Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir

Riskin, a television writer and producer, gives a heartfelt account of the lives of her mother, actress Fay Wray, and her father, screenwriter Robert Riskin, respectively best-known for playing King Kong’s love interest and for writing It Happened One Night and several other Frank Capra films. As the author’s detailed retelling of her parents’ Horatio Alger­–like stories makes clear, they had plenty in common: both came from hardscrabble upbringings and displayed similarly impressive work ethics in conquering motion pictures, beginning in the 1920s, though their relationship didn’t begin until 1940, after a brief meeting several years before. Riskin writes with thoughtful reflection about her mother and father’s strong bond: particularly powerfully conveyed is Wray’s courage in single-handedly supporting the family after Riskin’s debilitating stroke in 1950. But the most intriguing chapters are about Wray and Riskin’s separate prenuptial lives. Riskin had a long, adventurous bachelorhood, dating stars like Carole Lombard and leading the playboy life riding his notoriety as an in-demand screenwriter. Wray’s stormy first marriage to brilliant screenwriter (and troubled alcoholic) John Monk Saunders is dealt with in admirably unflinching fashion. This nostalgic and reverent—if somewhat dryly written—remembrance of Riskin’s famous parents and their Golden Age Hollywood milieu will appeal to classic movie fans. (Mar.)