Oscar for best original story for the 1955 film "Love Me or Leave Me," about a 1920s singer whose friendship with a racketeer brings her both fame and despair.

His other screenplays include "The Hard Way" in 1942 and "Jeanne Eagels" in 1957.

Fuchs also wrote numerous short stories for such publications as the New Yorker, Esquire and the Saturday Evening Post, and in 1971 wrote another novel, "West of the Rockies."