Fay Wray - How do we love thee let us count the ways.

Canadian born Fay Wray was a star of both silent and talkie movies and one of the more successful stars to make that transition.

In a career spanning 57 years Wray starred mostly in horror movies earning her the status of Hollywood's first 'scream queen' setting the template for the type ever since.

Blessed with a gorgeous figure and blonde hair Fay Wray was the darling of the screen in the twenties and thirties starring in such classics as The Mystery of the Wax Museum, When Knights Were Bold, The Vampire Bat, Cheating Cheaters! and The Most Dangerous Game.

However, it is for her performance as Ann Darrow in King Kong in 1933 for which she is best remembered. Peter Jackson approached Wray to make a cameo appearance in his 2005 remake of the classic but Fay Wray declined stating that the 1933 original was the one true Kong.

Fay Wray died shortly before filming was to commence aged 97.

With a star on Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame and a corresponding star on the Toronto walk of fame for outstanding contributions to the film industry Fay Wray's status as an icon is assured for as long as damsels require rescuing.

In fact, so strongly is Wray associated with her role in King Kong that on her death New York City honoured her by darkening the lights of the Empire State Building for 15 minutes in a nod to the famous scene in King Kong where Kong scales the tower of the Empire State Building.

Popular culture has imortalised her in film and in song with The Rocky Horror Picture Show's Science Fiction - Double Feature containing the lyrics '...Whatever happened to Fay Wray, that delicate satin draped frame...'

Fay Wray, how do we love thee let us count the ways.