You wouldn't read about him in any of the movie trade journals of the day. You wouldn't see a photo feature or personality profile of him in any of the film fan magazines, and it's not likely that anyone knew who he was when he collapsed and fell dead on a Hollywood bus aisle in front of his wife and child on November 7, 1943 at the age of 47. Ironically, they were on their way home from the Pantages Theatre after they had just seen Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in SHERLOCK HOLMES FACES DEATH. The profession listed on his death certificate read: "Tool Designer".
He was an actor, and once you saw him on the screen and speak, you would not likely forget him. He was Renfield, he was Fritz, he was Karl and he played the most legendary lunatics in cinema history, and who died ignominiously on the floor of that Hollywood bus in the town that virtually shunned him.
His name was Dwight Frye and like so many other talented character actors, he was typecast and tragically cast adrift by studios that should have been glad to sign him for any role. Instead, he struggled for nearly his entire career to earn a decent living and provide for his family.
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| Photograph taken in N.Y. ca. 1925, inscribed to his wife. |
Dwight Iliff Fry was born on February 22, 1899 in Salina, Kansas, the son of a Christian Science couple (which may have explained his untreated heart illness in the years before his death). In the 1920's he played on the stage on screen, some of them comedies, ironically which he preferred above any other type of role. Instead, he was repeatedly cast as a villain and "troubled weakling".
“I am a character man,” he said in a 1929 LOS ANGELES TIMES interview. “There seems to be an impression I do one type of thing. I don’t and I haven’t. One of my first successes was in comedy…. I don’t like specialization. I have no interest in anything but character work, and I have made it a point to vary my roles as much as possible.”
Despite his wish, after his incredibly remarkable role as Renfield in DRACULA, he was thereafter most often typecast as a "troubled lunatic weakling".
Today begins a weekend tribute to this very talented actor.
This article on Frye from FILM FAN MONTHLY (April 1974) includes his filmography:
Dwight Frye as Renfield in DRACULA (Universal, 1931):
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Antonia Carlotta on Dwight Frye:
Scenes from five of Dwight Frye's best "unhinged" roles:
CONTINUED TOMORROW!
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