I think Dwight Frye was sort of a terrible ham, but riveting because he was so different from other actors of the time, whose underplaying sometimes made them seem to be sleepwalking. You could not ignore Frye when he was on screen, but I wonder if his acting made him seem more old fashioned as the movies became more sedate? Thanks for writing about a neglected figure in movie history.

I’d love to see more of those obscure Dwight Frye movies, especially since I enjoyed The Circus Queen Murder so much. I thought that Dwight burned up the screen in that brief clip of Attorney for the Defense (1932), which I’d never heard of before. In their low rent way The Circus Queen Murder, The Crime of Dr. Crespi and The Vampire Bat each had considerable appeal and Mr. Frye, as he showed in several of his better (and larger budgeted) films, owned the stage whenever he pulled out all the stops. I guess this is a reminder that glossy movies don’t always contain the best performances.

I would love to have seen Six Characters in Search of an Author on the stage too, Yancy, but probably would give good money to have seen the Frye man in the Jerome Kern musical, Sitting Pretty

Great, informative article! I had no idea Frye was in the original cast of Six Characters in Search of an Author.