Actress Fay Wray passed away yesterday at the age of 96. Although Wray appeared in over 90 films throughout her career, she will always be remembered first and foremost for being dragged up the Empire State Building by a really big gorilla in the original 1933 classic King Kong. She really became the all-time icon for the damsel in distress character. Next year, we’ll get to see Naomi Watts step-up to try to match Wray when she stars as Ann Darrow in Peter Jackson’s version of the classic story.
Wray never became a huge star beyond that one film. For years she apparently resented the association and what it meant to her career, but in her later life she seemed to relish it. I wonder if in the midst of TCM’s Summer Under the Stars, they’ll find a place to squeeze in a showing of the big monkey movie. I would be surprised if they programmed a whole day around her, replacing one of their preselected stars. But the original film, which both saved RKO and was one of the first true special effects blockbusters, will always be a film classic, and no matter how much I love Watts, Wray will always be the girl in the great apes clutches.
Out of Focus 