Fay Wray (born Vina Fay Wray; September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong. Through an acting career that spanned 57 years, Wray attained international renown as an actress in horror movie roles.

After appearing in minor movie roles, Wray gained media attention being selected as one of the "WAMPAS Baby Stars". This led to Wray being contracted to Paramount Pictures as a teenager, where she made more than a dozen movies. After leaving Paramount, she signed deals with various film companies, being cast in her first horror film roles among many other types of roles, including in The Bowery (1933) and Viva Villa (1934), both huge productions starring Wallace Beery. For RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., she starred in the film with which she is most identified, King Kong (1933). After the success of King Kong, Wray appeared in many major movie roles and on television, finishing her acting career in 1980.

Early life

Wray was born on a ranch near Cardston in the province of Alberta, Canada, to two Mormons, Elvina Marguerite Jones, who was from Salt Lake City, and Joseph Heber Wray, who was from Kingston upon Hull, England. She was one of six children. Her family returned to the United States a few years after she was born; they moved to Salt Lake City in 1912 and moved in 1914 to Lark, Utah. In 1919, the Wrays returned to Salt Lake City again and then relocated to Hollywood, California, where Fay attended Hollywood High School.

Early acting career

Wray publicity shot from 1930

In 1923, Wray appeared in her first film at the age of sixteen, when she landed a role in a short historical film sponsored by a local newspaper. 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, American film association, the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers, selected Wray as one of the "WAMPAS Baby Stars", a group of women who they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. She was currently under contract to Universal Studios, mostly co-starring in low budget westerns opposite Buck Jones.

The following year in 1927, Wray was signed to a contract with Paramount Pictures In 1928, director Erich von Stroheim cast her as the main female lead in his film The Wedding March, released under Paramount, a film noted for its high budget and production values. It was a financial failure, but it gave Wray her first lead role. Wray stayed with Paramount to make more than a dozen films and to make the transition from silent films to "talkie" films.

Horror films and King Kong

Fay Wray in the 1933 feature film King Kong

After leaving Paramount, Wray signed to various film companies. It was under these deals that Wray was cast in various horror films, includingDoctor X. However, her greatest known films were produced under her deal with RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.. Her first film under RKO was The Most Dangerous Game (1932), co-starring Joel McCrea and shot at night on the same jungle sets that were being used for King Kong during the day, with the leads from both films, Wray and Robert Armstrong, appearing in both movies.

The Most Dangerous Game was followed by 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 and Wray was approached by director Merian C. Cooper to play the role of Ann Darrow, the blonde captive of King Kong. Wray was paid $10,000 dollars to play the role. The film was a commercial success. Wray was reportedly proud that the film saved RKO from bankruptcy. Wray's role would become the one with which she would be most associated.

Later career

She continued to star in various films, but by the early 1940s, her appearances became less frequent. She retired from acting in 1942, after her second marriage. However, due to financial exigencies she continued in her acting career, and over the next three decades, Wray appeared in certain film roles and also frequently on television.

Wray was cast in the 1953-1954 ABC situation comedy, 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 in three episodes of CBS's courtroom drama, Perry Mason, the first of which was "The Case Of The Prodigal Parent" (Episode 1-36) aired June 7, 1958. In 1959, she portrayed murder victim Lorna Thomas in "The Case of the Watery Witness." In 1965, she played voodooist Mignon Germaine in "The Case of the Fatal Fetish."

In 1959, Wray was cast as Tula Marsh in the episode "The Second Happiest Day" of the CBS anthology series Playhouse 90. Another 1959 role was in the episode "The Morning After" of CBS's Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1960, she appeared as Clara in the episode "Who Killed Cock Robin?" of the ABC/Warner Bros. detective series 77 Sunset Strip. Another 1960 role was that of Mrs. Staunton, with Gigi Perreau as her daughter, Julie, in the episode "Flight from Terror" of the ABC adventure series, The Islanders, set in theSouth Pacific and starring Diane Brewster.

In 1963, she played Mrs. Brubaker in the episode "You're So Smart, Why Can't You Be Good?" episode of the NBC medical dramaabout psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour. She ended her acting career in the 1980 made-for-television film, Gideon's Trumpet.

In 1988, she published her autobiography, On the Other Hand. In her later years, Wray continued to make public appearances. She was approached by James Cameron to play the part of "Rose Dawson Calvert" for his 1997 blockbuster Titanic with Kate Winslet to play her younger self, but she turned down the role and the part of Rose was given to 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. On Oct. 3, 1998, she appeared at the Pine Bluff Film Festival, which showed "The Wedding March" (with live orchestral accompaniment). In January 2003, a 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 also honored with a "Legend in Film" award. In her later years, she also visited the Empire State Building frequently, once visiting in 1991 as a guest of honor at the building's 60th anniversary, and also in May 2004, which was among her last public appearances. Her final public appearance was at an after-party at the Sardi's restaurant in New York City, following the premiere of the documentary film Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There.

Personal life

Wray was married three times – to the writers John Monk Saunders and Robert Riskin and to the neurosurgeon, Dr. 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.

In her autobiography On The Other Hand: A Life Story she declares herself a Republican.

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 Manhattan apartment. Her friend Rick McKay said that "she just kind of drifted off quietly as if she was going to sleep... she just kind of gave out." She was 96 years old. Wray is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery inHollywood, California.

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

In the 2005 film, Carl Denham (Jack Black) mentions he hired Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) "because Fay was unavailable".

Honours

In 1989, Wray was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award. Wray was honored with a "Legend in Film" award at the 2003Palm Beach International Film Festival. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Wray was honored with a star on theHollywood 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 honor. 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 ever be honored by Canada Post by being featured on a postage stamp.

Filmography

• Gasoline Love (1923 short subject)
• Thundering Landlords (1925 short)
• No Father to Guide Him (1925 short)
• The Coast Patrol (1925)
• Sure-Mike (1925 short)
• What Price Goofy (1925 short)
• Isn't Life Terrible? (1925 short)
• Chasing the Chaser (1925 short)
• Madame Sans Jane (1925 short)
• Unfriendly Enemies (1925 short)
• Your Own Back Yard (1925 short)
• Moonlight and Noses (1925 short)
• Should Sailors Marry? (1925 short)
• WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1926 (1926 short)
• One Wild Time (1926 short)
• Don Key (A Son of a Burro) (1926 short)
• The Man in the Saddle (1926)
• Don't Shoot (1926 short)
• The Wild Horse Stampede (1926)
• The Saddle Tramp (1926 short)
• The Show Cowpuncher (1926 short)
• Lazy Lightning (1926)
• Loco Luck (1927)
• A One Man Game (1927)
• Spurs and Saddles (1927)
• A Trip Through the Paramount Studio (1927 short)
• The Honeymoon (1928) (unreleased)
• The Legion of the Condemned (1928)
• Street of Sin (1928)
• The First Kiss (1928)
• The Wedding March (1928)
• Thunderbolt (1929)
• The Four Feathers (1929)
• Pointed Heels (1929)
• Behind the Make-Up (1930)
• Paramount on Parade (1930)
• The Texan (1930)
• The Border Legion (1930)
• The Sea God (1930)
• Captain Thunder (1930)
• Stub Man(1931)
• The Conquering Horde (1931)
• Three Rogues (1931)
• The Slippery Pearls (1931 short)
• Dirigible (1931)
• The Finger Points (1931)
• The Lawyer's Secret (1931)
• The Unholy Garden (1931)
• Hollywood on Parade (1932) (short subject)
• Stowaway (1932)
• Doctor X (1932)
• The Most Dangerous Game (1932)
• The Vampire Bat (1933)
• Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
• King Kong (1933)
• Below the Sea (1933)
• Ann Carver's Profession (1933)
• The Woman I Stole (1933)
• Shanghai Madness (1933)
• The Big Brain (1933)
• One Sunday Afternoon (1933)
• The Bowery (1933)
• Master of Men (1933)
• The Clairvoyant (1934)
• Madame Spy (1934)
• The Countess of Monte Cristo (1934)
• Once to Every Woman (1934)
• Viva Villa! (1934)
• The Affairs of Cellini (1934)
• Black Moon (1934)
• The Richest Girl in the World (1934)
• Cheating Cheaters (1934)
• Woman in the Dark (1934) also available as Woman In The Shadows, based on a Dashiell Hammett story
• Come Out of the Pantry (1935)
• Mills of the Gods (1935)
• Bulldog Jack (1935)
• White Lies (1935)
• When Knights Were Bold (1936)
• Roaming Lady (1936)
• They Met in a Taxi (1936)
• It Happened in Hollywood (1937)
• Murder in Greenwich Village (1937)
• The Jury's Secret (1938)
• Smashing the Spy Ring (1939)
• Navy Secrets (1939)
• Wildcat Bus (1940)
• Melody for Three (1941)
• Adam Had Four Sons (1941)
• Not a Ladies' Man (1942)
• Treasure of the Golden Condor (1953)
• Small Town Girl (1953)
• Hell on Frisco Bay (1955)
• The Cobweb (1955)
• Queen Bee (1955)
• Rock, Pretty Baby (1956)
• Crime of Passion (1957)
• Tammy and the Bachelor (1957)
• Summer Love (1958)
• Dragstrip Riot (1958)
• Gideon's Trumpet (1980)
• Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1997 documentary)
• Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There(2003 documentary)