Week 2 Series 2 of JPiC’s “Inktober” continues with with Fay Wray.
Moving to Hollywood from Alberta, Canada, 16-yrear old Vina Fay Wray made her film debut inĀ an historical film sponsored by a local newspaper. Bitten by the acting bug, Fay landed a number of uncredited roles with the Hal Roach Studios in the early 1920s. Director Erich von Stroheim cast the young beauty in a starring role in his 1926 film The Wedding March.
Fay was featured in several horror films before taking the role that would bring her international fame. Director Merian C. Cooper offered Fay $10,000 to take the role of “Ann Darrow” in his 1933 epic King Kong. Fay agreed to the part and the film was a huge success. It made Fay Wray a star and saved RKO Pictures from bankruptcy.
Fay continued to make movies and easily made the transition to television, taking numerous guest roles on popular series like Perry Mason and The Real McCoys. In 1980, after the TV movie Gideon’s Trumpet with Henry Fonda, Fay Wray called it a career.
In 1997, director James Cameron approached the now retired Fay to play the role of “Rose” in his blockbuster Titanic. She turned the role down.
Fay Wray passed away in 2004 at the age of 96. The lights on the Empire State Building were dimmed in her honor.