‘Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: Hollywood Memoir’
Vicki Riskin, a member of the Class of ’63 at Palisades High, will discuss and sign Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir at 3 p.m. this Sunday, March 10 at Diesel bookstore in the Brentwood Country Mart. Her talk will take place in the lower outdoor courtyard adjacent to the store.
Riskin’s book is a Hollywood love story, a Hollywood memoir, and a dual Hollywood biography of the woman who stole the heart of King Kong and the man, Robert Riskin, one of the greatest screenwriters of all time.
Riskin, who now lives on Martha Vineyard with her husband David Rintels, is an award-winning writer and producer, and was president of the Writers Guild of America West.
The movie King Kong elevated Fay Wray to the tip of the Empire State Building and the heights of cinematic immortality. She starred in more than 120 pictures and was directed by such masters as William Wellman, Erich von Stroheim and Vincente Minnelli.
Robert Riskin, Wray’s husband, was one of Hollywood’s seminal screenwriters, the originator of the “screwball comedy” and the true populist voice of the “little guy” that gave Frank Capra’s movies the “Capra touch.” Riskin’s sophisticated stage plays and screen comedies of Hollywood’s classic era became famous for their blend of humor, romance, wisecracking and idealism. Winner of the Academy Award for It Happened One Night and nominated for four other Oscars, Riskin was a producer and longtime collaborator with Capra on such pictures as The Miracle Woman, Platinum Blonde, American Madness, The Whole Town’s Talking, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, You Can’t Take It with You, and Meet John Doe.
Their daughter, Victoria Riskin, tells the story of their lives, their work, their Hollywood, and their fairy-tale marriage that ended so tragically.
Michael Korda, the author of Charmed Lives described Riskin’s book: “This is not only the love story of two brilliantly talented people, it is a brilliant piece of cinematic history, at once robust, touching and deeply satisfying, with a cast of characters that includes almost everybody of interest in those tumultuous years in the motion picture business. For anybody who is interested in the movies, Victoria Riskin’s book will be a must-read.”
Can add nothing but thanks for this window – into a window – of our local history.