Actors - Fay Wray

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	Actors - Fay Wray

Fay Wray (September 15, 1907 – August 8, 2004) was a Canadian-American actress, who was born Vina Fay Wray on a ranch near Cardston, Alberta, Canada.

Early life

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.

Career

Wray gained media attention when she was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1926, which landed her 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 massive failure (due to the fact that it was silent in a world of new talking pictures), but it gave Wray her first lead role. He also was romantically interested in the lovely Wray, and arranged a rendezvous in Hollywood, but she changed her mind and never showed.

She is best remembered for her role as Ann Darrow, the blonde seductress of a gigantic, prehistoric gorilla in the classic horror/adventure film King Kong
(1933). She dyed her dark hair blonde for the role. There have been claims the screams emanated from actress Julie Haydon, and dubbed to Wray, but that has been disputed.

Wray also appeared in over a hundred other films, mostly in the 1930s, including The Four Feathers
(1929), Doctor X (1932), The Most Dangerous Game (1932 in film), The Vampire Bat (1933 in film), and Mystery of the Wax Museum
(1933). She also appeared in Viva Villa (1934) with Wallace Beery, The Texan, The Conquering Horde, and One Sunday Afternoon. Later in her career, Wray appeared in Small Town Girl, Tammy and the Bachelor, and Summer Love.

Personal Life

Wray was married 3 times.

John Monk Saunders
Robert Riskin
Dr. Sanford Rothenberg
She is the mother of Susan Saunders, Victoria Riskin and Robert Riskin Jr.

Her autobiography, On the Other Hand (ISBN 0312022654), was published in 1988.

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 silouette of King Kong on it.

Wray died at her apartment in Manhattan, New York at the age of 96 of natural causes on August 8, 2004, and was interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

In 2006 she was featured on a Canadian postage stamp.

Trivia

Peter Jackson had approached her about doing a cameo in his 2005 remake of King Kong
, but she passed away before she could do so.
She is referred to in the King Kong remake: Carl Denham
(Jack Black
) needs to find an actress quickly, and suggests 'Fay' as a possibility. However, he is told that she is making a film with "Cooper" for RKO. Merian C. Cooper
was the director of the original film, produced for RKO.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Fay Wray ]

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Actors - Fay Wray

Early life

Career

Personal Life

Trivia

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