Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Fay Wray dies at age 96

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Posted by Ron Yost (Member # 1850) on 08-09-2004, 03:23 PM:

Fay Wray, of "King Kong" fame, has died in her Manhatten apartment at the age of 96. Apparently she just drifted off sitting in her chair.

I won't post an article as it will be easy to find.

RIP, and thank you. [Frown]

Ron Yost

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 08-10-2004, 01:27 AM:

RIP

I wonder what she would have thought of the new King Kong coming out? I guess we'll never know.

AJG

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 08-10-2004, 01:39 AM:

Fay Wray was really a cool lady. She made about 100 movies, from silents to the early talkies. It was difficult for a lot of early talkie actors to get across solid, personal characterizations, & especially for women, but Fay Wry worked it very well. She's in a number of early Warners talkies, some with Cagney, holding things up against the limitations of early sound tech & staging problem.

She had a great outlook on life, bopped around hitting conventions, didn't get old, bitter, reclusive, or stagnant, & kept doing a lot of fun things. She lived in NYC in 'retirement', & Tuesday night they're turning off the lights on the Empire State Building for ten minutes to honor her. She was a lot of fun, & had a lot of fun herself.

Posted by Dan Lyons (Member # 1454) on 08-10-2004, 03:19 AM:

Well, at least we now know whatever happened to her... [Wink]

danny

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-10-2004, 03:44 AM:

Hmmmmmm, RHPS reel #6, Dr. Frank-n-furter? [Big Grin]

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 08-10-2004, 03:51 AM:

You turd! You been watching that print?

>>> Phil

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-10-2004, 04:09 AM:

Nope, ran the movie way too many times in past years.

Posted by Dan Lyons (Member # 1454) on 08-10-2004, 04:09 AM:

you sure? I swear that's in reel 5. I know reel 6 starts with the number "i'm going home".

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 08-10-2004, 05:38 PM:

I understand that Wray's character in King Kong was based on that of Marguerite Harrison in Grass, and that the opening scene in the film - in which the Merian C. Cooper caricature only agrees reluctantly to 'recruit' Wray because he admits that an exploration documentary on its own wouldn't make good box-office - was also a reference to Grass. Harrison was reported to be monumentally off-pissed at the resulting film on account of the Wray character being essentially a dumb blonde.

quote: Aaron Garman
I wonder what she would have thought of the new King Kong coming out? I guess we'll never know.

Presumably her thoughts about the 1970s remake are on record somewhere: I also presume that this film has been indefinitely shelved by whoever owns the rights, because of the climax in which Kong climbs up one of the Twin Towers. Personally I thought that replacing the '20s ethnographic explorer with a '70s oil industry exploitation was quite a clever reworking, and that most of the updated jokes (e.g. 'Wow, he'll beat the shit out of 'We'll put a tiger in your tank!'') work. I wonder what equivalent scenario Jackson is using in his version.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 08-11-2004, 01:37 AM:

The 70s Kong ran last year at the State Palace in New Orleans; the print was mag, brittle, & vari-pink.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 08-11-2004, 01:51 AM:

If yous are talkin' 'bout the 1976 version. What a POS!

I'm ashamed to say that I worked on that lame excuse for a remake!

I wish a pox on all involved! Ummm... except me, of course! HA!

>>> Phil