Canadian-born Fay Wray was brought up in Los Angeles and entered films at an early age. She was barely in her teens when she started working as an extra. She began her career as a heroine in westerns at Universal during the silent era. In 1926 the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers selected 13 young starlets it deemed most likely to succeed in pictures. Fay was chosen as one of these starlets, along with 'Janet Gaynor (I)' (qv) and 'Mary Astor' (qv). Fame would indeed come to Fay when she played another heroine in 'Erich von Stroheim' (qv)'s _The Wedding March (1928)_ (qv). She continued playing leads in a number of films, such as the good-bad girl in _Thunderbolt (1929)_ (qv). By the early 1930s she was at Paramount working with 'Gary Cooper (I)' (qv) and 'Jack Holt (I)' (qv) in a number of average films, such as _Master of Men (1933)_ (qv). She also appeared in such horror films as _Doctor X (1932)_ (qv) and _The Vampire Bat (1933)_ (qv). In 1933 Fay was approached by producer 'Merian C. Cooper' (qv), who told her that he had a part for her in a picture in which she would be working with a tall, dark leading man. What he didn't tell her was that her "tall, dark leading man" was a giant gorilla, and the picture turned out to be the classic _King Kong (1933)_ (qv). Perhaps no one in the history of pictures could scream more dramatically than Fay, and she really put on a show in "Kong". Her character provided a combination of sex appeal, vulnerability and lung capacity as she was stalked by the giant beast all the way to the top of the Empire State Building. That was as far as Fay would rise, however, as this was, after all, just another horror movie. After "Kong", she began a slow decline that put her into low-budget action films by the mid '30s. In 1939 her 11-year marriage to screenwriter 'John Monk Saunders' (qv) ended in divorce, and her career was almost finished. In 1942 she remarried and retired from the screen, forever to be remembered as the "beauty who killed the beast" in "King Kong". However, in 1953 she made a comeback, playing mature character roles, and also appeared on television as Catherine, 'Natalie Wood (I)' (qv)'s mother, in _"The Pride of the Family" (1953)_ (qv). She continued to appear in films until 1958 and television into the 1960s.
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Fay Wray
- At the premiere of _King Kong (1933)_ (qv) I wasn't too impressed. I thought there was too much screaming . . . I didn't realize then that King Kong and I were going to be together for the rest of our lives, and longer . . .
- [2004, about her trip to England in 1934] As soon as I got off the boat, a man met me and said, "Will you please come up to the BBC studios and scream for us?"
- [2004] I have come to believe over the years that Kong is my friend.
- [2004, speaking of the remake (_King Kong (2005)_ (qv))] I have no advice for them.
- [2004, speaking about _King Kong (1933)_ (qv)] My scream was a product of pure imagination. I had to imagine what was happening to me, and I imagined that the nearest help was far away. When I first saw the picture I thought the screams were overdone. But they were an important part of the picture and I was delighted with how it all looked. My scenes with King were exactly the way I imagined them.
- [2004, speaking of her trip to England in 1934] One day I was walking through Hyde Park and I overheard a Cockney woman tell her child, "If y' don't behive, I'll 'ave Fay Wrye arter yer!" I couldn't believe it.
- [2004] Right after _The Wedding March (1928)_ (qv) everything happened at once. Sound was coming in, and color was being used for the first time. It was very exciting to be a part of it.
- [speaking about working with 'Lillian Gish' (qv) in _The Cobweb (1955)_ (qv)] She was a lovely actress and I admired her very much. She was a very delicate and elegant lady.
- [2004, about _The Wedding March (1928)_ (qv)] That film changed my life.
- [in 2004, about _The Wedding March (1928)_ (qv)] That movie meant a lot to me; my heart was right up in my throat.
- [2004] That one single movie [_King Kong (1933)_ (qv)] has reached millions of people of all ages, all over the world--and audiences are still fascinated by it today.
- [2004, speaking about her role of Ann Darrow in _King Kong (1933)_ (qv)] They put me in a blonde wig for the role.
- [in 2004, speaking of _Doctor X (1932)_ (qv), _Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)_ (qv) and _The Vampire Bat (1933)_ (qv)] Those horror pictures were the parts I was being offered at the time, and the scream came into play in almost all of them. People today call them classics; that amuses me a little, because I had so many reservations about them when I made them. I thought they were much too gruesome.
- [2004] ['Erich von Stroheim' (qv)] never got treated correctly in Hollywood, but he made me feel very happy.
- [in 2004, speaking about _King Kong (1933)_ (qv)] When my youngest daughter first saw the film, she said, "Kong wasn't trying to hurt you, he was just trying to protect you", which was right.
- [2004, speaking about _King Kong (1933)_ (qv)] When we did it, I just thought how lucky I was to be in the movies, where something like this was possible.
- [2004, in reference to _King Kong (1933)_ (qv)] He ['Merian C. Cooper' (qv)] called me into his office and showed me sketches of jungle scenes and told me, "You're going to have the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood". Naturally, I thought 'Clark Gable' (qv). But then he showed me this sketch of a giant ape up the side of the Empire State Building, and he said, "There's your leading man",
- [in 2004, on her favorite screen appearance, in _The Wedding March (1928)_ (qv)] I still love that film, 'Erich von Stroheim' (qv) was a wonderful human being, and he took a chance on me. I was only 19 when I did the screen test, but he saw something in me. After 75 years, it's still one of the happiest experiences of my life. And it was a nice part, wasn't it?
- [2004] All my life I've written something, I've always cared much more about writing than I do about acting.
- [in 2004, about the remake planned for _King Kong (1933)_ (qv)] If they don't have it in their hearts, they shouldn't be doing it, but if they do, hey just need to feel their way through it, just like we did so long ago.
- [2004] When I shot my scenes Kong wasn't there at all. I had to use my imagination, which was exciting and terrifying at the same time. Acting is about the imagination, that's the great joy of it. But nothing quite like it had been done before, so I was a little nervous about how it would all come together.
- I was known as the queen of the Bs. If only I'd been a little more selective.
- Every time I'm in New York I say a little prayer when passing the Empire State Building. A good friend of mine died up there.
- [1969 interview in The New York Times] When I'm in New York. I look at the Empire State Building and feel as though it belongs to me, or is it vice-versa?
- [in 1993, on not being able to escape her role in _King Kong (1933)_ (qv)] Recently, a six-year-old boy said to me, "I've been waiting to meet you for half my life".
- [on declining a role in _Titanic (1997)_ (qv)] I think to have done "Titanic" would have been a torturous experience altogether.
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