Originally published in Kaiju Ramen #9
“It was beauty killed the beast.”
These immortal words from the hubristic Carl Denham illustrate the great tragedy of Kong. He may be the King of Skull Island, but it is a lonely throne. Indeed, it seems the Eighth Wonder is cursed to be lovelorn for, try as he might, he’s never succeeded at finding a queen to sit by his side. Looking back on Kong’s epic filmography, we see plenty of leading ladies—human and otherwise—catch his eye, but whether because of fear or death, he’s never been able to keep them. These “Queens” have also evolved over the decades as sensibilities have changed, making them fascinating insights into cultural perceptions of women’s roles in society. So, join me as we journey through 90+ years of Kong’s leading ladies!
(NOTE: Despite what Wikipedia says, I am only including “official” Kong films, so I won’t be discussing the three animated films: The Mighty Kong, Kong: King of Atlantis, and Kong: Return to the Jungle. These were made thanks to the convoluted King Kong copyright, and that would require a book to unravel!)
Ann Darrow
ACTRESS: Fay Wray
FILM: King Kong (1933)
The original “Scream Queen” (sorry, Jamie Lee Curtis) and Kong’s first love is possibly the most overanalyzed film character ever, of all time. I have an anthology of essays called Kong Unbound, which was published in 2005, and three chapters are about her with several others at least partially focused on her. She’s become the poster child for the “damsel in distress” trope, much to the vexation of feminists. But this mostly stems from crazy interpretations of Kong as a perverted male fantasy. (I haven’t the time or desire to unpack those hot academic takes).
Regardless, she is and always will be an icon. Fay Wray brings beauty, innocence, and charm to a character who, in this version, is a down-on-her-luck actress desperate for work in Depression-era New York. She has no man to protect her, and while she’s worked as a movie extra, such actresses often provided prostitution services at the time. That’s why Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) has to assure her there’s “no funny business” going on. She’s the only woman on the Venture, but she holds her own and is well-respected by the sailors. Heck, she catches the eye of avowed sexist Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot). But it’s when this exotic “golden woman” meets Kong that we hear what she’s best known for: her scream. And boy howdy, we hear it a lot!
Helen of Troy may have launched a thousand ships with her face, but Fay Wray’s Ann Darrow was a point in a love triangle between a grizzled sailor and the Eighth Wonder, who both fought for her. Kong sought to possess this damsel in distress while Jack wanted to save her because he loved her. Who else besides Kong’s Queens can say their leading men–both man and beast–risked life and limb against dinosaurs for them?
Hilda Petersen
ACTRESS: Helen Mack
FILM: Son of Kong (1933)
While Ann Darrow was immortalized in pop culture, her successor in the cash-grab sequel, Son of Kong, which was released nine months later, has faded into obscurity. It doesn’t help that no one can agree on her name. As a musician, her stage name is “La Belle Helene,” but the script calls her “Hilda.” Since I more commonly saw her called “Hilda,” that’s the name I’m using. But the more likely reason she isn’t remembered is probably because she hung out with Kiko and not his big daddy.
Whatever her name, she’s the anti-Ann Darrow. Only once does she scream, and she’s never afraid of Kiko. She’s also more assertive than Ann and puts Denham, her love interest, in check, although she isn’t completely immune to his charm. When the Venture departs, Denham finds Hilda stowed away, showing she has quite the adventurous streak. But given her father had died in a fire the night before, she needed a new purpose, which she grabbed by the proverbial horns. In other words, she’s quite proactive.
Her relationship with Kiko is motherly—which is a point of contention for the few critics who discuss the film. Paul Di Filippo is particularly harsh: “Whereas the first film symbolized the abduction and rape of a helpless white woman by the majestic and threatening male creature of blackness, this sequel portrays the mothering of a harmless pet by a dominant female.” I take umbrage with this for several reasons—mostly because he grossly misinterprets the first film—but to stay focused on Hilda: Kiko is a child. He isn’t his father. Of course the relationship would be different. Also, Hilda, as I’ve discussed, is a braver woman than Ann. These are both very different characters. When your Kong is already an infant, so to speak, you can’t really infantilize him.
Regardless, while she isn’t as memorable as Ann, Hilda is a surprising step forward in the portrayal of women in the Kong franchise.
Fumiko Sakurai
ACTRESS: Mie Hama
FILM: King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)
Normally, Kong is a not-so-gentleman who prefers blondes, but who wouldn’t make an exception for future Bond Girl Mie Hama? Admittedly, in terms of screen time, she has the shortest stint as one of Kong’s Queens, and that was mostly for trope-tastic reasons, but she still caught the Eighth Wonder’s eye, if only for a moment.
Fumiko is arguably a throwback to Ann Darrow, although she has some shades of Hilda. She butts heads with her brother, Osamu (Tadao Takashima), who disapproves of her boyfriend, Kazuo (Kenji Sahara). When said boyfriend goes missing, she goes looking for him, which puts her in Godzilla’s path (making her a rare example of a woman menaced by both kaiju icons). We hear her scream, giving Fay Wray a run for her money, until she’s rescued by Kazuo. Later, Kong finds her in a train—Eiji Tsuburaya’s nod to the original film—while rampaging through Tokyo. We hear her scream more as Kong climbs the Diet Building. In the end, Kong is drugged with vaporized Faro Island red berry juice, and Kazuo once again rescues her from a kaiju.
Yes, she was part of an ensemble and had more to do with other parts of the story, but she remains the only “Japanese Ann Darrow” in the Kong legacy.
Lt. Susan Watson
ACTRESS: Linda Jo Miller (Japanese dub actress: Akiko Santou; English redubbed voice actress: Julie Bennett)
FILM: King Kong Escapes (1967)
Lt. Susan Watson doesn’t get enough credit. As John LeMay points out in several of his books, she was the first of Kong’s Queens to sympathize with him, paving the way for those who followed. Actress Linda Jo Miller got the shaft playing the role—she was dubbed over in both the Japanese and English language versions except, ironically, for her screams—but she’s been a staple of online fandom and conventions for several years now. It’s a testament to fans’ appreciation of this strange but fun entry in the Kong franchise.
Susan is a strong feminine presence. She’s a military nurse, which shows her kindness and compassion; she’s a healer. When her co-stars, Akira Takarada and Rhodes Reason, fear Kong, she instead seeks to connect with him because he saved her from Gorosaurus. Only she can calm him down when he rages, so this time it was “beauty tamed the beast.” While she has a budding romance with Nomura (Takarada), Kong remains her stalwart guardian and she his advocate. Susan is carried up Tokyo Tower, but it was by Kong’s robot double, Mechani-Kong, and she is saved by the real deal. One could argue, as my friend Nick Hayden did on my podcast The Monster Island Film Vault, that Susan could’ve commanded Kong to overthrow a small country’s government and take it over—but she didn’t.
Miller has said several times that she saw King Kong as her “boyfriend” while performing, which for the aforementioned Mr. Di Filippo is an insult to Kong. He says,
Susan’s relations with Kong are neither those of Ann Darrow nor those of Hilda. She is not a ceremonial bride nor a smothering mother. Rather, she acts with Kong precisely as Marlo Thomas did with her boyfriend Donald in That Girl (1966-1971): cajoling, cooing, hectoring, chastising. Kong is now a Modern Male and his love-interest a Liberated Woman. So much for eternal archetypes.
Incredibly dated references aside, I find Di Filippo’s statement to be sexist. Susan doesn’t manipulate Kong; she uses her feminine influence to direct him. She does so to protect him, and he in turn does the same for her. This isn’t a one-sided relationship in Susan’s favor (unlike in 1933, when it was one-sided in favor of Kong). If anything, both Kong and Susan are acting out traditional gender roles.
Either way, Susan marks a turning point in the portrayal of Kong’s leading ladies: from here, their relationship with the Eighth Wonder becomes more equal and modern.
Dwan
ACTRESS: Jessica Lange
FILM: King Kong (1976)
The beautiful Jessica Lange debuted with the tallest and darkest leading man she could get—two of them, in fact. (The other being Jeff Bridges). Now, if only they would have bothered to give her character a last name. Like the 1976 remake of King Kong, Dwan is a weird take on Ann Darrow with an equally weird (and kinda icky) relationship with the Eighth Wonder. But it was the ‘70s, so is anyone surprised?
There’s no way around this: Dwan is a ditz. A lovable ditz, maybe, but a ditz. Say what you want about Ann, but I’m sure she got better grades in school than Dwan. In that regard, Dwan is a step backward for Kong’s Queens. Kong’s relationship with her is more obviously sexual (despite what some critics may say about the 1933 original) with him ogling her while trying to remove her top or blowing on her to dry her after bathing her in a waterfall. Dwan does resist him, but she slowly comes to appreciate Kong and sympathize with him. It isn’t sexual for her; it’s more like she pities an animal. Kong kidnaps her and carries her up the World Trade Center, but she still tries to stop the helicopters from riddling him with bullets. In the end, as she is surrounded by a horde of photographers, Dwan gets the fame she craved but at the cost of the Eighth Wonder’s life.
Dwan exists in a strange place. On one hand, she’s a “liberated” post-sexual revolution woman but also a throwback to the “outdated” damsel in distress trope. She’s more proactive and assertive than Ann Darrow, but her annoying ignorance is trumped by her predecessor’s naïve innocence. I suppose it just adds to the remake’s notorious awkwardness.
Lady Kong
(SUIT) ACTOR: George Yiasoumi
FILM: King Kong Lives (1986)
Did you expect Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Amy Franklin? She’s this infamous sequel’s leading lady but not Kong’s leading lady. This is the first and only time Kong fell in love with a female of his own species—Lady Kong. Why it took 53 years to have an official female Kong, I don’t know. Although, it may not happen again thanks to this movie.
Lady Kong’s characterization is a weird cocktail of naturalism and anthropomorphism. She displays affection and sadness, but she’s nowhere near as aggressive as Kong, much like a real female gorilla. Honestly, she’s used as a plot device for most of the movie. Her blood is used to inexplicably resurrect Kong (because artificial hearts cure falling off a building). Kong breaks out of the scientific facility when he smells her and keeps fighting so he can rescue her. Yep. Lady Kong essentially becomes Ann Darrow as a gorilla. By the end, Lady Kong’s only concern is birthing and raising the son she conceived with King Kong. So, I guess she has traits of all the human ladies who stole Kong’s heart before this.
King Kong Lives gets credit for trying something new with Lady Kong. I’ll even compliment suit actor George Yiasoumi for giving a good performance in an awkward story. (Thankfully, we’re spared rubber-suited gorilla baby-making). But the movie fails harder than a drunken monkey walking a tightrope.
Ann Darrow
ACTRESS: Naomi Watts
FILM: King Kong (2005)
Peter Jackson is an outspoken fanboy of the 1933 classic, and that passion pours from every frame of his 2005 remake. Some might call it indulgent, but one of its bright spots is his reimagining of Ann Darrow, who’s played wonderfully by Naomi Watts. Jackson strikes a masterful balance between being true to the time period and modern sensibilities.
This Ann is a Vaudeville actress desperately seeking new work, so when she hears that her favorite playwright, Jack Driscoll, wrote the screenplay for the movie Carl Denham offers her, she takes it. It’s no surprise, then, that she falls in love with Jack; they really are perfect for each other. After she’s taken by Kong, she tries several times to escape as opposed to screaming nonstop (although, she does belt out a few good ones). Eventually, Ann discovers that she can entertain Kong with her Vaudeville routine, and when Kong tries to knock her over with a poke, she slaps the big ape’s hand and yells at him to stop—and it works! He backs away like a scolded child. From there, Ann learns Kong is the last of his kind, so he is grieving in loneliness. Gone is the ickiness of the 1976 remake in favor of a deep friendship. Like Susan and Dwan before her, this Ann becomes Kong’s advocate. She goes to Kong after he escapes the New York theater instead of Kong kidnapping her. She knows only she can stop him without killing him. But in true Kong tradition, the planes still come for him despite all her efforts—and it’s one of the few kaiju films to nearly make me cry.
The 2005 Ann Darrow is the peak of Kong’s “romantic” leads. She is truly his friend and his equal. Going forward, the women in the Eighth Wonder’s life would have minimal or vastly different sorts of relationships with him.
Mason Weaver
ACTRESS: Brie Larson
FILM: Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Kong’s first foray into the MonsterVerse featured a leading lady who barely connects with him more than Fumiko: the photojournalist Mason Weaver. If not for a pair of meaningful interactions, she’d be no different than Dr. Amy Franklin from King Kong Lives. Skull Island’s most drastic departure from the Kong tradition is that the Eighth Wonder’s story isn’t centered around a female.
Mason joins the expedition to Skull Island to get a big scoop. She’s ambitious, assertive, and, at points, pushy, which is typical for reporters. It also makes her a “modern woman.” Once on the island, she snaps pictures of the soldiers and natives, fostering a connection between everyone involved. It’s a much-needed morale boost after a big ape knocks everyone out of the sky. Mason’s first direct encounter with Kong happens when she tries to free a water buffalo from under some helicopter debris. Kong does it instead, staring at her, and leaves. Later, she and James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) meet Kong at night while atop a hill. He comes so close, Mason is able to touch his face. Kong’s reaction belies he’s a lonely orphan. It comes full circle during the intense finale when the daring Mason shoots the Skull Devil in the eye with a flare gun, and the beast knocks her into the water. Kong saves her and, thankfully, she’s unconscious when the vicious Skull Devil tries to eat Kong’s hand.
Mason wasn’t Kong’s friend or love interest, but she connected with him, however briefly, and gave him the motivation to keep fighting and realize not all humans wanted him dead.
Jia
ACTRESS: Kaylee Hottle
FILM: Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
Deaf child actress Kaylee Hottle burst onto the scene with the most unique take on the “beauty and the beast” archetype in the Kong franchise. While Shinichi Sekizawa toyed with having Kong bond with a human child in an abandoned sequel to King Kong vs. Godzilla, here the Iwi native Jia lives the dream of every monster kid who ever fantasized about having a kaiju as a pet.
The Iwi lived in harmony with the Kongs for centuries on Skull Island. But once the perpetual storm moved in, the Iwi were wiped out, and Jia barely survived. She bonds with Kong as a fellow orphan, and they share a deeply spiritual connection. Jia even teaches him to speak using sign language. In other words, she gives him both friendship and a voice. Kong’s loyalty to her is exploited a bit by Monarch throughout the film, but Jia also persuades him to save Godzilla from Mechagodzilla. She is his advocate and interpreter because she has one foot in each world as an Iwi raised by outsiders, and he in turn is her protector. It’s beautiful.
To this day, Jia remains the most unique of Kong’s Queens, and she’ll be a tough act to follow. As of the digital publication of this piece, she is returning in Adam Wingard’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, due out in late March. I personally hope that she becomes a mainstay of the MonsterVerse.
Conclusion
From damsels in distress to doting “mothers” to best friends and everything in between, King Kong’s leading ladies have run the gamut. Each one is a snapshot of a moment in history and often illustrates their time and culture’s attitudes toward women. Some beauties “killed” the beast while some tried to save him. But as long as Kong is king, he will always have a Queen.
References
- King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon, from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson by Ray Morton.
- Kong Unbound: The Cultural Impact, Pop Mythos, and Scientific Plausibility of a Cinematic Icon. Edited by Karen Haber.
- Kong Unmade Revisited, Vol. I-II by John LeMay.
