Writer Victoria Riskin will appear at the El Paso Community Foundation’s 12th annual Plaza Classic Film Festival in August to talk about some of her parents’ movies and sign copies of her acclaimed new biography, Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir.
Ms. Riskin, the daughter of actress Fay Wray (King Kong, The Most Dangerous Game) and the great screenwriter Robert Riskin (It Happened One Night, Meet John Doe), will discuss her mother’s work as Ann Darrow in an onstage interview before a screening of the 1933 masterpiece King Kong at 7 p.m. Tuesday, August 6 in the Plaza Theatre.
She also will introduce one of her mother’s favorite movies, the 1928 Eric von Stroheim silent classic The Wedding March at 1 p.m. Tuesday, August 6, and one of her father’s most popular films, the 1938 romantic comedy You Can’t Take It With You, at 1 p.m. Wednesday, August 7. Both will be in the Plaza Theatre.
She will follow the You Can’t Take It With You screening with a book signing at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 7 in the Plaza Theatre.
Victoria Riskin is an award-winning television writer-producer (The Last Best Year, My Antonia, The Member of the Wedding), former president of the Writers Guild of America, West, and an activist who served on the board of Human Rights Watch.
Her mother starred in more than 120 movies and successfully transitioned from silent movies to talkies. Fay Wray met Robert Riskin — “Hollywood’s most eligible bachelor,” known for his nine films directed by Frank Capra — at a party in 1940. Their fairytale marriage ended with Riskin’s tragic death in 1955.
Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir has received rave reviews. The Associated Press wrote: “If there was an Academy Award for movie books, Victoria Riskin would be making room beside the Oscar her father won for writing the romantic comedy classic It Happened One Night.”
This year’s Plaza Classic Film Festival will feature more than 90 movies from August 1-11, 2019 in and around the historic Plaza Theatre.
In addition to Ms. Riskin, the Plaza Classic’s guests include husband-and-wife acting couple Sam Elliott and Katharine Ross with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid at 7 p.m. Friday, August 2 and the 1978 cult classic The Legacy at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, August 3, both in the Plaza Theatre.
Among the titles announced so far are an 80th anniversary screening of The Wizard of Oz, the Plaza Classic debut of My Fair Lady, a new 4K restoration of 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1939’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the 11th annual free outdoor showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Individual tickets go on sale in early July. Festival passes are on sale now at plazaclassic.com/tickets. Call 915-533-4020 for more information.
