1899-02-22 Salina, Kansas, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Dwight Iliff Frye (February 22, 1899 – November 7, 1943) was an American stage and screen actor, noted for his appearances in the classic horror films Dracula, Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. Frye was born in Salina, Kansas. Nicknamed "The Man with the Thousand-Watt Stare," and "The Man of a Thousand Deaths," he specialized in the portrayal of mentally unbalanced characters, including his signature role, the madman Renfield in Tod Browning's 1931 version of Dracula. Later that same year he also played the hunchbacked assistant in the film Frankenstein. (This character, named Fritz, is often mistakenly referred to as Ygor, a character originated by Béla Lugosi in the later film Son of Frankenstein.) Frye had a prominent role in the 1933 horror film The Vampire Bat, starring Lionel Atwill, Melvyn Douglas, and Fay Wray, in which he played Herman, a half-wit suspected of being a killer. He also had a memorable role in the classic Bride of Frankenstein, in which he played Karl. The part of Karl was originally much longer and many extra scenes of Frye were shot as a sub plot but were edited out of the final version to shorten the running time as well as to appease the censor boards. The most memorable of these "cut scenes" was that of Karl killing the Burgomaster portrayed by E. E. Clive. No known prints of these scenes survive today, but photographs of the scene were used to illustrate the scene's synopsis and are included in the recent Universal DVD release of the film. During the early 1940s, Frye alternated between film roles and appearing on stage in a variety of productions ranging from comedies to musicals, as well as appearing in a stage version of Dracula. In 1924 he played the Son in a translation of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.[1] There was a Dwight Frye Fan Club at one time,[2] but it is currently dormant. He also made a contribution to the war effort by working nights as a tool designer for Lockheed Aircraft. Frye's strong resemblance to former Secretary of War Newton D. Baker helped land him what would have been a substantial role in the biographical film Wilson, based on the life of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, but he died of a heart attack while riding on a bus in Hollywood a few days before filming was to have begun. Frye was interred in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. Description above from the Wikipedia article Dwight Frye, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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Legacy of Screams: The Evolution of Horror Movies | Self - (archive footage) | 2025-11-21 |
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The Many Faces of Dracula | Renfield (archive footage) | 2000-01-01 |
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Universal Horror | (archive footage) | 1998-10-08 |
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Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook | Fritz / Karl (archive footage) | 1991-01-01 |
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Hangmen Also Die! | Hostage | 1943-04-01 |
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Submarine Alert | Haldine (uncredited) | 1943-06-28 |
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Dangerous Blondes | Hoodlum (uncredited) | 1943-09-23 |
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Dead Men Walk | Zolarr | 1943-04-12 |
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Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man | Rudi a Vasarian | 1943-03-12 |
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Don't Talk | Ziggy (uncredited) | 1942-02-28 |
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The Ghost of Frankenstein | Villager at Meeting / Grave Robber (flashback) (uncredited) | 1942-03-13 |
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The Blonde from Singapore | 1941-10-15 | |
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Mystery Ship | Rader | 1941-09-03 |
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Flying Blind | Leo Qualen | 1941-08-29 |
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Devil Pays Off | Radio Operator | 1941-11-10 |
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Phantom Raiders | Eddie Anders | 1940-06-07 |
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Gangs of Chicago | Pinky | 1940-05-18 |
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Sky Bandits | Speavy | 1940-07-06 |
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The Son of Monte Cristo | Pavlov's Secretary (Uncredited) | 1940-12-05 |
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Drums of Fu Manchu | Prof. Anderson | 1940-03-15 |
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The Man in the Iron Mask | Fouquet's Valet | 1939-07-13 |
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The Night Hawk | John Colley | 1938-10-01 |
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Who Killed Gail Preston? | Mr. Owen | 1938-02-24 |
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Fast Company | Sidney Z. Wheeler | 1938-07-05 |
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Think It Over | Arsonist | 1938-07-24 |
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Sinners in Paradise | Marshall (uncredited) | 1938-05-19 |
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Invisible Enemy | Alex | 1938-04-03 |
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Adventure in Sahara | Gravet, 'the Jackal' | 1938-11-15 |
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Sea Devils | SS Paradise Radio Operator (uncredited) | 1937-02-19 |
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The Shadow | Vindecco | 1937-12-22 |
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Something to Sing About | Mr. Easton (makeup supervisor) | 1937-09-30 |
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The Man Who Found Himself | Hysterical patient | 1937-04-02 |
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Florida Special | Jenkins | 1936-05-01 |
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Alibi for Murder | McBride | 1936-09-23 |
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Beware Of Ladies | Swanson | 1936-12-21 |
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The Crime of Doctor Crespi | Dr. Thomas | 1935-09-23 |
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Atlantic Adventure | Spike Jonas | 1935-08-25 |
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The Great Impersonation | Roger Unthank (uncredited) | 1935-12-08 |
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Bride of Frankenstein | Karl | 1935-04-20 |
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The Circus Queen Murder | Flandrin | 1933-04-10 |
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The Invisible Man | Reporter (uncredited) | 1933-10-31 |
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The Vampire Bat | Herman Gleib | 1933-01-21 |
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The Western Code | Dick Loomis | 1932-09-15 |
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Attorney for the Defense | James Wallace | 1932-05-21 |
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A Strange Adventure | Robert Wayne | 1932-11-20 |
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By Whose Hand? | Chick Lewis | 1932-07-06 |
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Drácula | Renfield (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1931-03-01 |
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Frankenstein | Fritz | 1931-11-21 |
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The Maltese Falcon | Wilmer Cook | 1931-05-23 |
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Dracula | Renfield | 1931-02-12 |
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The Black Camel | Jessop the Butler (uncredited) | 1931-06-21 |
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The Doorway to Hell | Monk, Gangster | 1930-10-18 |
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Man to Man | Vint Glade | 1930-12-05 |
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The Night Bird | Wedding Guest (uncredited) | 1928-09-16 |
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Upstream | Theatre Audience Spectator | 1927-01-30 |
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Exit Smiling | Balcony Heckler (uncredited) | 1926-11-06 |
