The twentieth century goes fast. What a wonderful rep she was!!
Joe Bonelli
Movielegends <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Movielegends <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - Fay Wray, who won everlasting fame as the
damsel held atop the Empire State Building by the
giant ape in the 1933 film classic "King Kong," has
died, a close friend said Monday. She was 96.
Wray died Sunday at her Manhattan apartment, said Rick
McKay, a friend and director of the last film she
appeared in. There was no official cause of death.
"She just kind of drifted off quietly as if she was
going to sleep," said McKay, director of the
documentary "Broadway: The Golden Age."
"She just kind of gave out."
During a career that started in 1923, Wray appeared
with such stars as Ronald Colman, Gary Cooper and
Spencer Tracy, but she was destined to be linked with
the rampaging Kong in movie fans' minds.
"I used to resent `King Kong,'" she remarked in a 1963
interview. "But now I don't fight it anymore. I
realize that it is a classic, and I am pleased to be
associated with it. Why, only recently an entire issue
of a French magazine was devoted to discussing the
picture from its artistic, moral and even religious
aspects."
She wrote in her 1988 autobiography, "On the Other
Hand": "Each time I arrive in New York and see the
skyline and the exquisite beauty of the Empire State
Building, my heart beats a little faster. I like that
feeling. I really like it!"
"King Kong" obscured the other notable films Wray made
during the '30s. They included adventures "The Four
Feathers" (with Richard Arlen and William Powell) and
"Viva Villa" (Wallace Beery), Westerns "The Texan"
(Cooper) and "The Conquering Horde" (Arlen), romances
"One Sunday Afternoon" (Cooper) and "The Unholy
Garden" (Colman) as well as horror films "Dr. X" and
"The Mystery of the Wax Museum."
After appearing in Erich von Stroheim's 1928 silent
"The Wedding March," playing a poor Viennese girl
abandoned by her lover, a playboy prince, Wray became
a much-employed leading lady. In 1933, the year of
"King Kong," she appeared in 11 films, co-starring
with Beery, George Raft, Cooper, Jack Holt and others.
In 1980, she told of her dissatisfaction with roles of
that period: "In those days, the female characters
never knew who their parents were. Leading ladies were
not supposed to be funny but were supposed to stand
there and look beautiful. That was frustrating as an
actress."
In her autobiography, the actress recalled that she
had been paid $10,000 for "King Kong" (budget:
$680,000), but her 10 weeks' work was stretched over a
10-month period. "Residuals were not even considered,
because there were no established unions to protect
us," she added.
In "King Kong," she plays an unemployed actress who
agrees t! o take a job with a movie company that is
going on location to a mysterious island. Kong is the
huge ape that inhabits a part of the island.
When the film company discovers him, Kong is attracted
to Wray and abducts her. But he is eventually captured
and brought to New York and put on display. Kong
escapes and finds Wray, with terrifying results, but
eventually meets his death on the Empire State
Building.
She was proud that "King Kong" had saved RKO studio
from bankruptcy. Of Kong she wrote: "He is a very real
and individual entity. He has a personality, a
character that has been compelling to many different
people for many different reasons and viewpoints."
She was the guest of honor in 1991 at a ceremony
marking the 60th birthday of the Empire State
Building, saying that if she were mayor of New York,
"I would want to run the city from this building ...
and get up every morning to see the sun rise."
Although Kong ap! peared huge, the full figure was
really only 18 inches tall. Miss Wray knew him by the
arm, which was 8 feet long.
"I would stand on the floor," she recalled, "and they
would bring this arm down and cinch it around my
waist, then pull me up in the air. Every time I moved,
one of the fingers would loosen, so it would look like
I was trying to get away. Actually, I was trying not
to slip through his hand."
By the late '30s, the actress was appearing in
low-budget films, and she quit working in 1942 to be a
wife and mother. Her first husband was John Monk
Saunders, who wrote such air films as "Wings" and "The
Dawn Patrol." She was 19 and he was 30 when they
married. She discovered he was an alcoholic and a drug
addict, and the marriage became a nightmare.
After a divorce, she married Robert Riskin, the
brilliant writer of "It Happened One Night," "Lost
Horizon" and other Frank Capra films. In 1950, he
suffered a str! oke from which he never recovered. He
died five years later.
Returning to work in 1953, Wray appeared mostly in
motherly roles in youth-oriented films like "Small
Town Girl," "Tammy and the Bachelor" and "Summer
Love." In 1979 she played opposite Henry Fonda (news)
in a TV drama, "Gideon's Trumpet."
She was born Vina Fay Wray on Sept. 15, 1907, near
Cardston in rural Alberta, Canada. Her parents moved
to the United States when she was 3, first trying
farming in Arizona, and eventually returning to Salt
Lake City, where Wray's mother was from. Later, they
settled in Los Angeles.
As a teenager she haunted studio casting offices and
won an occasional bit role. Despite her mother's fears
that the movie crowd was sinful, Miss Wray was allowed
to accept a six-month contract with Hal Roach at $60 a
week.
Wray had a daughter, Susan, from her first marriage
and a daughter and son, Victoria and Robert Jr., by
the seco! nd. Sixteen years after Riskin's death, she
married his physician, Dr. Sandford Rothenberg.
___
Associated Press writer Bob Thomas in Los Angeles
contributed to this report.
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers!
