Trivia of Fay Wray

 Trivia of Fay Wray (15 September 1907 - 8 August 2004)

*Fay Wray, fully names Vina Fay Wray was a famous actress of Canadian/American origin. She was nicknamed The Queen of Scream, a term used to describe an actress who is well known and/or influential in horror films.

*Wray made her first screen appearance in 1923 at the age of 16. She landed a role in a short historical film named Gasoline Love which was sponsored by a local newspaper.In 1926, Wray was signed to Universal Studios where she got her first lead role in the film The Wedding March which was produced by Paramount Pictures.Her first project was a failure and she slowly transitioned from making silent films to talkies that had become a global phenomenon in the 1930s.The contract with Paramount was then terminated in 1931 and she became a free-lancing actress.

*She had starred in horror films including Doctor X(1932), Mystery of Wax Museum (1933), and The Vampire Bat(1933). Her best-known films were under RKO Radio Pictures namely The Most Dangerous Game(1933), and the monster adventure film she is popularly known for KingKong(1933), where she played Ann Darrow.The success of King Kong saved RKO Radio Pictures from bankruptcy.

*When Wray signed with RKO and agreed to work on King Kong, she didn’t know what she was getting into—and she was in for a larger-than-life surprise. Director Merian C. Cooper promised Fay she would star alongside the “tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood”. Wray hoped it was a handsome actor, such as Cary Grant, whom she had just performed with on Broadway.She couldn’t have been more wrong, as the leading man was of course the monstrous giant ape that wasn’t real.

*Wray was originally offered the role of the elderly Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic (1997), which she turned down.

*In her honour, a park near Lee’s Creek in Cardston, Alberta where she was born, was named after her. The park has a silhouette sign of King Kong and Fay to commemorate her role in the film. A fountain memorial is also located on South Main Street.

*On August 10, 2004, two days after her death, the lights on the Empire State Building in New York City (scene of the climax from her most popular film, King Kong (1933), were dimmed for 15 minutes in her memory.