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person_profile-Dwight Frye

Dwight Frye Died at age: 44

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Dwight Frye

Date of Birth:

Feb 22, 1899

Country of birth:

USA

Died:

Nov 07, 1943

Biography of

Dwight Frye

    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

Photos of

Dwight Frye

Photos ( 3 Photos

Filmography of

Dwight Frye

Found 51 Movies in total

The Many Faces of Dracula

Renfield (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 2000

Universal Horror

(archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1998

Dangerous Blondes

Hoodlum (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1943

Submarine Alert

Haldine (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1943

Hangmen Also Die!

Hostage ( Actor )

... 1943

Dead Men Walk

Zolarr ( Actor )

... 1943

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man

Rudi a Vasarian ( Actor )

... 1943

The Ghost of Frankenstein

Villager of Frankenstein at Meeting / Grave Robber (flashback) ( Actor )

... 1942

Devil Pays Off

Radio Operator ( Actor )

... 1941

... 1941

Mystery Ship

Rader ( Actor )

... 1941

Flying Blind

Leo Qualen ( Actor )

... 1941

The Son of Monte Cristo

Pavlov's Secretary (Uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1940

Sky Bandits

Speavy ( Actor )

... 1940

Phantom Raiders

Eddie Anders ( Actor )

... 1940

Gangs of Chicago

Pinky ( Actor )

... 1940

Drums of Fu Manchu

Prof. Anderson ( Actor )

... 1940

The Man in the Iron Mask

Fouquet's Valet ( Actor )

... 1939

Adventure in Sahara

Gravet, 'the Jackal' ( Actor )

... 1938

The Night Hawk

John Colley ( Actor )

... 1938

Fast Company

Sidney Z. Wheeler ( Actor )

... 1938

Sinners in Paradise

Marshall (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1938

Invisible Enemy

Alex ( Actor )

... 1938

Who Killed Gail Preston?

Mr. Owen ( Actor )

... 1938

The Shadow

Vindecco ( Actor )

... 1937

Something to Sing About

Mr. Easton (makeup supervisor) ( Actor )

... 1937

The Man Who Found Himself

Hysterical patient ( Actor )

... 1937

Sea Devils

SS Paradise Radio Operator (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1937

Alibi for Murder

McBride ( Actor )

... 1936

Florida Special

Jenkins ( Actor )

... 1936

The Great Impersonation

Roger Unthank (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1935

The Crime of Doctor Crespi

Dr. Thomas ( Actor )

... 1935

Atlantic Adventure

Spike Jonas ( Actor )

... 1935

... 1935

The Invisible Man

Reporter (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1933

The Circus Queen Murder

Flandrin ( Actor )

... 1933

The Vampire Bat

Herman Gleib ( Actor )

... 1933

A Strange Adventure

Robert Wayne ( Actor )

... 1932

The Western Code

Dick Loomis ( Actor )

... 1932

By Whose Hand?

Chick Lewis ( Actor )

... 1932

Attorney for the Defense

James Wallace ( Actor )

... 1932

Frankenstein

Fritz ( Actor )

... 1931

The Black Camel

Jessop ( Actor )

... 1931

The Maltese Falcon

Wilmer Cook ( Actor )

... 1931

Drácula

Renfield (archive footage) (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1931

Dracula

Renfield ( Actor )

... 1931

Man to Man

Vint Glade ( Actor )

... 1930

The Doorway to Hell

Monk, Gangster ( Actor )

... 1930

The Night Bird

Wedding Guest (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1928

Upstream

Theatre Audience Spectator ( Actor )

... 1927

Exit Smiling

Balcony Heckler (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1926