...fay wray - the beauty and the hairy beast...

There has been three movie versions of "King Kong". The classic was made in 1933, the comtemporary in 1976 and the latest, 2005. In all three, the sacrificial virgins were played by Fay Wray, Jessica Lange and Naomi Watts in that order.

Fay Wray (15th September 1907 - 8th August 2004) was born Alberta, Canada to a large family which included five other siblings. She was born Vina Fay Wray. The family moved to Arizona when she was still a child so that her father could find better work than in Alberta. They moved again to California. There the parents divorced, which put the rest of the family in 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 a shortie, "Gasoline Love" (1923). The film was not 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" (1925). 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 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 established Fay as an actress to be reckoned with. She played the lead, Mitzi Schrammell, in the hit "The Wedding March" (1928). 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.

Fay Wray had a prominent role, as a target of the insane human hunter in "The Most Dangerous Game" (1932). In 1933, Fay appeared in eleven films, including "The Big Brain, "The Mystery Of The Wax Musuem"and "The Vampire Bat" but it was another film that placed her in a role that is remembered to this day. That year she played Ann Darrow in the classic "King Kong", the movie that saved the studio RKO from bankruptcy. All these movies also earned her the title "The Queen of Sream". From there, Fay was given 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.

The following year, Wray continued her pace in films, making many films again, including "Once To Every Woman", the lighter "The Countess Of Monte Cristo", "Viva Villa!" (with Wallace Berry), the horror "Black Moon" and "The Affairs Of Cellini", but her career was now beginning the proverbial backward slide. Movie roles for her were becoming 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 Monk Saunders ended in a painful divorce. She made a brief appearance as the wife of Warner Baxter who died early in the film "Adam Had Four Sons" (1941). After "Not A Ladies Man" (1942), Fay was not in another film until the Cornel Wilde adventure "Treasure Of The Golden Condor" (1953). She was pushed further back in "Small Town Girl" (1953), a musical starring Jane Powell, Farley Granger, Ann Miller and Bobby Van. An even smaller role in the star-studded "The Cobweb" (1955) and Joan Crawford's "Queen Bee" (1955) were some of the weakest ever projected. Her last performance before the cameras was a made-for-television movie called"Gideon's Trumpet" for television (1980).

After that, she made more personal appearances on screen and in public. Fay Wray was the guest of honor in 1991, at the 60th birthday of the Empire State Building in New York City. 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'. For the remake of "King Kong" (2005), director he wanted Fay to say the closing line of the film. Since she died before it was done, the line went to Jack Black. Fay Wray died of an natural causes on August 8, 2004. 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.

She was an excellent actress who never was given a chance to live up to her potential, especially after being cast in a number of horror films in the '30s. Given the right role, Fay could have had her star up alongside the great actresses of the day. No matter. She remains a bright star from cinema's golden era.