Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian-American actress best known for starring as Ann Darrow in the 1933 film King Kong. Through an acting career that spanned nearly six decades, Wray attained international recognition as an actress in horror films. She has been dubbed the first "scream queen".
She had minor film roles, and gained media attention as one of the "WAMPAS Baby Stars" in 1926. This led to her contract with Paramount Pictures as a teenager, where she made more than a dozen feature films. After leaving Paramount, she signed deals with various film companies, got her first roles in horror films and many other types, including in The Bowery (1933) and Viva Villa! (1934), both of which star Wallace Beery. For RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., Wray starred in her most identifiable film, King Kong (1933). After its success, she had numerous roles in film and television, retiring in 1980.
Life and career[]
Early life[]
Wray was born on a ranch near Cardston, Alberta, to parents who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Elvina Marguerite Jones from Salt Lake City, Utah, and Joseph Heber Wray from Kingston upon Hull, England.[1] They had six children[2] and she was a granddaughter of LDS pioneer Daniel Webster Jones. Her ancestors came from England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Wales.
Her family returned to the United States a few years after she was born; they moved to Salt Lake City in 1912[3] and moved to Lark, Utah, in 1914. In 1919, the Wray family returned to Salt Lake City, and then relocated to Hollywood, where she attended Hollywood High School.[4]
Early acting career[]
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.[5] In the 1920s, Wray appeared in the silent film The Coast Patrol (1925), and 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. The film was noted for its high budget and production values, but 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".[6]
Horror films and King Kong[]
After leaving Paramount, Wray signed with other film studios. Under these deals, Wray was cast in several horror films, including Doctor X (1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). 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 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 best-remembered 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.[7] Wray was approached by director Merian C. Cooper to play King Kong's blonde captive, Ann Darrow, for which she was paid $10,000 (equivalent to about $200,000 in 2024).[8] The film was a commercial success and Wray was reportedly proud that it saved RKO from bankruptcy.[9]
Later career[]
Wray continued starring in films, including The Richest Girl in the World, but by the early 1940s, her appearances became less frequent. She retired in 1942 after her second marriage but due to financial exigencies she soon resumed her acting career,[8] and over the next three decades, she appeared in several films and appeared frequently on television. She portrayed Catherine Morrison in the 1953–54 sitcom The Pride of the Family[10] with Natalie Wood as her daughter. Wray appeared in Queen Bee and The Cobweb, both 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. Wray also co-starred with Perry Mason star Raymond Burr in the 1957 noir film release Crime of Passion.
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 "Theater in the Barn". In 1963, she played Mrs. Brubaker in The Eleventh Hour episode "You're So Smart, Why Can't You Be Good?" She ended her acting career with the 1980 made-for-television film Gideon's Trumpet.
In 1988, her autobiography was released, On the Other Hand.[11] 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.[12]
She was approached by James Cameron to play Rose Dawson Calvert for his blockbuster Titanic (1997) with Kate Winslet to play her younger self, but she turned down the role, which was subsequently portrayed by Gloria Stuart in an Oscar-nominated performance. 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 October 3, 1998, she appeared at the Pine Bluff Film Festival, which showed The Wedding March with live orchestral accompaniment.[13]
In January 2003, at age 95, she appeared at the 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,[14] she made one of her last public appearances at the ESB. Her final public appearance was at the premiere of the documentary film Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There in June 2004.[15]
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).[16] She had three children: Susan Saunders, Victoria Riskin, and Robert Riskin Jr.[17][18]
After returning to the US after finishing The Clairvoyant she became a naturalized citizen of the United States in May 1935.[19]
Death[]
Wray died in her sleep of natural causes on the night of August 8, 2004, in her apartment on Fifth Avenue Manhattan.[20][21] She is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.[22]
Two days after her death, the lights of the Empire State Building were lowered for 15 minutes in her memory.[23]
Honors[]
In 1989, Wray was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award.[24] 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 honor. The small sign at the edge of the park on Main Street has a silhouette of King Kong. A large oil portrait of Wray by Alberta artist Neil Boyle is on display in the Empress Theater 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.[25]
Filmography[]
Film[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 | The Coast Patrol | Beth Slocum | |
| A Lover's Oath | Unknown | Uncredited; lost film | |
| Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ | Slave Girl | Unconfirmed; uncredited | |
| 1926 | The Man in the Saddle | Pauline Stewart | Lost film |
| The Wild Horse Stampede | Jessie Hayden | ||
| Lazy Lightning | Lila Rogers | ||
| 1927 | Loco Luck | Molly Vernon | |
| A One Man Game | Roberta | ||
| Spurs and Saddles | Mildred Orth | ||
| 1928 | The Legion of the Condemned | Christine Charteris | Lost film |
| The Street of Sin | Elizabeth | ||
| The First Kiss | Anna Lee | ||
| The Wedding March | Mitzi / Mitzerl Schrammell | ||
| 1929 | The Four Feathers | Ethne Eustace | |
| Thunderbolt | Ritzie | ||
| Pointed Heels | Lora Nixon | ||
| 1930 | Behind the Make-Up | Marie Gardoni | |
| Paramount on Parade | Sweetheart (Dream Girl) | Filmed partly in Technicolor | |
| The Texan | Consuelo | ||
| The Border Legion | Joan Randall | ||
| The Sea God | Daisy | ||
| The Honeymoon | Mitzi | Unreleased | |
| Captain Thunder | Ynez | ||
| 1931 | Stub Man | Unknown | |
| Dirigible | Helen Pierce | ||
| The Conquering Horde | Taisie Lockhart | ||
| Not Exactly Gentlemen | Lee Carleton | ||
| The Finger Points | Marcia Collins | ||
| The Lawyer's Secret | Kay Roberts | ||
| The Unholy Garden | Camille de Jonghe | ||
| 1932 | Stowaway | Mary Foster | |
| Doctor X | Joanne Xavier | Filmed in Technicolor | |
| The Most Dangerous Game' | Eve Trowbridge | ||
| 1933 | The Vampire Bat | Ruth Bertin | |
| Mystery of the Wax Museum | Charlotte Duncan | Filmed in Technicolor | |
| King Kong | Ann Darrow | ||
| Below the Sea | Diana | ||
| Ann Carver's Profession | Ann Carver Graham | ||
| The Woman I Stole | Vida Carew | ||
| Shanghai Madness | Wildeth Christie | ||
| The Big Brain | Cynthia Glennon | ||
| One Sunday Afternoon | Virginia Brush | ||
| The Bowery | Lucy Calhoun | ||
| Master of Men | Kay Walling | ||
| 1934 | Madame Spy | Marie Franck | |
| The Countess of Monte Cristo | Janet Krueger | ||
| Once to Every Woman | Mary Fanshane | ||
| Viva Villa! | Teresa | ||
| Black Moon | Gail Hamilton | ||
| The Affairs of Cellini | Angela | ||
| The Richest Girl in the World | Sylvia Lockwood | ||
| Cheating Cheaters | Nan Brockton | ||
| Woman in the Dark | Louise Loring | ||
| Mills of the Gods | Jean Hastings | ||
| 1935 | The Clairvoyant | Rene | U.S. title: The Evil Mind |
| Bulldog Jack | Ann Manders | ||
| Come Out of the Pantry | Hilda Beach-Howard | ||
| White Lies | Joan Mitchell | ||
| 1936 | When Knights Were Bold | Lady Rowena | |
| Roaming Lady | Joyce Reid | ||
| They Met in a Taxi | Mary Trenton | ||
| 1937 | It Happened in Hollywood | Gloria Gay | |
| Murder in Greenwich Village | Kay Cabot (aka Lucky) | ||
| 1938 | The Jury's Secret | Linda Ware | |
| Smashing the Spy Ring | Eleanor Dunlap | ||
| 1939 | Navy Secrets | Carol Mathews – Posing as Carol Evans | |
| 1940 | Wildcat Bus | Ted Dawson | |
| 1941 | Adam Had Four Sons | Molly Stoddard | |
| Melody for Three | Mary Stanley | ||
| 1942 | Not a Ladies' Man | Hester Hunter | |
| 1944 | This Is the Life | Unknown | Based on a play by Wray and Sinclair Lewis |
| 1953 | Treasure of the Golden Condor | Annette, Marquise de St. Malo | |
| Small Town Girl | Mrs. Kimbell | ||
| 1955 | The Cobweb | Edna Devanal | |
| Queen Bee | Sue McKinnon | ||
| 1956 | Hell on Frisco Bay | Kay Stanley | |
| Rock, Pretty Baby | Beth Daley | ||
| 1957 | Crime of Passion | Alice Pope | |
| Tammy and the Bachelor | Mrs. Brent | ||
| World in White | Mrs. Victor | Television film | |
| 1958 | Summer Love | Beth Daley | |
| Dragstrip Riot | Norma Martin / Mrs. Martin | ||
| 1980 | Gideon's Trumpet | Edna Curtis | Television film |
| 1997 | Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's | Herself | Documentary |
| 2003 | Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There |
Short subjects[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1923 | Gasoline Love | Unknown | |
| Speed Bugs | |||
| 1924 | Just A Good Guy | Girl Getting Into Car | |
| 1925 | Sure-Mike | Salesgirl at Department Store | |
| What Price Goofy | Concerned Girl with Perfume | Uncredited | |
| Isn't Life Terrible? | Potential Pen-Buyer | ||
| Thundering Landlords | The Wife | ||
| Chasing the Chaser | Nursemaid | ||
| Madame Sans Jane | Unknown | ||
| No Father to Guide Him | Beach House Cashier | Uncredited | |
| Unfriendly Enemies | The Girl | ||
| Your Own Back Yard | Woman in Quarrelsome Couple | ||
| Moonlight and Noses | Miss Sniff, the Professor's Daughter | ||
| Should Sailors Marry? | Herself | ||
| 1926 | WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1926 | ||
| One Wild Time | Unknown | ||
| Don Key (A Son of a Burro) | |||
| Don't Shoot | Nancy Burton | ||
| The Saddle Tramp | Unknown | ||
| The Show Cowpuncher | |||
| 1927 | A Trip Through the Paramount Studio | Herself | |
| 1931 | The Slippery Pearls | ||
| 1932 | Hollywood on Parade |
Television[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Cavalcade of America | Mrs. Jefferson Davis | Episode: "One Nation Indivisible" |
| 1953–1954 | The Pride of the Family | Catherine Morrison | 30 episodes |
| 1955 | Damon Runyon Theater | Mrs. Grace Harper | Episode: "There's No Forever" |
| 1955–1956 | Studio 57 | Mary Collins | 2 episodes |
| 1955–1957 | Fireside Theater | Mrs. Parr / Myra | |
| 1956 | Screen Director's Playhouse | Mary Parker | Episode: "It's Always Sunday" |
| The 20th Century Fox Hour | Agnes Marsh | Episode: "In Times Like These" | |
| 1957 | NBC Matinee Theater | Unknown | Episode: "Hymn to the Dedicated" |
| Telephone Time | Miss Perry | Episode: "Alice's Wedding Gown" | |
| 1957–1961 | General Electric Theater | Mrs. Bassett / Mrs. Turner | 3 episodes |
| 1958 | Kraft Television Theater | Unknown | Episode: "Eddie" |
| Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | Episode: "Penny Wise" | ||
| 1958–1959 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Mrs. Renshaw / Mrs. Nelson | 2 episodes |
| 1958–1965 | Perry Mason | Mignon Germaine / Lorna Thomas / Ethel Harrison | 3 episodes |
| 1959 | The David Niven Show | Allison | Episode: "The Promise |
| Playhouse 90 | Tula Marsh | Episode: "The Second Happiest Day" | |
| 1960 | 77 Sunset Strip | Clara Moore | Episode: "Who Killed Cock Robin" |
| Hawaiian Eye | Amelia Goodwin | Episode: "Bequest of Arthur Goodwin" | |
| The Islanders | Mrs. Staunton | Episode: "Flight from Terror" | |
| 1961 | The Real McCoys | Herself | Episode: "Theater in the Barn" |
| 1962 | Wagon Train | Mrs. Edwards | Episode: "The Cole Crawford Story" |
| 1964 | The Eleventh Hour | Mrs. Brubaker | Episode: "You're So Smart, Why Can't You Be Good?" |
| 1965 | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater | Mrs. White | Episode: "Double Jeopardy" |
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ "Ancestry of Fay Wray". Wargs.com. Retrieved on March 9, 2011.
- ↑ "Fay Wray". Northern Stars. Archived from the original on June 11, 2011. Retrieved on March 9, 2011.
- ↑ Bauman, Joe (January 26, 2009). "Utah-Hollywood connection runs deep". Desert News.
- ↑ "Fay Wray". Hollywood Walk of Fame (October 25, 2019). Retrieved on March 3, 2025.
- ↑ SL Tribune, January 26, 2009
- ↑ "Fay Wray". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved on March 9, 2011.
- ↑ Parish, James (August 23, 2016). "The Hollywood Beauties". Amazon.com. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Fay Wray". Emol.org. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved on March 9, 2011.
- ↑ "Fay Wray by Kendahl Cruver". Things-and-other-stuff.com (September 15, 1907). Retrieved on March 9, 2011.
- ↑ Terrace, Vincent (October 20, 2011). "Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010". Amazon.com. McFarland & Company.
- ↑ Wray, Fay (January 1, 1990). "On the Other Hand: A Life Story". Amazon.com. Trafalgar Square.
- ↑ "Beaux Arts Society: Royal Family". Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved on February 24, 2014.
- ↑ "Past Performances". UserHome.Brooklyn.CUNY.edu. Retrieved on March 31, 2025.
- ↑ "UPI.com". UPI.com. Retrieved on March 9, 2011.
- ↑ Luther, Claudia (August 10, 2004). "From the Archives: Fay Wray, 96; Actress, Object of Ape's Desire in 'King Kong'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on March 28, 2022.
- ↑ "Social Security Death Index". SSDI.Rootsweb.Ancestry.com (July 15, 2010). Retrieved on March 9, 2011.
- ↑ Kinnard, Roy (October 25, 2005). "The Films of Fay Wray". Amazon.com. McFarland. Retrieved on July 17, 2016.
- ↑ "'King Kong' damsel Fay Wray dies at 96". TODAY.com (August 9, 2004). Retrieved on July 17, 2016.
- ↑ Riskin, Victoria (February 26, 2019). "Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir". Amazon.com. Pantheon.
- ↑ Luther, Claudia (August 10, 2004). "From the Archives: Fay Wray, 96; Actress, Object of Ape's Desire in 'King Kong'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on January 17, 2022.
- ↑ "Fay Wray, Beauty to Kong's Beast, Dies at 96". The New York Times (August 9, 2004).
- ↑ "A Visit to FAY WRAY's Gravesite (at Hollywood Forever Cemetery) King Kong". YouTube.com (September 28, 2010).
- ↑ "Fay Wray – Empire State Building to Dim Lights in Remembrance of Actress Fay Wray". UPI.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2010. Retrieved on March 9, 2011.
- ↑ "Past Recipients: Crystal Award". Women In Film. Archived from the original on June 30, 2011. Retrieved on May 10, 2011.
- ↑ "Canada Post honors four legendary Canadians in Hollywood". Canada.ca (May 26, 2006). Retrieved on March 3, 2025.
External links[]
- Fay Wray at Wikipedia
- Fay Wray at the Internet Movie Database
- Fay Wray at Northern Stars website
- Fay Wray speaking at UCLA on November 18, 1970
- Fay Wray at Find a Grave
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