Film Forum

Screenwriter Robert Riskin (1897–1955) and actress Fay Wray (1907–2004), happily married for over a decade, worked together only once (perhaps unwittingly), though individually they helped create two of Hollywood’s most emblematic Depression era movies. Fay is most iconically remembered as the love interest of “the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood,” but, in a 7-decade career, essayed everything from silent comedy foil, Western heroine, and screwball comedienne to the touching ingénue of a Von Stroheim silent masterpiece. Bob was one of the architects of the classic screwball comedy, creating brisk, mile-a-minute patter and his own Riskinesque gallery of smart-aleck reporters, ulcer-ridden editors, runaway heiresses, and oddball millionaires.

Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir (published by Pantheon), a new book about her parents by Victoria Riskin, will be available at our concession during the series. Ms. Riskin will also introduce selected shows, with Q&A and book signing on opening night.

Films in this Series