She was offered a cameo role in King Kong (1976), a remake of her most famous film (King Kong (1933)), but turned down because she did not like the script.
According to her autobiography, she stated that after she became a naturalized citizen, she registered as a Republican and supported the party ever since.
9
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 584-587. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.
10
Gothic metal band Type O Negative wrote a song about her called "Fay Wray Come Out and Play".
11
Third husband, Dr. Sanford Rothenberg, was a brain surgeon.
12
Sideline: playwright ("Angela Is Twenty-Two" and "The Meadowlark").
Miss Wray was originally offered the role of the elderly Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic (1997), which she turned down.
16
Pictured on one of four 51ยข Canadian commemorative postage stamps honoring "Canadians in Hollywood" issued 22 May 2006. Others honored in this set are John Candy, Lorne Greene and Mary Pickford.
17
For the remake of King Kong (2005), director Peter Jackson wanted Fay to say the closing line of the film. Since she died before it was done, the line went to Jack Black.
18
She spent time with and became friends with Peter Jackson, a major fan, while he was in the process of developing his remake of King Kong (1933). Before she passed on, Wray also met and became friendly with Naomi Watts, whom she also approved to play the part that Wray originated, 'Ann Darrow'.
19
On the main street of Cardston, Alberta, Canada, her birthplace, there is the "Fay Wray Fountain". Cardston is also home to the first Mormon Temple in Canada.
20
Her brother, J. Vivian Wray, suffered from a mental disorder and was confined to a sanitarium. He escaped and apparently committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a streetcar in Stockton, California, on June 4, 1928.
21
She is referenced twice in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). During the Floorshow, Frank says, 'Whatever happened to Fay Wray/that delicate, satin-draped frame/as it clung to her thigh, how I started to cry/cause I wanted to be dressed just the same'; and in the opening song: 'then something went wrong/for Fay Wray and King Kong/they got caught in a celluloid jam'.
22
Following her death, she was interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. This cemetery is near downtown Hollywood just blocks from Hollywood and Vine Streets. The cemetery is behind the Paramount Studios, surrounded by many businesses, and is easy to miss for first-time travelers.
23
Was guest of honor in 1991, at the 60th birthday of the Empire State Building in New York City.
24
On August 10, 2004, two days after her death, the lights on the Empire State Building in New York City (scene of the climax from her most popular film, King Kong (1933), were dimmed for 15 minutes in her memory.
25
Her film King Kong (1933) saved its studio, RKO Radio Pictures, from bankruptcy.
26
Despite leaving Canada at an early age, she often visited Cardston, Alberta, her hometown.
27
She is regarded as Hollywood's first "scream queen". This was due to the 1932-1933 season when she made the early Technicolor thrillers Doctor X (1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) (both at Warner Brothers with Lionel Atwill). She also costarred in The Vampire Bat (1933) at Majestic (again with Atwill) and at RKO she made The Most Dangerous Game (1932) and, of course, King Kong (1933).
28
In January 2003, a 95-year-old Fay Wray was awarded the "Legend in Film" Award at the Palm Beach International Film Festival when she appeared there in person to celebrate Rick McKay's film Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003), which she also appeared in. In addition to her honor, McKay's film was honored with the Audience Award "Best Documentary" of the festival by unanimous vote. Adrien Brody and Robert Evans won awards in addition to Wray and McKay at the same festival.
29
She drove a car into her 90s.
30
Best remembered as the girl held in the hand of RKO Radio Pictures' King Kong (1933).
31
She was "almost" a vegetarian and always stuck to her rule not to eat late at night. She woke up long before sunrise and spent a lot of time writing.
On The 70th Annual Academy Awards (1998). Billy Crystal introduced a clip of her in King Kong (1933) and then came offstage and stood next to Miss Wray in the audience, and introduced her as the "Beauty who charmed the Beast, the Legendary Fay Wray". Miss Wray was completely caught off guard, appearing to have not even noticed that Crystal had moved near her when the lights were turned down for the clip from "King Kong", then rose from her seat to rapturous applause and waved. Normally, the audience would have given her a standing ovation, but sensing her discombobulation at being caught off-guard on live, worldwide television, they did not. (In retrospect, given Miss Wray's advanced age, perhaps the producers should have let her know their plans in advance.) Crystal gently teased her that she was on This Is Your Life (1952) and thanked her for being a part of the evening. Miss Wray smiled with gratitude.
34
Referenced in the 1998 song "Are You Jimmy Ray?" by Jimmy Ray.
