biography
Born Vina Fay Wray in Alberta, Canada, on September 15, 1907, actress Fay Wray's family moved to the US in 1910, eventually settling in Utah. Ill
for much of her youth, her health improved into her teens when her divorced mother relocated to southern California in the early 1920s. While
a teenager Wray started in films, beginning in 1923. She acted in a number of shorts at Hal Roach Studios and initially acted in comedies that
usually starred James Finlayson and were often directed by Stan Laurel. Wray also appeared in at least one Our Gang comedy short and also acted
in westerns. By the time Wray was 20 years old, she was the star of Erich von Stroheim's The Wedding March (1928; with Zasu Pitts) and was
under contract to Paramount.Fortunate enough to make the transition to talkies in the late 1920s, she became the Hollywood's original scream-queen in the early 1930s starring in the early (2-strip) Technicolor horror films Doctor X (1932; with Lionel Atwill and Preston Foster) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933; with Lionel Atwill and Glenda Farrell). Her status in horror was cemented with the release of The Vampire Bat (1933; with Lionel Atwill and Melvyn Douglas) and King Kong (1933; with Robert Armstrong and Bruce Cabot). Although she's best remembered for her horror films, in reality Wray acted in far more comedies and dramas. Fearing typecasting, she shied away from horror films---then an extremely popular film genre---and her career suffered as a result and began to fade in the mid 1930s, around the time she signed with Columbia, at the time a struggling studio with a poverty-row reputation. Starring in a number of second-feature B movies, Wray acted in such films as They Met in a Taxi (1936; with Chester Morris), Smashing the Spy Ring (1939; with Ralph Bellamy), and Not a Ladies' Man (1942; with Paul Kelly).  
LEFT: Late 1920s or early 1930s Paramount publicity photo of Fay Wray. RIGHT: Intriguing early 1930s photo, possibly by Warner Bros |
the films of fay wrayThe Wedding March (1928)
From Erich von Stroheim's masterpiece The Wedding March, released by Paramount. LEFT: Wray as the tragic heroine Mitzi Schrammell.The Conquering Horde (1931)
With frequent costar Richard Arlen in the Paramount western The Conquering HordeThe Most Dangerous Game (1932)
With Joel McCrea in RKO's thriller The Most Dangerous GameAnn Carver's Profession (1933)
As lawyer Ann Carver, Fay Wray defends husband Gene Raymond in a murder charge in the Columbia drama Ann Carver's Profession. Also pictured are Arthur Pierson and Claude GillingwaterThe Bowery (1933)
With George Raft in the United Artists release The BoweryKing Kong (1933) 
RKO's King Kong saved the studio from bankruptcy in the early 1930s. LEFT: Wray as the beautiful actress Ann Darrow. RIGHT: Bruce Cabot was Wray's love interest and Robert Armstrong portrays Wray's director in the film.One Sunday Afternoon (1933)
Lobby card from Paramount's romantic comedy One Sunday Afternoon with Neil Hamilton, Frances Fuller, Fay Wray, and Gary CooperThe Vampire Bat (1933) 
From Majestic's low-budget horror flick The Vampire Bat. LEFT: With Lionel Atwill and Melvyn Douglas. RIGHT: With Lionel Atwill, with whom Wray costarred in three horror films in 1932 and 1933Once to Every Woman (1934)
From the United Artists release The BoweryPark Avenue Dame (1937)
Wray as the glamorous Lucky Cabot in the Columbia mystery Park Avenue DameMelody for Three (1941)
With Andrew Tombes and Walter Woolf King in the RKO second-feature drama Melody for ThreeThe Pride of the Family (1953-1955 ABC TV Series)
Wray starred as mom Catherine Morrison in the ABC-TV comedy series The Pride of the Family. Also pictured are Bobby Hyatt, Paul Hartman, and Natalie WoodSummer Love (1958)
From the Universal-International musical comedy Summer Love with John Saxon and Edward PlattThe Eleventh Hour (1962-1964 NBC TV Series)
With Fabian and Philip Ober in a January 1964 episode of the TV drama The Eleventh Hourlater yearsSome ten years after Fay Wray retired from the screen, her husband suffered a debilitating stroke; to support her family and seriously ill husband, Wray went back to work in films and in the then-new medium of television, taking supporting roles in such films as Treasure of the Golden Condor (1953; with Cornel Wilde), Rock, Pretty Baby (1956; with John Saxon) and Dragstrip Riot (1958; with Gary Clarke). Wray's second husband died in 1955. She also accepted a role in ABC's early situation comedy The Pride of the Family (1953-1955), which lasted for two seasons. And she guest-starred on a number of popular television programs, including Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Hawaiian Eye until her second retirement in the mid 1960s. Wray married again in 1971, this time to Dr. Sanford Rothenberg, a brain surgeon; he left her a widow in 1991. During her last years she was an interview subject for countless documentaries about Hollywood's golden age. Sadly, Fay Wray passed away on August 8, 2004, at the age of 96; she was survived by two daughters, a son, and two grandchildren. |
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This page premiered January 20, 2006.
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