Dwight Frye

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Dwight Iliff Frye (February 22, 1899 – November 7, 1943) was an American stage and screen actor, noted for his appearances in the classic horror films Dracula, Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. Frye was born in Salina, Kansas. Nicknamed "The Man with the Thousand-Watt Stare," and "The Man of a Thousand Deaths," he specialized in the portrayal of mentally unbalanced characters, including his signature role, the madman Renfield in Tod Browning's 1931 version of Dracula. Later that same year he also played the hunchbacked assistant in the film Frankenstein. (This character, named Fritz, is often mistakenly referred to as Ygor, a character originated by Béla Lugosi in the later film Son of Frankenstein.) Frye had a prominent role in the 1933 horror film The Vampire Bat, starring Lionel Atwill, Melvyn Douglas, and Fay Wray, in which he played Herman, a half-wit suspected of being a killer. He also had a memorable role in the classic Bride of Frankenstein, in which he played Karl. The part of Karl was originally much longer and many extra scenes of Frye were shot as a sub plot but were edited out of the final version to shorten the running time as well as to appease the censor boards. The most memorable of these "cut scenes" was that of Karl killing the Burgomaster portrayed by E. E. Clive. No known prints of these scenes survive today, but photographs of the scene were used to illustrate the scene's synopsis and are included in the recent Universal DVD release of the film. During the early 1940s, Frye alternated between film roles and appearing on stage in a variety of productions ranging from comedies to musicals, as well as appearing in a stage version of Dracula. In 1924 he played the Son in a translation of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.[1] There was a Dwight Frye Fan Club at one time,[2] but it is currently dormant. He also made a contribution to the war effort by working nights as a tool designer for Lockheed Aircraft. Frye's strong resemblance to former Secretary of War Newton D. Baker helped land him what would have been a substantial role in the biographical film Wilson, based on the life of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, but he died of a heart attack while riding on a bus in Hollywood a few days before filming was to have begun. Frye was interred in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. Description above from the Wikipedia article Dwight Frye, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Known For

Renfield

Dracula

Karl

Bride of Frankenstein

Fritz

Frankenstein

Villager at Meeting / Grave Robber (flashback) (uncredited)

The Ghost of Frankenstein

Rudi a Vasarian

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

Monk, Gangster

The Doorway to Hell

Wedding Guest (uncredited)

The Night Bird

Wilmer Cook

The Maltese Falcon

Zolarr

Dead Men Walk

Herman Gleib

The Vampire Bat

SS Paradise Radio Operator (uncredited)

Sea Devils

Flandrin

The Circus Queen Murder

Arsonist

Think It Over

Renfield (archive footage)

The Many Faces of Dracula

Fritz / Karl (archive footage)

Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook

Marshall (uncredited)

Sinners in Paradise

Mr. Owen

Who Killed Gail Preston?

Vindecco

The Shadow

Vint Glade

Man to Man

Swanson

Beware Of Ladies

Haldine (uncredited)

Submarine Alert

Spike Jonas

Atlantic Adventure

Sidney Z. Wheeler

Fast Company

Hostage

Hangmen Also Die!

John Colley

The Night Hawk

Hysterical patient

The Man Who Found Himself

McBride

Alibi for Murder

Theatre Audience Spectator

Upstream

The Blonde from Singapore

Fouquet's Valet

The Man in the Iron Mask

Prof. Anderson

Drums of Fu Manchu

Speavy

Sky Bandits

Rader

Mystery Ship

Gravet, 'the Jackal'

Adventure in Sahara

Robert Wayne

A Strange Adventure

Pinky

Gangs of Chicago

Mr. Easton (makeup supervisor)

Something to Sing About

Dr. Thomas

The Crime of Doctor Crespi

Eddie Anders

Phantom Raiders

Balcony Heckler (uncredited)

Exit Smiling

Reporter (uncredited)

The Invisible Man

Alex

Invisible Enemy

Pavlov's Secretary (Uncredited)

The Son of Monte Cristo

James Wallace

Attorney for the Defense

Hoodlum (uncredited)

Dangerous Blondes

Leo Qualen

Flying Blind

Dick Loomis

The Western Code

Radio Operator

Devil Pays Off

Jenkins

Florida Special

Roger Unthank (uncredited)

The Great Impersonation

Renfield (archive footage) (uncredited)

Drácula

Jessop the Butler (uncredited)

The Black Camel

Ziggy (uncredited)

Don't Talk

(archive footage)

Universal Horror

Chick Lewis

By Whose Hand?

Self - (archive footage)

Legacy of Screams: The Evolution of Horror Movies