Fay Wray
Motion Pictures Category Star
- Ceremony was on February 8, 1960
Fay Wray
'King Kong' damsel, dies
By Susan Wloszczyna USA TODAY
Big ape. Big building. And a big set of lungs.
Few cinematic images have had the iconic staying power of a shrieking blonde squeezed in the mighty paw of a giant gorilla as he climbs to the top of the Empire State Building. The hairy star of King Kong, 1933's classic clash of man vs. nature, might have monopolized the screen. But audiences were as mesmerized as Kong himself by the squirming and sexy Fay Wray, whose beauty enchanted the beast despite her piercing screams of terror.
Even though Wray, who died Sunday in New York at age 96, began her career in the silent era and appeared in more than 70 films, including 10 others in 1933, she often felt she was forever trapped in Kong's grip.
"I used to resent King Kong," she said in a 1963 interview. "But I don't fight it anymore. I realize that it is a classic, and I am pleased to be associated with it."
Hollywood tried to re-create the odd-couple chemistry in a 1976 remake with Jessica Lange. "They shouldn't have tried," Wray said after reading the script. Perhaps she would have been more satisfied by the upcoming redo starring Naomi Watts and directed by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame, who credits the original with inspiring him to be a filmmaker.
Wray married three times. But in the minds of moviegoers of all ages, she is forever hitched to Kong. "At the premiere, I wasn't too impressed," she conceded. "I didn't realize that King Kong and I were going to be together for the rest of our lives."
