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'King Kong's' Fay Wray goes home

Broadcast Date: Sept. 9, 1993

She was the plucky heroine who made a place for herself in movie history by resisting King Kong's amorous but terrifying advances. Actress Fay Wray, who hails from Cardston Alta., has come home to Canada to rededicate a fountain in her name. In this CBC Television interview, Wray talks about her film career, King Kong, and her long-awaited homecoming.

'King Kong's' Fay Wray goes home

• Vina Fay Wray was born on the outskirts of Cardston, Alta., on Sept. 15, 1907. She died in New York City on Aug. 9, 2004, at the age of 96.

• The Wray family moved to Arizona in 1910. They later settled in California.

• Wray made her first foray into film in 1914 as an extra in silent pictures. She got her first big break in 1928 when she starred in The Wedding March.

• King Kong was promoted in taglines that read "The most awesome thriller of all time," "Out-leaping the maddest imaginings! Out-thrilling the wildest thrills!" and "The strangest story ever conceived by man." 

• King Kong opened in 1933 during the difficult days of the Depression but still managed to gross $1,761,000.

• In 1998 the American Film Institute ranked King Kong #43 in its 100 greatest films of all time list.

• Special effects expert Willis O'Brien constructed the miniature 18-inch King Kong and brought him to life through stop animation, a process in which each movement is filmed frame by frame.

• Wray married writer John Monk Saunders in 1928; they divorced in 1939. She subsequently married screenwriter Robert Riskin in 1942. He passed away 13 years later in 1955.

• Over the course of her career, Wray appeared in 77 films, including Gideon's Trumpet, The Richest Girl in the World and Viva Villa!

• Wray was honoured posthumously with a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame in June 2005.

'King Kong's' Fay Wray goes home

Medium: Television

Program: Midday

Broadcast Date: Sept. 9, 1993

Guest(s): Howard Snyder, Fay Wray

Host: Kevin Newman, Tina Srebotnjak

Duration: 8:18

Film excerpt: King Kong, RKO Radio Pictures

Last updated:
July 23, 2009