Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian-born American actress best remembered for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film King Kong (1933). Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international recognition as an actress in horror films. She has been dubbed one of the early "scream queens".

Tuesday, July 28, 2020. 7:42.PM.

Fay Wray -Actress

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1. Profile :

*Wray in 1942

Born Vina Fay Wray

September 15, 1907

Cardston, Alberta, Canada

Died August 8, 2004 (aged 96)

New York City, New York, U.S.

Resting place Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California

Occupation Actress

Years active 1923–1980

Spouse(s)

John Monk Saunders

(m. 1928; div. 1939)

Robert Riskin

(m. 1942; died 1955)

Sanford Rothenberg

(m. 1971; died 1991)

Children Susan Riskin

Victoria Riskin

Robert Riskin Jr.

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2. Introduction :

Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian-born American actress best remembered for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film King Kong (1933). Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international recognition as an actress in horror films. She has been dubbed one of the early "scream queens".

After appearing in minor film roles, Wray gained media attention after being selected as one of the "WAMPAS Baby Stars" in 1926. This led to her being contracted to Paramount Pictures as a teenager, where she made more than a dozen feature films. After leaving Paramount, she signed deals with various film companies, being cast in her first horror film roles, in addition to many other types of roles, including in The Bowery (1933) and Viva Villa (1934), both of which starred Wallace Beery. For RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., she starred in the film for which she is most identified, King Kong (1933). After the success of King Kong, Wray made numerous appearances in both film and television; she retired in 1980.

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3. Early life :

Wray was born on a ranch near Cardston in the province of Alberta, Canada to parents who were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elvina Marguerite Jones, who was from Salt Lake City, Utah, and Joseph Heber Wray, who was from Kingston upon Hull, England. She was one of six children and was a granddaughter of LDS pioneer Daniel Webster Jones. Her ancestors came from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Wray was never baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Her family returned to the United States a few years after she was born; they moved to Salt Lake City in 1912 and moved to Lark, Utah, in 1914. In 1919, the Wray family returned to Salt Lake City, and then relocated to Hollywood, where Fay attended Hollywood High School.

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4. Early acting career :

*Wray publicity shot from 1930

In 1923, Wray appeared in her first film at the age of 16, when she landed a role in a short historical film sponsored by a local newspaper.[6] In the 1920s, Wray landed a major role in the silent film The Coast Patrol (1925), as well as uncredited bit parts at the Hal Roach Studios.

In 1926, the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers selected Wray as one of the "WAMPAS Baby Stars", a group of women whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. She was at the time under contract to Universal Studios, mostly co-starring in low-budget Westerns opposite Buck Jones.

The following year, Wray was signed to a contract with Paramount Pictures. In 1926, director Erich von Stroheim cast her as the main female lead in his film The Wedding March, released by Paramount two years later. While the film was noted for its high budget and production values, it was a financial failure. It also gave Wray her first lead role. Wray stayed with Paramount to make more than a dozen films and made the transition from silent films to "talkies".

Horror films and King Kong :

*Fay Wray in the 1933 feature film King Kong

After leaving Paramount, Wray signed with various film companies. Under these deals, Wray was cast in a variety of horror films, including Doctor X (1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). However, her best known films were produced under her deal with RKO Radio Pictures. Her first film with RKO was The Most Dangerous Game (1932), co-starring Joel McCrea. The production was filmed at night on the same jungle sets that were being used for King Kong during the day, and with Wray and Robert Armstrong starring in both movies.

The Most Dangerous Game was followed by the release of Wray's most memorable film, King Kong. According to Wray, Jean Harlow had been RKO's original choice, but because MGM put Harlow under exclusive contract during the pre-production phase of the film, she became unavailable.[8]Wray was approached by director Merian C. Cooper to play the blonde captive of King Kong, the role of Ann Darrow was one she would most be associated with and she was paid $10,000 ($200,000 in 2019 dollars) to play her.[9] The film was a commercial success and Wray was reportedly proud that the film saved RKO from bankruptcy.

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5. Later career :

She continued to star in various films, including The Richest Girl in the World, a second film with Joel McCrea, but by the early 1940s, her appearances became less frequent. She retired from acting in 1942 after her second marriage but due to financial exigencies soon resumed her acting career, and over the next three decades, Wray appeared in several films and frequently on television. Wray was cast in the 1953–54 sitcom The Pride of the Family as Catherine Morrison. Paul Hartman played her husband, Albie Morrison. Natalie Wood and Robert Hyatt played their children, Ann and Junior Morrison, respectively. Wray appeared with fellow WAMPAS Baby Star Joan Crawford in Queen Bee, released in 1955.

Wray appeared in three episodes of Perry Mason: "The Case Of The Prodigal Parent" (1958); "The Case of the Watery Witness" (1959), as murder victim Lorna Thomas; and "The Case of the Fatal Fetish" (1965), as voodoo practitioner Mignon Germaine. In 1959, Wray was cast as Tula Marsh in the episode "The Second Happiest Day" of Playhouse 90. Other roles around this time were in the episodes "Dip in the Pool" (1958) and "The Morning After" of CBS's Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1960, she appeared as Clara in an episode of 77 Sunset Strip, "Who Killed Cock Robin?" Another 1960 role was that of Mrs. Staunton, with Gigi Perreau as her daughter, in the episode "Flight from Terror" of The Islanders.

Wray appeared in a 1961 episode of The Real McCoys titled "Theatre in the Barn". In 1963, she played Mrs. Brubaker in the episode "You're So Smart, Why Can't You Be Good?" of The Eleventh Hour. She ended her acting career in the 1980 made-for-television film Gideon's Trumpet.

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*In 1988, she published her autobiography

On the Other Hand. In her later years, Wray continued to make public appearances. In 1991, she was crowned Queen of the Beaux Arts Ball, presiding with King Herbert Huncke.

She was approached by James Cameron to play the part of Rose Dawson Calvert for his blockbuster Titanic (1997) with Kate Winslet to play her younger self, but she turned down the role, which ended up being played by Gloria Stuart. She was a special guest at the 70th Academy Awards, where the show's host Billy Crystal introduced her as the "Beauty who charmed the Beast." She was the only 1920s Hollywood actress in attendance that evening (with fellow 1930s actress Gloria Stuart nominated for an award. On October 3, 1998, she appeared at the Pine Bluff Film Festival, which showed The Wedding March (with live orchestral accompaniment).

In January 2003, the 95-year-old Wray appeared at the 2003 Palm Beach International Film Festival to celebrate the Rick McKay documentary film Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There, where she was honored with a "Legend in Film" award. In her later years, she visited the Empire State Building frequently; in 1991, she was a guest of honor at the building's 60th anniversary, and in May 2004, she made one of her later public appearances. Her final public appearance was at an after-party at Sardi's restaurant in New York City, following the premiere of the documentary film Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There.

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7. Personal life :

Wray married three times – to writers John Monk Saunders and Robert Riskin and the neurosurgeon Sanford Rothenberg (January 28, 1919 – January 4, 1991). She had three children: Susan Saunders, Victoria Riskin, and Robert Riskin Jr.

She became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1933.

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8. Death :

Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6349 Hollywood Blvd.

In 2004, Wray was approached by director Peter Jackson to appear in a small cameo for the 2005 remake of King Kong. She met with Naomi Watts, who was to play the role of Ann Darrow. She politely declined the cameo, and claimed the original "Kong" to be the true "King". Before filming of the remake commenced, Wray died in her sleep of natural causes on August 8, 2004 in her apartment in Manhattan, five weeks before her 97th birthday. Wray is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Two days after her death, the lights of the Empire State Building were lowered for 15 minutes in her memory.

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9. Honors :

*Fay Wray Fountain, Cardston, Alberta

*Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6349 Hollywood Blvd.

In 1989, Wray was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award. Wray was honored with a Legend in Film award at the 2003 Palm Beach International Film Festival. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Wray was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6349 Hollywood Blvd. She received a star posthumously on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto on June 5, 2005. A small park near Lee's Creek on Main Street in Cardston, Alberta, her birthplace, was named Fay Wray Park in her honour. The small sign at the edge of the park on Main Street has a silhouette of King Kong on it, remembering her role in the film King Kong. A large oil portrait of Wray by Alberta artist Neil Boyle is on display in the Empress Theatre in Fort Macleod, Alberta. In May 2006, Wray became one of the first four entertainers to be honored by Canada Post by being featured on a postage stamp.

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10. Partial filmography :

1920 :

Gasoline Love (1923 short subject)

The Coast Patrol (1925) as Beth Slocum

Sure-Mike (1925 short) as Salesgirl at Department Store

What Price Goofy (1925 short) as Concerned Girl with Perfume (uncredited)

Isn't Life Terrible? (1925 short) as Potential Pen-Buyer (uncredited)

Thundering Landlords (1925 short) as The Wife

Chasing the Chaser (1925 short) as Nursemaid

Madame Sans Jane (1925 short)

No Father to Guide Him (1925 short) as Beach House Cashier (uncredited)

Unfriendly Enemies (1925 short) as The Girl

Your Own Back Yard (1925 short) as Woman in Quarrelsome Couple

A Lover's Oath (1925) (uncredited) *lost film

Moonlight and Noses (1925 short) as Miss Sniff, the Professor's Daughter

Should Sailors Marry? (1925 short) as Herself

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) as Slave Girl (unconfirmed, uncredited)

WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1926 (1926 short) as Herself

One Wild Time (1926 short)

Don Key (A Son of a Burro) (1926 short)

The Man in the Saddle (1926) as Pauline Stewart *lost film

Don't Shoot (1926 short) as Nancy Burton

The Wild Horse Stampede (1926) as Jessie Hayden

The Saddle Tramp (1926 short)

The Show Cowpuncher (1926 short)

Lazy Lightning (1926) as Lila Rogers

Loco Luck (1927) as Molly Vernon

A One Man Game (1927) as Roberta

Spurs and Saddles (1927) as Mildred Orth

A Trip Through the Paramount Studio (1927 short) as Herself

The Legion of the Condemned (1928) as Christine Charteris *lost film

Street of Sin (1928) as Elizabeth *lost film

The First Kiss (1928) as Anna Lee *lost film

The Wedding March (1928) as Mitzi / Mitzerl Schrammell

The Four Feathers (1929) as Ethne Eustace

Thunderbolt (1929) as Ritzie

Pointed Heels (1929) as Lora Nixon

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1930 :

Behind the Make-Up (1930) as Marie Gardoni

Paramount on Parade (1930) as Sweetheart (Dream Girl)

The Texan (1930) as Consuelo

The Border Legion (1930) as Joan Randall

The Sea God (1930) as Daisy

The Honeymoon (1930, unreleased) as Mitzi

Captain Thunder (1930) as Ynez

Stub Man (1931)

The Slippery Pearls (1931 short) as Herself

Dirigible (1931) as Helen Pierce

The Conquering Horde (1931) as Taisie Lockhart

Three Rogues (1931) as Lee Carleton

The Finger Points (1931) as Marcia Collins

The Lawyer's Secret (1931) as Kay Roberts

The Unholy Garden (1931) as Camille de Jonghe

Hollywood on Parade (1932 short subject) as Herself

Stowaway (1932) as Mary Foster

Doctor X (1932) as Joanne Xavier

The Most Dangerous Game (1932) as Eve Trowbridge

The Vampire Bat (1933) as Ruth Bertin

Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) as Charlotte Duncan

King Kong (1933) as Ann Darrow

Below the Sea (1933) as Diana

Ann Carver's Profession (1933) as Ann Carver Graham

The Woman I Stole (1933) as Vida Carew

Shanghai Madness (1933) as Wildeth Christie

The Big Brain (1933) as Cynthia Glennon

One Sunday Afternoon (1933) as Virginia Brush

The Bowery (1933) as Lucy Calhoun

Master of Men (1933) as Kay Walling

Madame Spy (1934) as Marie Franck

The Countess of Monte Cristo (1934) as Janet Krueger

Once to Every Woman (1934) as Mary Fanshane

Viva Villa! (1934) as Teresa

Black Moon (1934) as Gail Hamilton

The Affairs of Cellini (1934) as Angela

The Richest Girl in the World (1934) as Sylvia Lockwood

Cheating Cheaters (1934) as Nan Brockton

Woman in the Dark (1934) as Louise Loring

Mills of the Gods (1934) as Jean Hastings

The Clairvoyant (1935) (US title: The Evil Mind) as Rene

Bulldog Jack (1935) as Ann Manders

Come Out of the Pantry (1935) as Hilda Beach-Howard

White Lies (1935) as Joan Mitchell

When Knights Were Bold (1936) as Lady Rowena

Roaming Lady (1936) as Joyce Reid

They Met in a Taxi (1936) as Mary Trenton

It Happened in Hollywood (1937) as Gloria Gay

Murder in Greenwich Village (1937) as Kay Cabot aka Lucky

The Jury's Secret (1938) as Linda Ware

Smashing the Spy Ring (1938) as Eleanor Dunlap

Navy Secrets (1939) as Carol Mathews - Posing as Carol Evans

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1940 :

Wildcat Bus (1940) as Ted Dawson

Adam Had Four Sons (1941) as Molly Stoddard

Melody for Three (1941) as Mary Stanley

Not a Ladies' Man (1942) as Hester Hunter

This Is the Life (1944, co-author of play with Sinclair Lewis)

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1950 :

Treasure of the Golden Condor (1953) as Annette, Marquise de St. Malo

Small Town Girl (1953) as Mrs. Kimbell

The Cobweb (1955) as Edna Devanal

Queen Bee (1955) as Sue McKinnon

Hell on Frisco Bay (1955) as Kay Stanley

Rock, Pretty Baby (1956) as Beth Daley

Crime of Passion (1957) as Alice Pope

Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) as Mrs. Brent

Summer Love (1958) as Beth Daley

Dragstrip Riot (1958) as Norma Martin / Mrs. Martin

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1980-

Gideon's Trumpet (1980) as Edna Curtis

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1997 :

Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1997 documentary) as Herself

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2003:

Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003 documentary) as Herself

The End.

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