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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Feb 23, 2020 15:35:03 GMT
Fay Wray was born on a ranch in Cardston, Alberta, Canada in 1907. Her family moved to Utah, and later, Hollywood. She appeared in various movies in the 20's and was always on the verge of stardom, which came with King Kong in 1933. Jean Harlow was RKO's original choice for the role of Ann Darrow but she was unavailable, so Wray was cast. The movie was a huge success. Oddly enough, Wray filmed it and The Most Dangerous Game (1932) on the same set as King Kong, along with the same costar, Robert Armstrong. These two movies solidified Wray as the first screen "scream queen." She may have peaked early, but her career chugged along, she appeared with Joan Crawford in Queen Bee (1955). Director James Cameron wanted her for Titanic (1997) in the role of Rose, which later was cast with Gloria Stuart. She turned him down. She appeared at the 70th Academy Awards, host Billy Crystal introduced her as the "Beauty who charmed the Beast". She was the only 1920s Hollywood actress in attendance that evening. 1930s actress Gloria Stuart was also in attendance, nominated for an award for Titanic, which Wray had turned down. She visited the Empire State Building many times. In 1991, she was a guest of honor at the building's 60th anniversary, and in May 2004, she made one of her later public appearances. She was asked to appear in Peter Jackson's King Kong (2005) but turned it down. Before filming even began in 2004, she passed away in her sleep, five weeks before her 97th birthday. Two days after her death, the lights of the Empire State Building were lowered for 15 minutes in her memory. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Wray was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6349 Hollywood Blvd. In May 2006, Wray became one of the first four entertainers to be honored by Canada Post by being featured on a postage stamp. A park in Cardston, Alberta, her birthplace, was named Fay Wray Park in her honor. The sign at the edge of the park on Main Street has a silhouette of King Kong on it, remembering her role in the film King Kong. A beloved movie star of the golden era that continues to win over new fans all the time with her role in the legendary King Kong.
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Post by petrolino on Feb 23, 2020 16:35:25 GMT
Fay Wray was in the WAMPAS Baby Star Class of 1926. Here, they're climbing a ladder together.
She posed for some racy pictures in 1926 that can't be posted here (painter and photographer William Mortensen's 'Masks'), but they depict how Wray was always enamoured by art. She became a favourite subject of photographer Eugene Robert Richee. The studio told her off for being too coquettish on film, but then realised it was just her style of movement and ran with it.
Here, in 'Street Of Sin' (1928) which was set in London's decadent Soho district.
But as scandalous as she was on film, Cary Grant recalled her as somebody who slipped away to find quiet corners at social functions. I read that he was extremely fond of her. Several photographs exist of them chatting together at different events and they performed on stage together in John Monk Saunders' play 'Nikki'.
She also liked to write and enjoyed the company of writers.
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Post by mikef6 on Feb 23, 2020 17:13:29 GMT
Movie's first and never surpassed Scream Queen. Fay Wray doing what she does best in Doctor X (1932)... ...and Mystery Of The Wax Museum (1933) And smiling (with Richard Barthelmess) in The Finger Points (1931)
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Post by wmcclain on Feb 23, 2020 19:44:30 GMT
The Most Dangerous Game (1932), directed by Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack. A big game hunter (young Joel McCrea), shipwrecked on a fortress island, finds himself the hunted when a mad Russian aristocrat explains his own sporting innovations. This was made by the same crew as for King Kong (1933) and uses the same jungle sets. They fit it in when Fay Wray had down time from the other picture, the same way she was able to work on Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). She was a horror-thriller specialist during this period and has 11 film credits for 1933 alone. Her clothes are always getting ripped up or off. The plot has been used many times since. This version was supposed to be more ambitious but after losing half the budget they chopped out everything inessential, resulting in a quick 63 minute cut. Which is all to the good; you don't need to drag this out. They did have more footage of Count Zaroff's trophy cellar, but the exhibits were too much for preview audiences who were leaving the theater, so that was also cut. The other pre-Code excess was not skin this time, but rather blunt sexual menace. Zaroff announces he becomes romantic after killing a man and will turn his attention to Eve after dispatching Bob. So our hero must not only save his own life, but keep Eve safe from rape and probably gruesome murder. Eighteen months later and that plot would not have been allowed. Once the hunt starts it is awfully exciting, and the King Kong (1933) locations are easy to spot. Does Leslie Banks' accent seems a bit much? They had two Russian-speaking language coaches on hand. Max Steiner score. Available on DVD from Criterion. The film is in the public doman and this version is just fair. It has a good commentary track giving both production details and an insightful analysis of the psychological deviance on display. Flicker Alley has it on Blu-ray but I haven't seen that.
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Post by Prime etc. on Feb 23, 2020 20:11:44 GMT
For a household name I have only seen her in 3 movies. All between 1932 and 33.
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Post by politicidal on Feb 23, 2020 20:58:21 GMT
Could scream really well.
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Post by petrolino on Feb 23, 2020 21:47:00 GMT
Could scream really well. Linnea Quigley, one of modern American horror cinema's most diverse screamers, cites Fay Wray as the emotive fear icon every screen screamer follows.
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Post by cynthiagreen on Feb 23, 2020 22:38:33 GMT
Her autobiography is a very interesting read.
KONG is the keeper but both MOST DANGEROUS GAME and MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM Very good.
some that have not been mentioned
THE WEDDING MARCH 1928 as Von Stroheim's true love
THE FOUR FEATHERS - 1928 Epic empire builder with Richard Arlen Clive Brook & William Powell
THUNDERBOLT 1929 Von Sternberg gangster epic - Arlen plus G Bancroft
BEHIND THE MAKE UP 1930 gripping backstage melo with Hal Skelly cuckolded by Fay with a splendid William Powell (a must see for his fans - unlike anything else I've seen him do - as treacherous Italian immigrant). Kay Francis pops up too
ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON - 1933 much darker than either remake this one has an excellent Gary Cooper in the lead and Fay as the bad lot he falls for (Rita Hayworth in the first remake, Janis Paige in the second. Male leads in the remakes were Cagney and Dennis Morgan respectively and Frances Fuller (1933), Olivia DeHavilland (1941) and Dorothy Malone (1948) played the nice girl(s))
THE COBWEB - 1955 a small part in Minnelli's neglected all star asylum drama (Widmark, Gloria Grahame, Bacall, Boyer, L Gish) As someone else almost said - because of KONG her fame today is out of all proportion to her star status at the time - she was billed below Miriam Hopkins and Constance Bennett back in the day..... and only really in A movies for a few years - late 20s/early 30s.... but a pleasant addition to any cast though
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Post by BATouttaheck on Feb 23, 2020 23:38:09 GMT
Perry Mason fans ~~ keep an eye out for Fay in
- The Case of the Fatal Fetish (1965) ... Mignon Germaine - The Case of the Watery Witness (1959) ... Lorna Thomas - The Case of the Prodigal Parent (1958) ... Ethel Harrison
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Post by Doghouse6 on Feb 24, 2020 0:28:45 GMT
And smiling (with Richard Barthelmess) in The Finger Points (1931) Will you forgive a small notation, mikef6? That's Regis Toomey beaming at Fay in the illustration. Caught this picture for the first time just a few months back. Engaging and ultimately downbeat newspaper drama in the Depression-era, Warner Bros-First National tradition in which Barthelmess has his hands full playing against an electric, on-the-cusp-of-stardom Clark Gable, the sincere Fay and reliable Toomey (her colleague who unabashedly carries the torch for her while she falls for corruptible small town boy Barthelmess). Considering the vast changes in the dissemination of news, fake or otherwise, having taken place in the nearly 90 years since its production, it retains relevance. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
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Post by mikef6 on Feb 24, 2020 0:55:40 GMT
And smiling (with Richard Barthelmess) in The Finger Points (1931) Will you forgive a small notation, mikef6 ? That's Regis Toomey beaming at Fay in the illustration. Caught this picture for the first time just a few months back. Engaging and ultimately downbeat newspaper drama in the Depression-era, Warner Bros-First National tradition in which Barthelmess has his hands full playing against an electric, on-the-cusp-of-stardom Clark Gable, the sincere Fay and reliable Toomey (her colleague who unabashedly carries the torch for her while she falls for corruptible small town boy Barthelmess). Considering the vast changes in the dissemination of news, fake or otherwise, having taken place in the nearly 90 years since its production, it retains relevance. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Of course it is Toomey. Thanks. Here she is with Barthlemess in the same movie.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Feb 24, 2020 0:58:54 GMT
Perry Mason fans ~~ keep an eye out for Fay in - The Case of the Fatal Fetish (1965) ... Mignon Germaine - The Case of the Watery Witness (1959) ... Lorna Thomas - The Case of the Prodigal Parent (1958) ... Ethel Harrison Like Burke's Law around the same time, part of the fun of the original Masons was the fertile ground provided to veteran players as guest suspects/killers/victims in roles outside of their wheelhouses. Wray's Kong costar Robert Armstrong made four appearances himself. And occasionally, you catch an up-and-comer like Louise Fletcher, Ellen Burstyn or Robert Redford. It also suits me especially to spot the ones who, along with Burr, enjoyed the distinction of having worked with Hitchcock (Wendell Corey, Philip Ober, Vaughn Taylor, Mort Mills, for instance), or ones like Steve Brodie who were menaced by Burr during his days as an RKO heavy.
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Post by petrolino on Feb 29, 2020 1:19:44 GMT
She gave dance demonstrations in her early days, honing her signature movements as silents were surpassed by talkies.
Look at how she drops her left hip while upturning her right hip, arching her back and heels to create this iconic shot, one of many taken with leading man Joel McCrea.
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Post by teleadm on Feb 29, 2020 15:39:47 GMT
Took a glance in Ken Wlaschin's 1979 edition of "The World's Greatest Movie Stars" and Fay is indeed included.
According to that author the Fay important movies is:
The Wedding March 1928
The Four Feathers 1929
The Texan 1930
Dr X 1931
The Most Dangerous Game 1932
The Mystery of the Wax Museum 1932
King Kong 1933
Viva Villa! 1934
The Affairs of Cellini 1934
Bulldog Jack 1935
Don't take it too serious, as with all list, but I doubt if the author have actually seen the 1929 feathers since it's been lost for ages...
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Post by petrolino on Mar 1, 2020 2:51:13 GMT
10 Essentials for fans of Science-Fiction, Fantasy & Horror
'Doctor X' (1932) as Joanne Xavier 'The Most Dangerous Game' (1932) as Eve Trowbridge 'The Vampire Bat' (1933) as Ruth Bertin 'Mystery of the Wax Museum' (1933) as Charlotte Duncan 'King Kong' (1933) as Ann Darrow 'Below the Sea' (1933) as Diana 'Black Moon' (1934) as Gail Hamilton 'The Countess of Monte Cristo' (1934) as Janet Krueger
'The Clairvoyant' (1935) (US title: The Evil Mind) as Rene 'Murder in Greenwich Village' (1937) as Kay Cabot aka Lucky
# Fay Wray was said by the Art Institute in 2005 to be one of the most sculpted figures in art history, laying testament to her unique sense of movement
Pictured here with debonair serial spanker Melvyn Douglas
Nobody other than Fay Wray could have pulled this off at the time ...
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Mar 4, 2020 12:42:07 GMT
Why is she wriggling to free herself here? Where is she going, besides the sidewalk?
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Post by cynthiagreen on Mar 4, 2020 14:34:25 GMT
Took a glance in Ken Wlaschin's 1979 edition of "The World's Greatest Movie Stars" and Fay is indeed included. According to that author the Fay important movies is: The Wedding March 1928 The Four Feathers 1929 The Texan 1930 Dr X 1931 The Most Dangerous Game 1932 The Mystery of the Wax Museum 1932 King Kong 1933 Viva Villa! 1934 The Affairs of Cellini 1934 Bulldog Jack 1935 Don't take it too serious, as with all list, but I doubt if the author have actually seen the 1929 feathers since it's been lost for ages... re FOUR FEATHERS... sometimes miracles occur...THE FOUR FEATHERS 1929 Enjoy
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