Background
He was born in San Francisco, California, the son of William Fay and Molly Tynan, both performers.
He was born in San Francisco, California, the son of William Fay and Molly Tynan, both performers.
Fay attended school in New York City but ended his formal education with the fifth grade.
He first appeared before the footlights in Chicago at the age of four, when his father carried him on stage in Quo Vadis? ; two years later he played the teddy bear in Babes in Toyland.
His first role on Broadway was as Stephen in The Redemption of David Corson (1906).
He then worked in Shakespearean companies before turning to vaudeville. For a while he teamed with Gerald Griffin as a singer and later joined Johnny Dyer in a comedy act.
In 1917 Fay began working as a single performer.
Appearing in formal attire, he treated his audiences to witty, sophisticated satirical humor. After landing a part in the Broadway musical Girl o'Mine (1918), he performed in The Passing Show of 1918 (1918), Oh, What a Girl! (1919), and Jim Jam Jems (1920).
In 1926 Fay wrote and produced an unsuccessful play, The Smart Alec, that cost him a considerable amount of his own funds. The next year he played in the musical Harry Delmar's Revels.
Fay and Stanwyck moved to Hollywood in 1929, when he began to make movies. His first motion picture was Show of Shows (1929), a musical revue. His first starring role as an actor was in Under a Texas Moon (1930), a box office success. Fay went on to leads in The Matrimonial Bed (1930), Bright Lights (1931), God's Gift to Women (1931), and A Fool's Advice (1932), none of which was well received by the public.
In 1933, Stanwyck, now an established star, joined with Fay in producing the stage revue Tattle Tales, written by Fay and Nick Copeland. This show, like Fay's earlier productions, folded quickly.
In 1935 he starred in another mediocre movie, Stars over Broadway. That same year, Fay and Stanwyck were divorced, the split complicated by widely publicized legal battles over the division of their property and the custody of their adopted son. In the wake of his marital and professional difficulties, Fay, known for his heavy drinking, drank even more, and many considered him an alcoholic.
Nonetheless, he struggled to regain his stature in show business, and a chance to do so came in radio. Following successful appearances on the Rudy Vallee program, Fay began his own radio show in 1936.
During its four-month run millions of listeners became acquainted with his technique of reciting lyrics of popular songs, then making satirical comments on them.
During the late 1930's and 1940's, Fay appeared in the movies Nothing Sacred (1937), Meet the Mayor (1938), I Want a Divorce (1940), They Knew What They Wanted (1940), A Wac in His Life (1940), and Spotlight Scandals (1943). On stage, he appeared in Frank Fay Vaudeville (1939), New Priorities of 1943 (1943), and Laugh Time (1943).
He also worked in nightclubs. A big break came for Fay in 1944, when he was selected to play the eccentric alcoholic Elwood P. Dowd in the Broadway production of Harvey. Both the play and his performance were tremendous successes.
In 1945 Fay published How to Be Poor, a collection of humorous stories. In that year he became embroiled in a political controversy.
The dispute came before the National Council of Actors' Equity, which censured Fay. He then took the matter before the membership of the organization, only to have the censure upheld.
Fay wrote and produced the musical If You Please in 1950, experiencing yet another disappointment.
In 1951 he acted in three movies: Love Nest, Stage From Blue River, and When Worlds Collide. Thereafter, he limited himself to nightclub and television appearances.
He died in Santa Monica, California.
For a time a well known and influential star, he later fell into obscurity, in part because of his abrasive personality and fascist political views. He is considered an important pioneer in stand up comedy. He played the role of "Elwood P. Dowd" in the Broadway play Harvey by the American playwright Mary Coyle Chase. He is best known as actress Barbara Stanwyck's first husband. In 1922 Fay wrote, produced, and starred in Frank Fay's Fables, a musical that received poor reviews. He then returned to performing in Pinwheel (1922) and Artists and Models (1923). In 1924 he was back in vaudeville, where he became a hit as the master of ceremonies of shows at the Palace Theater. By 1926 he had broken the record for number of performances at the Palace.
After remarks critical of the Catholic Church were made at a rally for Spanish refugees, Fay asserted that some of the actors involved with the event were pro-communists.
Fay was notorious for his bigotry and alcoholism, and according to the American Vaudeville Museum, "even when sober, he was dismissive and unpleasant, and he was disliked by most of his contemporaries".
Quotes from others about the person
Actor Robert Wagner wrote that Fay was ". .. one of the most dreadful men in the history of show business. Fay was a drunk, an anti-Semite, and a wife-beater, and Barbara [Stanwyck] had had to endure all of that", while according to actor and comedian Milton Berle "Fay's friends could be counted on the missing arm of a one-armed man. "
Berle, who was Jewish, claimed to have once hit Fay in the face with a stage brace after Fay, on seeing Berle watching his act from offstage, called out, "Get that little Jew bastard out of the wings".
Along the way, he married and divorced Lee Buchanan, a singer. On April 12, 1917, Fay married Frances White, a well-known singer, but the marriage lasted less than six months. Then, on August 26, 1928, he married Barbara Stanwyck, a young actress.
