Fay Wray as Ann
How many films can truly be said to be definitive? The answer is probably "not many", but the original 1933 version of King Kong is certainly one of them. For its time, every aspect is innovative. First-of-their-kind special effects, first-of-its-kind plot, famous performances and a final sequence that remains unequalled as an eye-popping cinematic experience. The quality of cinematography and visual trickery has progressed a long way since 1933 - so the special effects obviously look rather primitive to 21st Century eyes - but anyone with a shred of common sense will still be astounded by what they see. Ace film director Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) hires an unemployed, attractive New York woman Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) to star in his new picture. He takes her by boat to remote Skull Island where, according to legend, there lives an awesome god-like beast named Kong. Denham's plan is to shoot a variation of the Beauty and the Beast story, using Ann as his beauty and Kong as his beast. Everyone involved gets more than they bargained for when Ann is kidnapped by the island natives and offered as a sacrifice to Kong. She is kidnapped by a gigantic prehistoric ape and saved only by the courage of ship's mate Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot). But Denham has one more trick up his sleeve when he captures Kong and takes the beast back to New York. You don't really think those chains will hold him, do you?
Biography for Fay Wray
Birth name
Vina Fay Wray
Date of birth
10 September 1907
Near Cardston, Alberta, Canada
Date of death
8 August 2004
Manhattan, New York, USA.
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Canadian born, Fay Wray was brought up in Los Angeles and entered films at an early age. Fay was barely in her teens when she started working as an extra. Her early career has been described as working in "Oaters" as she was often cast as the silent heroine in Westerns at Universal. In 1926, the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers selected 13 young starlets whom they deemed most likely to succeed in pictures. Fay was chosen as one of these starlets along with Janet Gaynor and Mary Astor. Fame would indeed come to Fay when she played another heroine in Stroheim's Wedding March, The (1928). She would continue playing leads in a number of films such as the good-bad girl in Thunderbolt (1929). By the early 30's, she was at Paramount working with Gary Cooper and Jack Holt in a number of average films like Master of Men (1933). She also appeared in horror films such as Doctor X (1932) and Vampire Bat, The (1933) and it is not known whether the Horror is script driven or work driven. Next Fay was told that she would work with a tall dark leading man, only to find that it was a gorilla. Perhaps no one in the history of pictures could scream more dramatically than Fay, and she really put on a show with King Kong (1933). Fay's character provided a combination of sex appeal, vulnerability and lung capacity as she was stalked by the giant beast all the way to the top of the Empire State Building. But that was as far as Fay would rise as this was, after all, just another horror-type movie. After the King, she began a slow decline that put her into low-budget action films by the mid 30's. In 1939, her marriage to Saunders would end in divorce and her career would be almost finished. In 1942, Fay would remarry and retire from the screen, forever to be remembered as the girl in 'King Kong'. In 1953, she would make a comeback playing mature character roles and also appear on Television as Catherine, Natalie Wood's mother in "Pride of the Family, The" (1953). She would continue to appear in films until 1958 and Television into the 60's.
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Fay Wray will always be remembered as the shrieking, blond Beauty who "killed" the Beast in King Kong (1933), which is a mixed blessing. Without the classic monster movie, Wray's career might be forgotten today. On the other hand (a phrase she used as the title of her 1989 autobiography), her Kong notoriety overshadows her fine work in Erich von Stroheim's The Wedding March. Raised in Los Angeles, Wray by age 16 was working in low-budget movies. She appeared in Hal Roach comedy shorts and was leading lady to Western stars Hoot Gibson (in 1923's The Man in the Saddle and Art Acord (in 1926's Lazy Lightning but was largely dissatisfied with her screen work until she was signed by producer Pat Powers for The Wedding March in 1926.
Von Stroheim's production went over schedule and over budget, and Powers sold the picture-and Wray's contract-to Paramount. Even in its truncated form, The Wedding March (finally released in 1928) was a masterful film that showcased Wray's virginal beauty. Paramount's The Street of Sin (1927) offered Wray an opportunity to work with German star Emil Jannings and Swedish director Mauritz Stiller. She appeared in The Legion of the Condemned (1927) with Gary Cooper for director William Wellman, and also costarred in Josef von Sternberg's first talkie, Thunderbolt (1929).
The Four Feathers (1929) was an odd hybrid production that combined semidocumentary footage directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack with studio footage helmed by German �migr� Lothar Mendes, but it gave Wray her first opportunity to work with the team that would create King Kong When she joined the cast of Kong the protracted schedule allowed her to work on several other movies concurrently, especially thrillers and horror films, including a pair of Technicolor thrillers, Doctor X (1932) and The Mystery of the Wax Museum The Vampire Bat (both 1933), and particularly The Most Dangerous Game (1932), which was directed by Schoedsack (with actor Irving Pichel) and shot on the Kong jungle sets at night. Other films from this period include Dirigible, The Unholy Garden (both 1930), One Sunday Afternoon and The Bowery (both 1933).
By the time King Kong finally reached the screen in 1933, Wray was firmly established as the talkie's first "scream queen," a persona she did her best to dispel in subsequent assignments. She acted in prestige pictures such as Affairs of Cellini, Viva Villa!, The Richest Girl in the World and The Captain Hates the Sea (all 1934), but those films, as well as later programmers in which she toiled, did very little for her career. Divorced from screenwriter John Monk Saunders in 1939, Wray married screenwriter Robert Riskin in 1942 and retired from the screen. In the 1950s she returned to character parts in The Cobweb, Queen Bee (both 1955), Rock, Pretty Baby (1956), Tammy and the Bachelor (1957), and her last feature, Dragstrip Riot (1958). Her autobiography, "On the Other Hand" (1989) reveals that Wray had a life much more interesting than the characters she played.
She was born Vina Fay Wray near Cardston, Alberta, Canada on September 15, 1907. Fay was from a large family that included five other siblings. She moved to Arizona when she was still small in order for her father to find better work than what was offered in Alberta. After moving again to California, her parents divorced which put the rest of the family under hard times. Being in entertainment rich Los Angeles, there was ample opportunity to take advantage of the chances that might come her way in the entertainment industry. At the age of 16, Fay played her first role in a motion picture, albeit a small one. The film was GASOLINE LOVE in 1923. The film was neither a hit nor was it a launching vehicle for her career. It would be two more years before she ever got another chance. When it did come it was another lackluster film called THE COAST PATROL. The only thing it did for Fay was give her a slightly more prominent role than the film two years earlier. Four more films followed in 1926 and her career had finally left the ground. She was noticed to the extent that the Western Association of Motion Pictures chose her as one of thirteen starlets most likely to succeed in film. After three films in 1927, the following year would solidify Fay as an actress to be reckoned with. She played the lead, Mitzi Schrammell in the hit, THE WEDDING MARCH. She had made the successful transition into the "talkie" era when most performers services were no longer needed because of the sound of their voices on film. By 1933, Fay was to appear in eleven films such as THE BIG BRAIN, THE VAMPIRE BAT, and ANN CARVER'S PROFESSION. But it was another film which would place her in a role that is remembered to this day. That year she played Ann Darrow in the now classic KING KONG. After that one Fay would come by more and better roles, but she is best remembered for that one performance. The movie wound up being named one of the 100 greatest films of all time by the American Film Institute in 1998. She continued her pace in films, making eleven films again in 1934. Films that year which were added to her filmography was ONCE TO EVERY WOMAN, VIVA VILLA!, and BULLDOG JACK. Her career was now beginning the proverbial backward slide. Movie roles were coming fewer and fewer with new stars on the horizon. Now it was Fay's services which were being curtailed. Her 11 year marriage to John Saunders ended in a painful divorce. After NOT A LADIES MAN in 1942, Fay would not be in another film until 1953's TREASURE OF THE GOLDEN CONDOR. The films she appeared in during the latter 50s were not much to write home about. Several were some of the weakest ever projected. Her last performance before the cameras was a made for television movie called GIDEON'S TRUMPET.
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Trivia
Referenced in the 1998 song "Are You Jimmy Ray?" by Jimmy Ray
Made a special guest appearance at The 70th Annual Academy Awards (1998) (TV). Billy Crystal introduced a small film of her work in RKO's King Kong (1933) and then climbed off the stage, standing next to Miss Wray in the audience and then announced her presence. He described her as the "Beauty who charmed the Beast" and the "Legendary Fay Wray". A surprised Miss Wray rose from her seat to instantaneous rapturous applause and waved to the whole audience. Unusually, for a star of her stature, there was no standing ovation as Miss Wray did not appear on the main award stage. Billy Crystal innocently teased her about it being the "This Is Your Life" (1952) show and thanked her for being a part of the celebration of the 70 years of the Academy Awards. Miss Wray then assisted Billy Crystal announce the next presenters, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, to which there was further applause for Miss Wray, who smiled with gratitude.
She had a daughter, 'Susan Riskin' , by her first marriage to the 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.
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, McKay's 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 Hollywood's 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 (1933) (both at Warner Brothers with Lionel Atwill). She also costarred in The Vampire Bat (1933) at Majestic (again with Atwill) and at RKO she made The Most Dangerous Game (1932) and, of course, King Kong (1933).
Despite leaving Canada at an early age, she often visited Cardston, Alberta, her hometown.
Saved RKO from bankruptcy with the movie King Kong.
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.
Buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, California. This cemetery is near downtown Hollywood just blocks from Hollywood and Vine Streets. The cemetery is across from Paramount Studios and surrounded by many businesses and 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'; in the opening song, 'then something went wrong/for Fay Wray and King Kong/they got caught in a celluloid jam'.
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Personal quotes
"At the premiere of 'King Kong' I wasn't too impressed. I thought there was too much screaming...I didn't realise then that King Kong and I were going to be together for the rest of our lives, and longer...". (2004)
"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?'" [On her trip to England in 1934] (2004)
"I have come to believe over the years that Kong is my friend" (2004)
"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) [In reference to King Kong (1933)]
"Right after The Wedding March, everything happened at once. Sound was coming in, and colour was being used for the first time. It was very exciting to be a part of it" (2004)
"She was an lovely actress and I admired her very much. She was a very delicate and elegant lady". [Remembering her time working with Lillian Gish in The Cobweb (1955)] (2004)
"That movie meant a lot to me, my heart was right up in my throat". [In reference to The Wedding March (1928) and speaking in early 2004]
"That one single movie (King Kong), has reached million of people of all ages, all over the world - and audiences are still fascinated by it today" (2004)
"They put me in a blonde wig for the role". [In reference to her character Ann Darrow in King Kong and speaking in 2004]
"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 though they were much too gruesome". [In reference to Doctor X (1932), Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) and The Vampire Bat (1933) and speaking in early 2004]
"When my youngest daughter first saw the film, she said Kong wasn't trying to hurt you he was just trying to protect you, which was right" (2004) [In reference to King Kong (1933)]
[In reference to King Kong (1933)] "He (Merion Cooper) called me into his office and showed me sketches of jungle scenes, and told me 'You're going to have the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood.' Naturally, I though Clark Gable, But then he showed me this sketch of a giant ape up the side of the Empire State Building, he said 'There's your leading man'" (2004)
[On her favourite screen appearance in The Wedding March (1928)] "I still love that film, Eric Von Stroheim was a wonderful human being, and he took a chance on me. I was only 19 when I did the screen test, but he saw something in me. After 75 years, it's still one of the happiest experiences of my life. And it was a nice part, wasn't it?". (2004)
"All my life I've written something, I've always cared much more about writing than I do about acting." (2004)
"If they don't have it in their hearts, they shouldn't be doing it, but if they do, hey just need to feel their way through it, just like we did so long ago." [In reference to the planned King Kong remake and speaking in early 2004]
"When I shot my scenes Kong wasn't there at all. I had to use my imagination, which was exciting and terrifying at the same time. Acting is about the imagination, that's the great joy of it. But nothing quite like it had been done before, so I was a little nervous about how it would all come together." (2004)
"I was known as the queen of the Bs. If only I'd been a little more selective."
"Every time I'm in New York I say a little prayer when passing the Empire State Building. A good friend of mine died up there."
"When I'm in New York. I look at the Empire State Building and feel as though it belongs to me, or is it vice versa?" (in 1969 interview with the New York Times)
"Recently, a six-year-old boy said to me, 'I've been waiting to meet you for half my life" (1993, on not being able to escape her role in "King Kong")
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Links:
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2002) .... Herself
Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1998) .... Herself
Universal Horror (1998) (TV) .... Herself
Frank Capra's American Dream (1997) (TV) .... Herself (interviewee)
Gideon's Trumpet (1980) (TV) .... Edna Curtis
Dragstrip Riot (1958) .... Mrs. Martin
... aka Reckless Age, The (1958) (UK)
Summer Love (1958) .... Beth Daley
Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) .... Mrs. Brent
... aka Tammy (1957) (UK)
... aka Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) (UK)
Crime of Passion (1957) .... Alice Pope
Rock, Pretty Baby (1956) .... Beth Daley
Hell on Frisco Bay (1955) .... Kay Stanley
Queen Bee (1955) .... Sue McKinnon
Cobweb, The (1955) .... Edna Devanal
"Pride of the Family, The" (1953) TV Series .... Catherine Morrison (1953-54)
Small Town Girl (1953) .... Mrs. Gordon Kimbell
Treasure of the Golden Condor (1953) .... Marquise
Not a Ladies' Man (1942)
Melody for Three (1941) .... Mary Stanley
Adam Had Four Sons (1941) .... Molly Stoddard
... aka Legacy (1941) (USA)
Wildcat Bus (1940) .... Ted Dawson
Smashing the Spy Ring (1939) .... Eleanor Dunlap
Navy Secrets (1939) .... Carol, Navy Undercover Operative
Jury's Secret, The (1938) .... Linda Ware
Murder in Greenwich Village (1937) .... Kay Cabot
... aka Park Avenue Dame (1937) (USA)
... aka Park Avenue Girl (1937) (USA)
It Happened in Hollywood (1937) .... Gloria Gay
Roaming Lady (1936) .... Joyce Reid
They Met in a Taxi (1936) .... Mary
When Knights Were Bold (1936) .... Lady Rowena
Come Out of the Pantry (1935) .... Hilda Beach-Howard
Mills of the Gods (1935) .... Jean
White Lies (1935) .... Joan Mitchell
Black Moon (1934) .... Gail Hamilton
Bulldog Jack (1934) .... Ann Manders
... aka Alias Bulldog Drummond (1934) (USA)
Clairvoyant, The (1934) .... Rene
... aka Evil Mind, The (1934)
Madame Spy (1934) .... Marie Franck
Once to Every Woman (1934) .... Mary Fanshane
Cheating Cheaters (1934) .... Nan Brockton
Woman in the Dark (1934) .... Louise Loring
... aka Woman in the Shadows (1934)
Richest Girl in the World, The (1934) .... Sylvia
Affairs of Cellini, The (1934) .... Angela
... aka Firebrand, The (1934)
Viva Villa! (1934) .... Teresa
Countess of Monte Cristo, The (1934) .... Janet Krueger
Ann Carver's Profession (1933) .... Ann Carver
Big Brain, The (1933) .... Cynthia Glennon
... aka Enemies of Society (1933) (USA: changed title)
Bowery, The (1933) .... Lucy Calhoun
Master of Men (1933) .... Kay Walling
Woman I Stole, The (1933) .... Vida Carew
One Sunday Afternoon (1933) .... Virginia Brush
Shanghai Madness (1933) .... Wildeth Christie
King Kong (1933) .... Ann Darrow
... aka Eighth Wonder of the World, The (1933)
... aka Eighth Wonder, The (1933)
Below the Sea (1933) .... Diane Templeton
Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) .... Charlotte Duncan
... aka Wax Museum (1933)
Vampire Bat, The (1933) .... Ruth Bertin
Doctor X (1932) .... Joanne Xavier
Most Dangerous Game, The (1932) .... Eve
... aka Hounds of Zaroff, The (1932) (UK)
Stowaway (1932) .... Mary Foster
Unholy Garden, The (1931) .... Camille de Jonghe
Lawyer's Secret, The (1931) .... Kay Roberts
Finger Points, The (1931) .... Marcia Collins
Dirigible (1931) .... Helen Pierce
Slippery Pearls, The (1931) .... Herself
... aka Stolen Jools, The (1931)
Three Rogues (1931) .... Lee Carleton
... aka Not Exactly Gentlemen (1931)
Conquering Horde, The (1931) .... Taisie Lockhart
Captain Thunder (1930) .... Ynez Dominguez
Sea God, The (1930) .... Daisy
Border Legion, The (1930) .... Joan Randall
Texan, The (1930) .... Consuelo
Paramount on Parade (1930) .... Cameo appearance
Behind the Make-Up (1930) .... Marie Gardoni
Four Feathers, The (1929) .... Ethne Eustace
Pointed Heels (1929) .... Lora Nixon
Thunderbolt (1929) .... Ritzy
Honeymoon, The (1928/III) .... Mitzi
Wedding March, The (1928) .... Mitzi Schrammell
... aka Honeymoon, The (1928/I)
First Kiss, The (1928) .... Anna Lee
Street of Sin (1928) .... Elizabeth
Legion of the Condemned, The (1928) .... Christine Charteris
Spurs and Saddles (1927) .... Mildred Orth
One Man Game, A (1927) .... Roberta
Loco Luck (1927) .... Molly Vernon
Lazy Lightning (1926) .... Lila Rogers
Wild Horse Stampede, The (1926) .... Jessie Hayden
Don't Shoot (1926)
Man in the Saddle, The (1926) .... Pauline Stewart
Don Key (A Son of Burro) (1926)
Coast Patrol, The (1925) .... Beth Slocum
What Price Goofy (1925)
Moonlight and Noses (1925) .... His daughter
Your Own Back Yard (1925) .... Woman in quarrelsome couple
Unfriendly Enemies (1925) .... The girl
Chasing the Chaser (1925)
Isn't Life Terrible (1925) .... Potential Pen Buyer
Should Sailors Marry? (1924)
Gasoline Love (1923)