Fay Wray Biography, Career, Movies, Marriage, Children, Net Worth and Death

Fay Wray Biography

Fay Wray born Vina Fay Wray was a Canadian/American actress . She was born in September 15, 1907 on a ranch near Cardston in the province of Alberta, Canada, to Mormon parents, Elvina Marguerite and Joseph Heber Wray.

She was one of six children and was a granddaughter of Daniel Webster Jones. Wray was never a Mormon herself. Her family returned to the United States a few years after she was born; they moved to Salt Lake City in 1912 and moved to Lark, Utah in 1914. In 1919, the Wray family returned to Salt Lake City, and then relocated to Hollywood, where Fay attended Hollywood High School.After moving again to California, her 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.

Fay Wray Marriage

She was in three marriages. She first married writer John Monk Saunders, She then married Robert Riskin and finally married the neurosurgeon Sanford Rothenberg between January 28, 1919  and  January 4, 1991.

Fay Wray Children

She had three children,Susan Saunders, Victoria Riskin, and Robert Riskin, Jr.

Fay Wray Net Worth

Her net worth is estimated as $1.9 Million.

Fay Wray Death

She died in her sleep of natural causes a month before her 97th birthday on August 8, 2004, in her Manhattan apartment. She is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. Two days after her death, the lights of the Empire State Building were extinguished for 15 minutes in her memory.

Fay Wray Career

In 1923, Wray appeared in her first film at the age of 16, when she landed a role in a short historical film sponsored by a local newspaper. In the 1920s, Wray landed a major role in the silent film The Coast Patrol (1925), as well as uncredited bit parts at the Hal Roach Studios. In 1926, the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers selected Wray as one of the “WAMPAS Baby Stars”, a group of women whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. She was at the time under contract to Universal Studios, mostly co-starring in low-budget Westerns opposite Buck Jones.The following year, Wray was signed to a contract with Paramount Pictures. In 1928, director Erich von Stroheim cast her as the main female lead in his film The Wedding March, released by Paramount. While the film was noted for its high budget and production values, it was a financial failure, but gave Wray her first lead role. Wray stayed with Paramount to make more than a dozen films and to make the transition from silent films to “talkie” films.

She continued to star in various films, including The Richest Girl in the World, a second film with Joel McCrea, but by the early 1940s, her appearances became less frequent. She retired from acting in 1942 after her second marriage but due to financial exigencies soon resumed her acting career, and over the next three decades, Wray appeared in several film roles and also frequently on television. Wray was cast in the 1953-54 ABC situation comedy, The Pride of the Family, as Catherine Morrison. Paul Hartman played her husband, Albie Morrison. Natalie Wood and Robert Hyatt played their children, Ann and Junior Morrison, respectively. In 1955, Wray appeared with fellow WAPMAS Baby Star, Joan Crawford in Queen Bee.

Wray appeared in three episodes of CBS’s courtroom drama Perry Mason, the first of which was “The Case Of The Prodigal Parent” (episode 1-36) aired June 7, 1958. She portrayed murder victim Lorna Thomas in “The Case of the Watery Witness” in 1959. In 1959, Wray was cast as Tula Marsh in the episode “The Second Happiest Day” of the CBS anthology series Playhouse 90. Other roles around this time were in the episodes “Dip in the Pool” and “The Morning After” of CBS’s Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1960, she appeared as Clara in an episode of 77 Sunset Strip, “Who Killed Cock Robin?”. Another 1960 role was that of Mrs. Staunton, with Gigi Perreau as her daughter, in the episode “Flight from Terror” of the ABC adventure series, The Islanders.

Wray appeared in a 1961 episode of The Real McCoys titled “Theatre in the Barn”. In 1963, she played Mrs. Brubaker in the episode “You’re So Smart, Why Can’t You Be Good?” of the NBC medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour. In 1965, she played voodoo practitioner Mignon Germaine in “The Case of the Fatal Fetish”. She ended her acting career in the 1980 made-for-television film, Gideon’s Trumpet.In 1988, she published her autobiography, On the Other Hand. In her later years, Wray continued to make public appearances. In 1991, she was crowned Queen of the Beaux Arts Ball presiding with King Herbert Huncke.

She was approached by James Cameron to play the part of Rose Dawson Calvert for his 1997 blockbuster Titanic with Kate Winslet to play her younger self, but she turned down the role and the part of Rose was given to Gloria Stuart. She was a special guest at the 70th Academy Awards, where the show’s host, Billy Crystal, introduced her as the “Beauty who charmed the Beast”. She was the only 1920s Hollywood actress in attendance that evening (with fellow 1930’s actress Gloria Stuart winning an award, while male contemporaries Bob Hope and Milton Berle, with Sid Caesar were present).On October 3, 1998, she appeared at the Pine Bluff Film Festival, which showed “The Wedding March” (with live orchestral accompaniment).

In January 2003, the 95-year-old Wray appeared at the 2003 Palm Beach International Film Festival to celebrate the Rick McKay documentary film Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There, where she was also honored with a “Legend in Film” award. In her later years, she also visited the Empire State Building frequently, once visiting in 1991 as a guest of honor at the building’s 60th anniversary, and also in May 2004, which was among her last public appearances. Her final public appearance was at an after-party at the Sardi’s restaurant in New York City, following the premiere of the documentary film Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There.

Fay Wray Awards

1. Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
   1975 Special Award
2. Palm Beach International Film Festival
   2003 Legend in Film Award
3. Walk of Fame
   1960 Star on the Walk of Fame Motion Picture
4. Women in Film Crystal Awards
   1989 Crystal Award

Fay Wray Movies And Tv Shows

1. Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Show)
2. Dragstrip Riot (Movie)
3. Summer Love (Movie)
4. Crime Of Passion (Movie)
5. Tammy And The Bachelor (Movie)
6. Hour of Stars (TV Show)
7. Screen Directors Playhouse (TV Show)
8. Rock, Pretty Baby (Movie)
9. Hell On Frisco Bay (Movie)
10. The Cobweb (Movie)
11. Queen Bee (Movie)
12. The Pride of the Family (TV Show)
13. Small Town Girl (Movie)
14. Treasure Of The Golden Condor (Movie)
15. Melody For Three (Movie)
16. Adam Had Four Sons (Movie)
17. Wildcat Bus (Movie)
18. Navy Secrets (Movie)
19. Smashing The Spy Ring (Movie)
20. The Jury’s Secret (Movie)
21. It Happened In Hollywood (Movie)
22. Murder In Greenwich Village (Movie)
23. Roaming Lady (Movie)
24. They Met In A Taxi (Movie)
25. When Knights Were Bold (Movie)
26. Mills Of The Gods (Movie)
27. Come Out Of The Pantry (Movie)
28. White Lies (Movie)
29. Madame Spy (Movie)
30. Once To Every Woman (Movie)
31. Black Moon (Movie)
32. Cheating Cheaters (Movie)
33. The Clairvoyant (Movie)
34. Alias Bulldog Drummond (Movie)
35. The Countess Of Monte Cristo (Movie)
36. Woman In The Dark (Movie)
37. The Richest Girl In The World (Movie)
38. Viva Villa! (Movie)
39. Affairs Of Cellini (Movie)
40. King Kong (Movie)
41. Master Of Men (Movie)
42. Below The Sea (Movie)
43. The Big Brain (Movie)
44. The Mystery Of The Wax Museum (Movie)
45. One Sunday Afternoon (Movie)
46. Ann Carver’s Profession (Movie)
47. The Woman I Stole (Movie)
48. Shanghai Madness (Movie)
49. The Bowery (Movie)
50. The Vampire Bat (Movie)
51. The Most Dangerous Game (Movie)

Fay Wray King Kong

Initial release: 2 March 1933
Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack
Music composed by: Max Steiner
Budget: 675,000 USD
Distributed by: Radio Pictures

King Kong is an american NR pre-Code monster adventure film directed and produced by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack in 1933. The screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose was developed from an idea conceived by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. It stars Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot and Robert Armstrong, and opened in New York City on March 2, 1933, to rave reviews. It has been ranked as the 5th greatest horror film of all time and the twentieth greatest film of all time Height:5′ 3″ (160 cm)
Eyes Color:Hazel
Hair Color:Red
by Rotten Tomatoes.

The film tells of a huge, ape-like creature dubbed Kong who perishes in an attempt to possess a beautiful young woman Wray. King Kong is especially noted for its stop-motion animation by Willis O’Brien and a groundbreaking musical score by Max Steiner. In 1991, it was deemed “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.  A sequel quickly followed with Son of Kong , with several more films made in the following decades.

Fay Wray Body Measurements

Height:5′ 3″ (160 cm)
Eyes Color:Hazel
Hair Color:Red

Fay Wray Grave

BIRTH:15 Sep 1907
Cardston, Claresholm Census Division, Alberta, Canada
DEATH:8 Aug 2004 (aged 96)
Manhattan, New York County (Manhattan), New York, USA
PLACE OF BIRTH:Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles, California, United States, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, United States
MEMORIAL ID:9294827 · View Source

Fay Wray Scream

Black Moon Fay Wray

Initial release: 15 June 1934
Director: Roy William Neill
Screenplay: Clements Ripley
Produced by: Everett Riskin
Cinematography: Joseph H. August

Black Moon is an American pre-Code horror film directed by Roy William Neill, and starring Jack Holt, Fay Wray, and Dorothy Burgess in 1934. It is based on a short story by Clements Ripley that first appeared in Hearst’s International-Cosmopolitan.It’s copy is held at the Library of Congress.

Fay Wray King Kong Costume

This costume features a tattered white dress and a huge inflatable gorilla hand. The Ann Darrow costume is a truly iconic look that will leave everyone amused and impressed. You’re the real scream queen in this unique Halloween costume. Fits up to women’s size 12. It takes approximately 1-2 business days to leave the warehouse plus transit time.

Fay Wray Quotes

1. Juan Tripp was a friend. Good name for an airline man, huh? Juan Tripp after another?
2. When the picture was finished, they took me into the sound room and then I screamed more for about five minutes just steady screaming, and then they’d cut that in and add it.
3. Sometimes I worked with just a background of a rock or a tree or black velvet, and just had to imagine the whole thing.
   I would say the secret is to be enthusiastic about everything that comes into your life. To care, to care about people. To be excited about everything that comes close to you. I love to read. And I love to write, mostly.
4. So I was asked to do horror film after horror film, a series of about five, after that, and some of those were a little too gruesome. I wasn’t too comfortable all the time in those. I didn’t really care for them.
5. For the purposes of the play, it was perfect to be able to use that and the stresses and strains that there were. At the end of the play, the mother realizes the terrible things she had done.
6. When we were making KONG, I went into the sound room and made an aria of horror sounds. I was in charge of it; there was no one there to listen to me. I was totally in charge of what I wanted to do.
7. There were shots of Kong pulling at my clothes, but only in horizontal and never from above. Never from above.
8. Lillian Gish thought that there should be a cabinet position for the arts and I think she was right. I think she was right.
9. There is a lot of strength and intelligence in Hollywood.
10. Only in your imagination can you revise.
11. As far as advice, that will be in my next book, my next collection. I certainly never like to instruct anyone, but just say as I feel. That’s the same as advice, isn’t it?
12. The producers who wanted me to do it liked me and trusted me, and more than one scene was only one take, because I’d plan ahead what I thought would be appropriate for that scene-so one take was enough.

Fay Wray Video