Early life and career '' (1931) ,
Colin Clive and Frye in
Frankenstein (1931) ,
Colin Clive,
Edward Van Sloan and Frye in
Frankenstein (1931) Frye was born in
Salina, Kansas, and studied for a career in music and first appeared as a concert pianist. While he had a few minor comedic roles in silent pictures, with the coming of sound Frye soon became known for playing villains. Frye 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 played the
hunchbacked assistant Fritz in
Frankenstein and Wilmer Cook (the "gunsel") in the first film version of
Dashiell Hammett's
The Maltese Falcon. He had a featured role in the horror film
The Vampire Bat (1933) in which he played Herman, a half-wit suspected of being a killer. He had memorable roles in
The Invisible Man (1933) as a reporter, and in
The Crime of Dr. Crespi (1935). In
Bride of Frankenstein (1935), he played Karl. The part was originally much more substantive; many of Frye's additional scenes were part of a subplot but were cut to shorten the running time and appease the censors. One of the deleted scenes was that of Karl killing a Burgomaster, portrayed by
E. E. Clive. Nothing remains of those scenes except still photographs included in a
Universal Studios DVD release of the film. He played prominent townspeople in
The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) and
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943); another appearance in
Son of Frankenstein (1939) was deleted prior to release. Also in the 1930s, he appeared in two films starring
James Cagney:
The Doorway to Hell (1930), as a hit man, and
Something to Sing About (1937), as a fussy hairdresser. 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. During
World War II, he made a contribution to the war effort by working nights as a tool designer for
Lockheed Aircraft.
Musical tribute American rock band
Alice Cooper wrote and recorded a tribute track to Dwight Frye entitled "The Ballad of Dwight Fry" (intentionally dropping the last "e") that was included on their 1971 LP
Love It to Death. On stage, this song would be portrayed with Cooper in a straitjacket trying to escape, and finally breaking free at the end of the song to strangle the nurse with the ties.
Devil Doll's 1990 album,
Eliogabalus, features the photographed likeness of Dwight Frye in one of its booths.
SNFU's 1991 compilation album
The Last of the Big Time Suspenders features artwork of Dwight Frye as his "Renfield" character on the front cover. == Filmography ==