Canadian-born Fay Wray was brought up in Los Angeles and entered films at an early age. She was barely in her teens when she started working as an extra. She began her career as a heroine in westerns at Universal during the silent era. In 1926 the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers selected 13 young starlets it deemed most likely to succeed in pictures. Fay was chosen as one of these starlets, along with 'Janet Gaynor . She continued to appear in films until 1958 and television into the 1960s.
Referenced in the 1998 song "Are You Jimmy Ray?" by Jimmy Ray.
On The 70th Annual Academy Awards . Billy Crystal introduced a clip of her in King Kong and then came offstage and stood next to Miss Wray in the audience, and introduced her as the "Beauty who charmed the Beast, the Legendary Fay Wray". Miss Wray was completely caught off guard, appearing to have not even noticed that Crystal had moved near her when the lights were turned down for the clip from "King Kong", then rose from her seat to rapturous applause and waved. Normally, the audience would have given her a standing ovation, but sensing her discombobulation at being caught off-guard on live, worldwide television, they did not. (In retrospect, given Miss Wrays advanced age, perhaps the producers should have let her know their plans in advance.) Crystal gently teased her that she was on "This Is Your Life" (1952) and thanked her for being a part of the evening. Miss Wray smiled with gratitude.
She had a daughter, Susan Riskin , by her first marriage to writer John Monk Saunders and two children, Robert Riskin Jr. and Victoria Riskin , by her second marriage to the writer Robert Riskin.
She was "almost" a vegetarian and always stuck to her rule not to eat late at night. She woke up long before sunrise and spent a lot of time writing.
Best remembered as the girl held in the hand of RKO Radio Pictures King Kong .
She drove a car into her 90s.
In January 2003, a 95-year-old Fay Wray was awarded the "Legend in Film" Award at the Palm Beach International Film Festival when she appeared there in person to celebrate Rick McKay s film Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There , which she also appeared in. In addition to her honor, McKays film was honored with the Audience Award "Best Documentary" of the festival by unanimous vote. Adrien Brody and Robert Evans won awards in addition to Wray and McKay at the same festival.
She is regarded as Hollywoods first "scream queen". This was due to the 1932-1933 season when she made the early Technicolor thrillers Doctor X (1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (both at Warner Brothers with Lionel Atwill ). She also costarred in The Vampire Bat at Majestic (again with Atwill) and at RKO she made The Most Dangerous Game (1932) and, of course, King Kong .
Despite leaving Canada at an early age, she often visited Cardston, Alberta, her hometown.
Her film King Kong saved its studio, RKO Radio Pictures, from bankruptcy.
On August 10, 2004, two days after her death, the lights on the Empire State Building in New York City (scene of the climax from her most popular film, King Kong , were dimmed for 15 minutes in her memory.
Was guest of honor in 1991, at the 60th birthday of the Empire State Building in New York City.
Following her death, she was interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. This cemetery is near downtown Hollywood just blocks from Hollywood and Vine Streets. The cemetery is behind the Paramount Studios, surrounded by many businesses, and is easy to miss for first-time travelers.
She is referenced twice in The Rocky Horror Picture Show . During the Floorshow, Frank says, Whatever happened to Fay Wray/that delicate, satin-draped frame/as it clung to her thigh, how I started to cry/cause I wanted to be dressed just the same; and in the opening song: then something went wrong/for Fay Wray and King Kong/they got caught in a celluloid jam.
Her brother, J. Vivian Wray, suffered from a mental disorder and was confined to a sanitarium. He escaped and apparently committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a streetcar in Stockton, California, on June 4, 1928.
On the main street of Cardston, Alberta, Canada, her birthplace, there is the "Fay Wray Fountain". Cardston is also home to the first Mormon Temple in Canada.
She spent time with and became friends with Peter Jackson , a major fan, while he was in the process of developing his remake of King Kong . Before she passed on, Wray also met and became friendly with Naomi Watts , whom she also approved to play the part that Wray originated, Ann Darrow.
For the remake of King Kong , director Peter Jackson wanted Fay to say the closing line of the film. Since she died before it was done, the line went to Jack Black.
Pictured on one of four 51 Canadian commemorative postage stamps honoring "Canadians in Hollywood" issued 22 May 2006. Others honored in this set are John Candy , Lorne Greene and Mary Pickford.
Miss Wray was originally offered the role of the elderly Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic , which she turned down.
Described King Kong as her "little man".
Only saw King Kong four times.
Sideline: playwright ("Angela Is Twenty-Two" and "The Meadowlark").
Third husband, Dr. Sanford Rothenberg, was a brain surgeon.
Gothic metal band Type O Negative wrote a song about her called "Fay Wray Come Out and Play".
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 584-587. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.
According to her autobiography, she stated that after she became a naturalized citizen, she registered as a Republican and supported the party ever since.
She was friends with: Laraine Day , Joel McCrea , Frances Dee , Dorothy Lamour , Fred MacMurray , June Haver , Gloria Stuart , Jean Arthur , Ginger Rogers , Walt Disney , Bruce Cabot , Cary Grant , Richard Barthelmess , Mae Clarke , Pat OBrien , Irene Dunne , Bob Hope , Dolores Hope , Robert Cummings , Ann Sothern , Joseph Cotten , Patricia Medina , Robert Montgomery , Walter Pidgeon , Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan.
She was a staunch Republican who gave much of her time and money towards various conservative political causes. She also attended several of the Republican National Conventions and was active in the campaigns of Wendell Willkie , Thomas E. Dewey , Dwight D. Eisenhower , Richard Nixon , Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
She was offered a cameo role in King Kong , a remake of her most famous film ( King Kong ), but turned down because she did not like the script.
She was nominated to be WAMPAS (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) Baby Star of 1926 along with such young actresses as Mary Astor , Joan Crawford , Dolores Costello , Marceline Day , Dolores del Rio and Janet Gaynor.
She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6349 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.
She was posthumously awarded a star on Canadas Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario on June 5, 2005.
Along with Ginger Rogers and actress Marie Blake (Blossom Rock), she was a bridesmaid in Jeanette MacDonalds 1937 wedding to Gene Raymond.
[2004, on her trip to England in 1934] As soon as I got off the boat, a,man met me and said, "Will you please come up to the BBC studios and,scream for us?".
[2004] I have come to believe over the years that Kong is my friend.
[2004, on the remake (King Kong (2005) )] I have no advice for,them.
[2004, on King Kong (1933) ] My scream was a product of pure,imagination. I had to imagine what was happening to me, and I imagined,that the nearest help was far away. When I first saw the picture, I,thought the screams were overdone. But they were an important part of,the picture and I was delighted with how it all looked. My scenes with,King were exactly the way I imagined them.
[2004] Right after The Wedding March (1928) everything happened,at once. Sound was coming in, and color was being used for the first,time. It was very exciting to be a part of it.
[2004, on The Wedding March (1928) ] That film changed my life.
[2004, on The Wedding March (1928) ] That movie meant a lot to me;,my heart was right up in my throat.
[2004] That one single movie [King Kong (1933) ] has reached,millions of people of all ages, all over the world--and audiences are,still fascinated by it today.
[2004, on her role of Ann Darrow in King Kong (1933) ] They put me,in a blonde wig for the role.
[2004, on Doctor X (1932) ,Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) and,The Vampire Bat (1933) ] Those horror pictures were the parts I,was being offered at the time, and the scream came into play in almost,all of them. People today call them classics; that amuses me a little,because I had so many reservations about them when I made them. I,thought they were much too gruesome.
[2004, on King Kong (1933) ] When we did it, I just thought how,lucky I was to be in the movies, where something like this was,possible.
[on declining a role in Titanic (1997) ] I think to have done,Titanic would have been a torturous experience altogether.
There is a lot of strength and intelligence in Hollywood. .
