A fond memory of Fay Wray; a not-so-fond charge by Pam Anderson
IN THE PICTURE He'd been a fan forever, and seen many, if not all, of her movies, so when celebrity shutterbug Peter Urban had a chance to shoot actress Fay Wray last year, he jumped. The occasion was tea at the Trump Towers, where Wray lived for many years. "It was a thrill, and at 96, I knew it'd be one of her last great portraits," Urban said yesterday from his South End studio. (That proved true. Wray, the damsel in big-time distress in the 1933 film classic "King Kong," died Sunday.) In the pic, Wray is leaning forward as her neighbor, interior decorator Carleton Varney, holds a vintage "King Kong" poster. "I like it because you can see the Helmsley Palace through the window," Urban said. "You get the clear sense of being in New York." Later, Urban said, he asked the legendary actress how she came to live in the tony Trump Towers. "I married well," she replied with a smile, "and more than once." Want the Fay Wray portrait for your very own? It'll be in the next ARTcetera auction, Urban said.
PAM'S NOT CHICKEN Former "Baywatch" beauty Pamela Anderson is plastered on an anti-KFC billboard that just went up near the FleetCenter. "KFC stands for cruelty," says Anderson, a vegan who promotes PETA's boycott of KFC on her popular website. "If KFC executives treated cats or dogs the way they treat chickens, they could go to prison on felony cruelty-to-animals charges." The billboard greeting Boston drivers shows Anderson in a bikini top with a tagline decrying crippled chickens. KFC's response? "PETA has . . . misrepresented the truth about our responsible industry-leading animal welfare standards," said KFC spokeswoman Bonnie Warschauer. "We believe enough is enough. We want PETA to know their corporate terrorist activities won't be tolerated."
GOING THE DISTANCE They'd just biked 111 miles from Sturbridge to Bourne, so when Pan-Mass Challenge founder Billy Starr caught Christin Healey and Andrew Sims kissing on the rocks at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne, he thought, "Who has the energy for that?" What he didn't know was that Sims, the administrator at the Cape Cod Sea Camps in Brewster, and Healey, an arts counselor at the camp, just got engaged. Sims had put the ring in a Ziploc bag in his luggage, which was transported by PMC volunteers to the halfway point. "I thought about putting it in my jersey," Sims said, "but my pockets were stuffed with PowerBars." From Bourne to Provincetown, Healey wore the ring under her riding glove.
STRONG FINISHER Speaking of the Pan-Mass Challenge, Citizens Energy President and Chairman Joe Kennedy put the pedal to the metal. The rookie rider was 90th on the first day and finished in the top 300 -- out of 4,000 participants -- when all was said and done. Not bad for a neophyte, but Kennedy thinks there's room for improvement: "The ride was a great day for a great cause with riders a great deal faster than me."
FINED BUT NOT FORGOTTEN In the end, it was a good thing Sox outfielder Gabe Kapler tackled Yankee pitcher Tanyon Sturtze during the A-Rod/Jason Varitek melee at Fenway. Not because Sturtze, a Worcester native, suffered a bloody ear, but because listeners of WFNX last week raised $2,204 to pay Kapler's $1,000 fine. (Everyone who contributed at least $19 -- Kapler's uni number -- received an 'FNX T-shirt.) Being a generous dude, Kapler matched the donations and will present the money to a foundation for children of battered women.
BOSTON GETS THE A-LIST Actress Jamie Lee Curtis dined at Davio's in Park Square on Sunday night. And at a separate table, former Red Sox pitcher (and Cy Young Award winner, thank you) Jim Lonborg did the same thing. . . . On Saturday, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and two guests were spotted having lunch at restaurant L in Louis Boston.
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