The entire world knows Fay Wray, the screaming beauty in King Kong's immense hand. What few know is that the actress has fond memories of her childhood in Utah.
The gigantic ape was only a small part of her acting career. From 1923's silent film "Gasoline Love" to the 1980 TV movie "Gideon's Trumpet," she acted in close to 80 productions. And it all started in Salt Lake City."I certainly have good feelings about Utah," Wray said in a Deseret News interview.
"I think we arrived in Salt Lake City when I was about 5 years old. I went to kindergarten, and then we were there for about three years in Salt Lake City."
She was born in Canada, but the family moved to Arizona, and from Arizona to Salt Lake City. From there the family moved temporarily to Lark, then back to Salt Lake City. Among places they lived were 236 Hampton Ave. and 814 Sherman Ave.
Wray told the Deseret News that when she was 5 or 6 years old, living in Utah, she saw her first motion picture.
"I really didn't know what it was up there. . . . I was fascinated with that because people seemed to be so happy, and there was the noise of the projector in the back and a beam of light that went over our heads onto that screen."
Her family moved to Lark in 1914, just before her seventh birthday. It was a lead-zinc mining town in the Oquirrh foothills 18 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
"It was an interesting experience for me, living there. My memories are strong enough that developed my feelings about family life and living into a play, she said.
The family moved back to Salt Lake City and when she was about 12 and she starred in a short historical movie sponsored by the Salt Lake Telegram.
A test shot for the film was made on the grounds of the City-County building. She was supposed to hold flowers in her arms, smell them and look pretty.
Next she was awarded the lead in the movie, called "Heritage of Souls."
"They made one scene only, and that was at Fort Douglas...I was on a horse. Men in uniform from the fort were around me and we rode toward the camera - and then we stopped and that was the end of the movie."
The Wrays moved to Hollywood when she was about 14. A couple of years later she began working in bit roles.
The parts became more substantial, and in 1928 she played the female lead in Erich von Stronheim's film, "The Wedding March." It "had tremendous artistic value. It was a silent film.. and that was a beautiful film."
"King Kong," was produced sporadically over 10 months, working a few days at a time. She made four other movies that year. In the middle of the summer, she worked on "King Kong" for six weeks continually.
The result, released in 1933, was a science fiction classic.
Its creators were imaginative and "it had a special flavor. it was not just a copy of something else," she said.
She did her own screaming during the filming, whenever the action demanded it. But then in the sound room she also recorded a variety of screams, moans and whimpers, "and they cut that in and added it whenever it was needed.
Some scenes were shot with a tiny wooden doll representing Fay Wray, carred by the "giant" gorilla - actually a model only 18-inches tall himself. The doll wasn't a good likeness of her, but the proportions and the distance and so on were so that you never came close to that little figure at all."
To give life to those scenes, her screaming was dubbed in.
Wray concedes that Kong bashed natives and New Yorkers during the film, but he "really was just facinated with me and had no intention of harming her (Ann Darrow, the character in the movie)....He seems to be so honest and simple and without any desire to hurt me."
Wray remains active, living in Los Angeles and New York with her husband, Dr. Samuel Rothenberg.
But Kong is still a big part of her life. She mad appearances in 1983 to mark the 50th anniversary of the film's release. Her autobiography, "On the Other Hand," published this year by St. Martinn's Press, starts with an amusing letter to him. And when she appears on talk shows, inevitably the discussion gets around to the big guy.