Canadian born Fay Wray is a name little known to current moviegoers.  I had the privilege of meeting Fay Wray, a tiny and very beautiful women, though no longer young. I was in L.A. –  a Journalist working free-lance for several Australian magazines and so she wined me and dined me at a restaurant close to the studio and while we were talking stars that I may think about interviewing and films to review she revealed to me some of her own fascinating background and only later realized I was dining with a Hollywood legend. She was the original blonde heroin who played opposite the giant ape King Kong in the original version of the film. It is currently playing as a musical in Australia. She screen tested for the film even though the producers where looking for a blonde to contrast with their dark hero, the gorilla King Kong and competed for the role against Dorothy Jordan, Jean Harlow and Ginger Rogers.  The role finally went to her and she wore a blonde wig in the part.  Wray recorded all her screams during one session, and there were many, when you think about the film’s scenario. It is said that on the films 50^th anniversary in 1953 one New York theatre held a Fay Wray scream-like contest.  Back at the studios after lunch she showed me black and white photographs of herself with King Kong as he stood on top of the Empire State Building clutching her over his head.

I recently read that when Fay Wray died in 2004 the lights of the Empire State Building (which featured so prominently in the film) were dimmed for 15 minutes in her memory.  How lucky was I to meet her!