# 'Twas Beauty killed the Beast . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063 "2004-08-09T18:35:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/1 "2004-08-09T18:35:45Z")
Fay Wray, one of the greatest screamers of all time, [dead](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/09/movies/09CND-WRAY.html?ex=1092715200&en=7475252c26fbee36&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1) at 96. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/2 "2004-08-09T18:54:46Z")
Damn! I’d seen some of her other films, but none of them stick in my mind like **King Kong**. I think she’s the last of the principals from that movie – maybe the last of _any_ of the actors from King Kong. She outlasted Reichert, Cabot, and Armstrong by decades. The last appearance of hers I saw was at the Academy Awards a few years back. She seemed very “out of it”, but still healthy. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/3 "2004-08-09T19:38:03Z")
She will live forever, not only in _King Kong_ but in _The Rocky Horror Picture Show_. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/4 "2004-08-09T19:42:09Z")
Great thread title. I wanted here to make it to 100 – funnny how at 72ish she knew enough to pass on 1979’s Kong – wonder if she would have favored/done the one coming from Jackson ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/5 "2004-08-09T20:52:04Z")
> [@](#): > > …died on Sunday night at her apartment on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. After being drug from it by a large, hairy hand. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/6 "2004-08-09T20:53:04Z")
Quick question to those that would know- Was she the last living WAMPAS “baby”? ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/7 "2004-08-10T03:09:33Z")
> [@Governor Quinn](#): > > Quick question to those that would know- > > Was she the last living WAMPAS “baby”? No, Anita Page is still alive. Maybe some others, too. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/8 "2004-08-10T03:12:52Z")
[Gloria Stuart.](http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/WAMPAS%20Baby%20Stars) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/9 "2004-08-10T03:44:58Z")
> [@Strainger](#): > > After being drug from it by a large, hairy hand. ‘dragged’ The word is ‘dragged’. Please. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/10 "2004-08-10T03:58:15Z")
Can’t ANY celebrity pass on without somebody using the D word? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/11 "2004-08-10T04:38:21Z")
Deceased? Dearly Departed? Dinner-for-worms? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/12 "2004-08-10T11:15:06Z")
drug. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/13 "2004-08-10T13:07:24Z")
I understand PETA is planning to picket her funeral for the poor portrayal of King Kong. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/14 "2004-08-10T13:12:23Z")
And she died before she ever had the chance to tell me what a WAMPAS is. Could anyone else help with this? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/15 "2004-08-10T13:24:48Z")
And tonight the Empire State Building will dim its lights in honor of her passing. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/16 "2004-08-10T14:30:51Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > And she died before she ever had the chance to tell me what a WAMPAS is. Could anyone else help with this? > 😕 [Here you go.](http://www.surfnetinc.com/chuck/ladies88.htm) ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/17 "2004-08-10T14:34:29Z")
> [@Max Carnage](#): > > And tonight the Empire State Building will dim its lights in honor of her passing. Wow, that is exceptionally cool. Any NY Dopers witness this? A sad passing but she’ll be remembered as being one of the great screamers in cinema history (though her contribution to Kong is more than that). :sigh: Now I’m definitely going to have to go see [this film](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303797/) before it disappears from the theaters. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/18 "2004-08-10T14:40:36Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Wow, that is exceptionally cool. Any NY Dopers witness this? It’s definitely cool, and I couldn’t think of a better way to honor her. Does anyone know what time the lights will dim? I’m close enough to see it, but I’d have to find a high point. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/19 "2004-08-10T16:48:26Z")
I wish I had more info on the lights dimming. My local morning news mentioned it but didn’t give any details. If I see anything else though, I’ll let you know. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twas-beauty-killed-the-beast/259063/20 "2004-08-10T16:51:24Z")
[http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-08-10-empire-fay\_x.htm](http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-08-10-empire-fay_x.htm) USA Today article about it, but no times, other than it will be for 15 minutes.