Fay Wray, 1907 - 2004.

Over the years, Miss Wray said, she came to feel that Kong had "become a spiritual thing to many people, including me."

"Although he had tremendous strength and power to destroy, some kind of instinct made him appreciate what he saw as beautiful," she said in a 1993 interview. "Just before he dies, he reaches toward me, but can't quite reach. The movie affects males of all ages. Recently, a 6-year-old boy said to me, 'I've been waiting to meet you for half my life.' "

The New York Times.

Her fame as Ann Darrow in King Kong and as other screaming heroines in the thirties has eclipsed her romantic leading-lady status during the twenties, which culminated with her moving performance as Mitzi in Erich von Stroheim's monumental The Wedding March. In fact, she was at her best in sound films during long silent passages (especially in King Kong), when both subtle and exaggerated acting were called for: the gorgeous eyes of her imperiled heroines grow wide in terror yet look for escape, their breasts rise and fall, their lips fight to open, their hands rise to their faces, and finally they scream and scream.

Danny Peary in Cult Movie Stars, as quoted in The Fay Wray Pages.

Posted by dwhudson at August 9, 2004 2:39 PM