Fay Wray: Movies & Box Office

Fay Wray, born Vina Fay Wray on September 15, 1907 on a ranch near Cardston, Alberta, Canada, became one of the most iconic faces of early horror cinema and is forever linked with the legendary 1933 monster classic King Kong. Raised in a Latter‑day Saint family that moved to Salt Lake City and later to Hollywood, she attended Hollywood High School before making her first screen appearance at sixteen in a locally produced short. By 1926 she had been chosen as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, a distinction that earned her a contract with Paramount Pictures where she transitioned smoothly from silent pictures to talkies, starring in more than a dozen features. After leaving Paramount, Wray signed with several studios and appeared in pioneering horror films such as Doctor X (1932) and The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), establishing her reputation as the first true “scream queen”. Her most memorable role came when Merian C. Cooper cast her as the terrified Ann Darrow in King Kong, a performance that helped rescue RKO from bankruptcy and cemented her status as a cultural icon. Over the next decades she continued to work steadily, appearing in adventure films, comedies, and television series, with notable TV appearances on Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Pride of the Family. Though she retired briefly after her second marriage in 1942, financial pressures brought her back to the screen until her final television film, Gideon's Trumpet, in 1980. In later life she published her autobiography On the Other Hand, received numerous honors including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Women in Film Crystal Award, and remained a beloved guest at film festivals and the Empire State Building until her death on August 8, 2004 at age 96.