Fay Wray - Actors and Actresses

Nationality: American. Born: Vina Fay Wray near Cardston, Alberta, Canada, 15 September 1907; became U.S. citizen, 1935. Education: Attended Hollywood High School. Family: Married 1) the writer John Monk Saunders, 1928 (divorced 1939), daughter: Susan; 2) the writer Robert Riskin, 1942 (died 1955), daughter: Vicki, son: Robert Jr.; 3) Sanford Rothenberg, 1971. Career: 1923—film debut in short Gasoline Love ; 1928—in von Stroheim's The Wedding March ; 1931—stage debut in Saunders's play Nikki on Broadway ; 1935–36—made several films in England; later stage work includes roles in The Night of January 16th and The Petrified Forest , 1938, in her own and Sinclair Lewis's play Angela Is Twenty-Two in Detroit and Chicago, 1939, Golden Wings on Broadway , 1941, and Mr. Big , 1941; 1953–55—in TV series The Pride of the Family . Address: 2160 Century Park East no. 1901, Los Angeles, CA 90067, U.S.A.

Films as Actress:

1923

Gasoline Love (short)

1925

The Coast Patrol (Barsky) (as Beth Slocum); A Cinch for the Gander

Fay Wray in King Kong

1926

The Man in the Saddle (Reynolds or Smith) (as Pauline Stewart); The Wild Horse Stampede (Rogell) (as Jessie Hayden); Lazy Lightning (Wyler) (as Lila Rogers)

1927

Loco Luck (Smith) (as Molly Vernon); A One Man Game (Laemmle) (as Roberts); Spurs and Saddles (Smith) (as Mildred Orth)

1928

Legion of the Condemned (Wellman) (as Christine Charteris); Street of Sin (Stiller) (as Elizabeth); The First Kiss (Lee) (as Anna Lee); The Wedding March (von Stroheim) (as Mitzi Schrammell)

1929

The Four Feathers (Cooper, Schoedsack, and Mendes) (as Ethne Eustace); Thunderbolt (von Sternberg) (as Ritzy); Pointed Heels (Sutherland) (as Laura Nixon)

1930

Behind the Makeup (Milton) (as Marie); "Dream Girl" technicolor segment of Paramount on Parade ; The Texan (Cromwell) (as Consuelo); The Border Legion (Brower and Knopf) (as Joan Randall); The Sea God (Abbott) (as Daisy)

1931

The Finger Points (Dillon) (as Marcia Collins); Not Exactly Gentlemen ; The Conquering Horde (Sloman) (as Taisie Lockhart); Three Rogues (Stoloff) (as Lee Carleton); Dirigible (Capra) (as Helen); Captain Thunder (Crosland) (as Ynez Dominguez); The Honeymoon (von Stroheim) (as Mitzi Schrammell); The Lawyer's Secret (Gasnier and Marcin) (as Kay Roberts); The Unholy Garden (Fitzmaurice) (as Camille)

1932

Stowaway (Whitman); Doctor X (Curtiz) (as Joan Xavier); The Most Dangerous Game (Schoedsack and Pichel) (as Eve Trowbridge)

1933

The Vampire Bat (Strayer) (as Ruth Bertin); Mystery of the Wax Museum (Curtiz) (as Charlotte Duncan); King Kong (Cooper and Schoedsack) (as Ann Darrow); Below the Sea (Rogell) (as Diane Templeton); Ann Carver's Profession (Buzzell) (title role); The Woman I Stole (Cummings) (as Vida Carew); The Big Brain (Archainbaud) (as Cynthia Glennon); One Sunday Afternoon (Roberts) (as Virginia Brush); Shanghai Madness (Blystone) (as Wildeth Christie); The Bowery (Walsh) (as Lucy Calhoun); Master of Men (Hillyer) (as Kay Walling)

1934

Madame Spy (Freund) (as Maria); Once to Every Woman (Hillyer) (as Mary Fanshawe); Cheating Cheaters (Thorpe) (as Nan Brockton); Woman in the Dark (Rosen); White Lies (Bulgakov); The Countess of Monte Cristo (Freund) (as Janet Kreuger); Viva Villa! (Conway) (as Teresa); Black Moon (Neill) (as Gail); The Affairs of Cellini (La Cava) (as Angela); The Richest Girl in the World (Seiter) (as Sylvia Vernon)

1935

The Clairvoyant ( The Evil Mind ) (Elvey) (as Renee); Come Out of the Pantry (Raymond) (as Hilda Beach-Howard); Alias Bulldog Drummond ( Bulldog Jack ) (Forde) (as Ann Manders); Mills of the Gods (Neill)

1936

When Knights Were Bold (Raymond) (as Lady Rowena); Roaming Lady (Rogell) (as Joyce); They Met in a Taxi (Green) (as Mary)

1937

It Happened in Hollywood ( Once a Hero ) (Lachman) (as Gloria Gay); Murder in Greenwich Village (Rogell) (as Kay Cabot)

1938

Smashing the Spy Ring (Cabanne) (as Eleanor Dunlap); The Jury's Secret (Sloman) (as Linda Ware)

1939

Navy Secrets (Bretherton) (as Carol)

1940

Wildcat Bus (Woodruff) (as daughter of bus-line owner)

1941

Adam Had Four Sons (Ratoff) (as Molly); Melody for Three (Kenton) (as the mother)

1942

Not a Ladies' Man (Landers)

1944

This Is the Life (Feist) (+ sc)

1953

Small Town Girl (Kardos) (as Mrs. Kimbell); Treasure of the Golden Condor (Daves) (as Marquise)

1955

The Cobweb (Minnelli) (as Edna Devanel); Queen Bee (MacDougall) (as Sue McKinnon)

1956

Hell on Frisco Bay (Tuttle) (as Kay Stanley); In Times Like These (Seiter)

1957

Crime of Passion (Oswald) (as Alice Pope); Tammy and the Bachelor (Pevny) (as Mrs. Brent); Rock, Pretty Baby (Bartlett) (as Beth Daley)

1958

Summer Love (Haas) (as Beth Daley); Dragstrip Riot ( The Reckless Age ) (Bradley)

1980

Gideon's Trumpet (Collins—for TV) (as Edna Curtis)

1997

Frank Capra's American Dream (Bowser—doc for TV) (as herself)

1998

Universal Horror (Brownlow—doc for TV) (as herself)

Publications

By WRAY: book—

On the Other Hand: A Life Story , New York, 1989.

By WRAY: articles—

Interview with Roy Kinnard, in Films in Review (New York), April 1990. "The Gorilla I Left Behind," in Premiere (Boulder), Winter 1994.

On WRAY: book—

Parish, James Robert, and William T. Leonard, Hollywood Players: The Thirties , New York, 1976.

On WRAY: articles—

Kinnard, Roy, "Fay Wray," in Films in Review (New York), February 1987.

Harmetz, Aljean, "Kong and Wray: 60 Years of Love," in New York Times , 28 February 1993.

Aronson, Steven M.L., "Fay Wray. King Kong's Favorite Costar at Home in Los Angeles," in Architectural Digest (Los Angeles), April 1994.

* * *

If Fay Wray had made only one film in her career— King Kong —she would have earned her spot in the annals of screen history. When she co-starred as the classic damsel-in-distress opposite moviedom's most famous ape, she already was an established actress who had worked in major silent and sound Hollywood productions. Her sometimes stiff, sometimes exaggerated performance in King Kong has been misread by film enthusiasts who have not had the awareness of her earlier career.

Five years before King Kong , von Stroheim realized Wray's potential for expressive acting when he cast her in The Wedding March as Mitzi, an ill-fated commoner who becomes the love object of a prince. But The Wedding March was a Hollywood oddity, an extravagant art film and a commercial failure, so Wray was unable to sustain her career playing in similar films. Instead, she was destined to be cast as conventional leads, with the exception coming when her association with King Kong directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack led to her all-too-brief reign in horror films. She became the genre's first sex symbol in King Kong , as well as in Mystery of the Wax Museum , Dr. X , Vampire Bat , and others, with her wholesome good looks and innocent demeanor effectively presented in contrast to the "monsters."

Wray is remembered for these few horror films, and it is disappointing that she did not appear in additional ones. As she aged, she might have been an asset to the 1940s horror cycle and 1950s science-fiction films.

—Anthony Ambrogio, updated by Audrey E. Kupferberg