Fay Wray

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Fay Wray

Publicity photo for King Kong, ca. 1933
Born Vina Fay Wray
September 15, 1907(1907-09-15)
Cardston, Alberta, Canada
Died August 8, 2004 (aged 96)
New York, New York, U.S.

Vina Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian–American actress.

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[edit] Early life

Wray was born on a ranch near Cardston, Alberta, Canada to Elvina Marguerite Jones, who was from Salt Lake City, Utah, and Joseph Heber Wray, who was from Kingston upon Hull, England.[1] Her family moved to the United States when she was three. Although Wray's autobiography discusses her Mormon parentage and makes it clear that she was culturally Mormon, she was apparently never baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Wray's family lived in predominantly Mormon communities in Alberta, Arizona and Salt Lake City, Utah before settling in Los Angeles, California, where she got her first film work in Hal Roach comedy shorts and in low-budget westerns in the early 1920s.

[edit] Career

Wray gained media attention when she was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1926, which resulted in a contract at Paramount Pictures.

In 1928, director Erich von Stroheim cast Wray as the main female lead in his troubled production of The Wedding March, which sent Hollywood in a buzz for its high budget and production values. It was a financial failure, but it gave Wray her first lead role.

She is best remembered for her role as Ann Darrow, the blonde seductress of the gigantic gorilla in the classic horror/adventure film King Kong (1933). She wore a blonde wig over her naturally dark hair for the role.

She continued in films but by the early 1940s her appearances grew sporadic. She appeared frequently on television making her final appearance in 1980.

Her autobiography, On the Other Hand, was published in 1988.

In the later years of her life, Wray continued to make public appearances, and was a guest at the 70th Academy Awards, where the show's host, Billy Crystal introduced her and paid tribute to her film legacy.

Wray was approached to appear in a small cameo for the 2005 remake of King Kong, and also met with Naomi Watts who was to play the Ann Darrow role. Before filming commenced, however, Wray died in her sleep on August 8, 2004, in her Manhattan apartment of natural causes (writers of the remake did honor her, however, with a comical mention in that film). She was 96 years old, only 38 days short of her 97th birthday. Wray was interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. After her death was announced the lights on the Empire State Building were extinguished for 15 minutes in her memory.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Fay Wray has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6349 Hollywood Blvd. She received a posthumous star 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, is 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. 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.

[edit] Personal life

Wray was married three times - to John Monk Saunders, Robert Riskin and Dr. Sanford Rothenberg.

She had three children: Susan Saunders, Victoria Riskin, and Robert Riskin Jr.

She became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1935.

[edit] Filmography

  • Gasoline Love (1923) (short subject)
  • Thundering Landlords (1925) (short subject)
  • No Father to Guide Him (1925) (short subject)
  • The Coast Patrol (1925)
  • Sure-Mike (1925) (short subject)
  • What Price Goofy (1925) (short subject)
  • Isn't Life Terrible? (1925) (short subject)
  • Chasing the Chaser (1925) (short subject)
  • Madame Sans Jane (1925) (short subject)
  • Unfriendly Enemies (1925) (short subject)
  • Your Own Back Yard (1925) (short subject)
  • Moonlight and Noses (1925) (short subject)
  • Should Sailors Marry? (1925) (short subject)
  • WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1926 (1926) (short subject)
  • One Wild Time (1926) (short subject)
  • Don Key (A Son of a Burro) (1926) (short subject)
  • The Man in the Saddle (1926)
  • Don't Shoot (1926) (short subject)
  • The Wild Horse Stampede (1926)
  • The Saddle Tramp (1926) (short subject)
  • The Show Cowpuncher (1926) (short subject)
  • Lazy Lightning (1926)
  • Loco Luck (1927)
  • A One Man Game (1927)
  • Spurs and Saddles (1927)
  • A Trip Through the Paramount Studio (1927) (short subject)
  • The Honeymoon (1928) (unreleased)
  • The Legion of the Condemned (1928)
  • Street of Sin (1928)
  • The First Kiss (1928)

[edit] Television Appearances

Wray appeared in the first season of the Perry Mason TV Series in "The Case Of The Prodigal Parent"[2] (Episode 1-36) aired June 7, 1958.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Ancestry of Fay Wray
  2. ^ As of March 2008 "The Case Of The Prodigal Parent" is viewable in the US on the internet at VEOH.com

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Wray, Fay
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wray, Vina Fay
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actor
DATE OF BIRTH 1907-9-15
PLACE OF BIRTH Cardston, Alberta, Canada
DATE OF DEATH 2004-8-8
PLACE OF DEATH New York, New York, U.S.