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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


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Born:
Feb 22, 1899 In Salina, Kansas, USA
Movie/TV Credits:
51
First Appeared:
In the movie Exit Smiling 1926-11-06
Latest Project:
Movie Universal Horror 1998-10-08
Known For
Poster of Alibi for Murder
Poster of The Crime of Doctor Crespi
Poster of The Doorway to Hell
Poster of Upstream
Filmography
Movie Universal Horror (archive footage) 1998-10-08
Movie Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man Rudi a Vasarian 1943-03-05
Movie Dead Men Walk Zolarr 1943-04-12
Movie Hangmen Also Die! Hostage 1943-04-15
Movie Dangerous Blondes Hoodlum (uncredited) 1943-09-23
Movie Submarine Alert Haldine (uncredited) 1943-06-28
Movie Don't Talk Ziggy (uncredited) 1942-02-28
Movie The Ghost of Frankenstein Villager at Meeting / Grave Robber (flashback) (uncredited) 1942-03-13
Movie Flying Blind Leo Qualen 1941-08-29
Movie Devil Pays Off Radio Operator 1941-11-10
Movie Mystery Ship Rader 1941-09-03
Movie The Blonde from Singapore 1941-10-15
Movie Drums of Fu Manchu Prof. Anderson 1940-03-15
Movie Gangs of Chicago Pinky 1940-05-18
Movie The Son of Monte Cristo Pavlov's Secretary (Uncredited) 1940-12-05
Movie Sky Bandits Speavy 1940-07-06
Movie Phantom Raiders Eddie Anders 1940-06-07
Movie The Man in the Iron Mask Fouquet's Valet 1939-07-13
Movie Sinners in Paradise Marshall (uncredited) 1938-05-19
Movie Invisible Enemy Alex 1938-04-03
Movie Who Killed Gail Preston? Mr. Owen 1938-02-24
Movie Fast Company Sidney Z. Wheeler 1938-07-05
Movie Think It Over Arsonist 1938-07-24
Movie Adventure in Sahara Gravet, 'the Jackal' 1938-11-15
Movie The Man Who Found Himself Hysterical patient 1937-04-02
Movie Sea Devils SS Paradise Radio Operator (uncredited) 1937-02-19
Movie Something to Sing About Mr. Easton (makeup supervisor) 1937-09-30
Movie The Shadow Vindecco 1937-12-22
Movie Florida Special Jenkins 1936-04-21
Movie Alibi for Murder McBride 1936-09-23
Movie Beware Of Ladies Swanson 1936-12-21
Movie Bride of Frankenstein Karl 1935-04-20
Movie Atlantic Adventure Spike Jonas 1935-08-25
Movie The Great Impersonation Roger Unthank (uncredited) 1935-12-08
Movie The Crime of Doctor Crespi Dr. Thomas 1935-09-23
Movie The Vampire Bat Herman Gleib 1933-01-21
Movie The Circus Queen Murder Flandrin 1933-04-10
Movie The Invisible Man Reporter (uncredited) 1933-11-03
Movie Attorney for the Defense James Wallace 1932-05-21
Movie By Whose Hand? Chick Lewis 1932-07-06
Movie A Strange Adventure Robert Wayne 1932-11-20
Movie The Western Code Dick Loomis 1932-09-15
Movie Dracula Renfield 1931-02-12
Movie The Maltese Falcon Wilmer Cook 1931-05-23
Movie Drácula Renfield (archive footage) (uncredited) 1931-03-11
Movie The Black Camel Jessop the Butler (uncredited) 1931-06-21
Movie Frankenstein Fritz 1931-11-21
Movie The Doorway to Hell Monk, Gangster 1930-10-18
Movie Man to Man Vint Glade 1930-12-05
Movie Upstream Theatre Audience Spectator 1927-01-30
Movie Exit Smiling Balcony Heckler (uncredited) 1926-11-06