CHARACTER ACTORS PART 13: DWIGHT FRYE
Here are some of the reasons why I love the little bug-eater:
Dracula (1931) w/ Bela Lugosi
The Maltese Falcon (1931) w/ Ricardo Cortez
The Black Camel (1931) w/ Bela Lugosi
Frankenstein (1931) w/ Boris Karloff
The Vampire Bat (1933) w/ Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray
The Invisible Man (1933) w/ Claude Rains
Bride of Frankenstein (1935) w/ Boris Karloff
The Crime of Dr. Crespi (1935) w/ Erich Von Stroheim
Son of Frankenstein (1939) w/ Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi
Drums of Fu Manchu (1940) w/ Henry Brandon
The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) w/ Bela Lugosi & Lon Chaney Jr.
Dead Men Walk (1943) w/ George Zucco and George Zucco
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) w/ Lon Chaney Jr. & Bela Lugosi
Dwight Frye was a theater actor who was known for playing all kinds of roles: from romantic juveniles to comedy. However, film fans will forever remember him as the wild-eyed, madly-giggling slave to Count Dracula. In the 1931 classic, Dwight Frye's Renfield is blissfully unaware that his little real estate trip to the castle will spell his doom. Renfield is positively blithe and bland while Bela Lugosi's Count inexorably draws him into his web. After the hapless fellow is hopelessly under Dracula's control, the vampire Count packs up his earth boxes and heads to England on the next available ship. Unfortunately for the ship's crew, 
Dracula regards them as him own personal juice boxes and the ship arrives at Whitby with no one on board but a corpse strapped to the wheel and the totally insane Renfield. The scene where the hatch is opened to reveal Dwight Frye, fully given to madness, ravenously grinning up at the camera from the bottom of the hold, is genuinely frightening. (Here we see Frye with his fellow "Dracula" castmates Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Helen Chandler and Edward Van Sloan). Soon after that, Universal (and James Whale) cast Frye in "Frankenstein" as the original deranged (and homicidal) hunchback assistant to Colin Clive's mad doctor. After that, every Universal Frankenstein movie featured Dwight Frye in the cast (until his untimely death after "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man"); albeit in smaller and smaller roles which eventually amounted to nothing more than a cameo. 
The actor suffered from heart trouble and his health was slowly deteriorating during the 40's. During this time, Frye also had a small role in one of the best Saturday morning serials ever made: "The Drums of Fu Manchu" where he played (what else?!?), a criminal henchman. Frye would fare much better with more substantial roles in such horror films as "The Vampire Bat" and "Dead Men Walk" in which he played much the same character as he had in "Dracula" and "Frankenstein". The versatile actor was firmly typecast in "Renfield" roles and had to do war work in a Lockheed factory to make ends meet. He was to have a fairly chunky role in a non-horror film (in one of my all-time favourite biopics "Wilson") about President Woodrow Wilson (which also featured fellow horror vet Vincent Price) due to Frye's uncanny resemblance to World War I Secretary of War Newton Baker. Sadly, Dwight Frye suffered a fatal heart attack while riding on a bus a few days before shooting began. While the actor never really got his chance to show his versatility on film, Dwight Frye carved an indelible spot in the hearts of horror fans everywhere and that's why I love him.
Dracula regards them as him own personal juice boxes and the ship arrives at Whitby with no one on board but a corpse strapped to the wheel and the totally insane Renfield. The scene where the hatch is opened to reveal Dwight Frye, fully given to madness, ravenously grinning up at the camera from the bottom of the hold, is genuinely frightening. (Here we see Frye with his fellow "Dracula" castmates Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Helen Chandler and Edward Van Sloan). Soon after that, Universal (and James Whale) cast Frye in "Frankenstein" as the original deranged (and homicidal) hunchback assistant to Colin Clive's mad doctor. After that, every Universal Frankenstein movie featured Dwight Frye in the cast (until his untimely death after "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man"); albeit in smaller and smaller roles which eventually amounted to nothing more than a cameo. 
The actor suffered from heart trouble and his health was slowly deteriorating during the 40's. During this time, Frye also had a small role in one of the best Saturday morning serials ever made: "The Drums of Fu Manchu" where he played (what else?!?), a criminal henchman. Frye would fare much better with more substantial roles in such horror films as "The Vampire Bat" and "Dead Men Walk" in which he played much the same character as he had in "Dracula" and "Frankenstein". The versatile actor was firmly typecast in "Renfield" roles and had to do war work in a Lockheed factory to make ends meet. He was to have a fairly chunky role in a non-horror film (in one of my all-time favourite biopics "Wilson") about President Woodrow Wilson (which also featured fellow horror vet Vincent Price) due to Frye's uncanny resemblance to World War I Secretary of War Newton Baker. Sadly, Dwight Frye suffered a fatal heart attack while riding on a bus a few days before shooting began. While the actor never really got his chance to show his versatility on film, Dwight Frye carved an indelible spot in the hearts of horror fans everywhere and that's why I love him.
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