Sep 15, 1907

Cardston, Alberta, Canada

She was born Vina Fay Wray near Cardston, Alberta, Canada, on September 15, 1907.
Fay was from a large family that included five siblings. She moved to Arizona when
she was still small in order for her father to find better work than what was
offered in Alberta. 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 i... ... (read more...) n the entertainment industry. At the age of 16, Fay played her first role in a
motion picture, albeit a small one. The film was Gasoline Love in 1923. The film
was not a hit, nor was it a launching vehicle for her career. It would be two more
years before she ever got another chance. When it did come, it was another
lackluster film called The Coast Patrol. The only thing it did for Fay was give her
a slightly more prominent role than the film two years earlier. Four more films
followed in 1926, and her career finally left the ground. She was noticed to the
extent that the Western Association of Motion Pictures chose her as one of thirteen
starlets most likely to succeed in film. After three films in 1927, the following
year established Fay as an actress to be reckoned with. She played the lead, Mitzi
Schrammell, in the hit The Wedding March. She had made the successful transition
into the "talkie" era when most performers' services were no longer needed because
of the sound of their voices on film. In 1933, Fay appeared in eleven films,
including The Big Brain, The Vampire Bat, and Ann Carver's Profession. But it was
another film that placed her in a role that is remembered to this day. That year
she played Ann Darrow in the now classic King Kong. After that, Fay came by more
and better roles, but she is best remembered for that one performance. The movie
wound up being named one of the 100 greatest films of all time by the American Film
Institute in 1998. She continued her pace in films, making eleven films again in
1934, including Once To Every Woman, Viva Villa!, and Bulldog Jack. But her career
was now beginning the proverbial backward slide. Movie roles were becoming fewer
and fewer with new stars on the horizon. Now it was Fay's services which were being
curtailed. Her 11-year marriage to John Monk Saunders ended in a painful divorce.
After Not A Ladies Man in 1942, Fay was not in another film until 1953's Treasure
Of The Golden Condor. The films she appeared in during the latter '50s were not
much to write home about, and several were some of the weakest ever projected. Her
last performance before the cameras was a made-for-television movie called Gideon's
Trumpet. Fay Wray died of an undisclosed ailment on August 8, 2004. She was an
excellent actress who never was given a chance to live up to her potential,
especially after being cast in a number of horror films in the '30s. Given the
right role, Fay could have had her star up alongside the great actresses of the
day. No matter. She remains a bright star from cinema's golden era.