Book review – “Dwight’s Last Laugh”

One of the great mysteries in character actor history: how did the man who gave us two of the most brilliant support performances in horror history, Renfield and Fritz, see his career taper away so quickly and so fast? It’s especially bewildering when one considers Frye came to Hollywood after a distinguished Broadway career. Maybe it was the fact he wasn’t under long-term contract to a studio, or simply typecasting (parts like Renfield don’t come along that often). It’s a question that isn’t really answered in this otherwise excellent biography, which is very well researched, particularly on Frye’s stage career (I had no idea he was so successful). The book is sad reading at times, especially the last ten years or so of Frye’s life – he wound up working in an aircraft factory, hoping for a comeback… this, at the height of Hollywood’s Golden Era. Poor bastard.