Fay Wray, who became a silver screen legend as the damsel held atop the Empire State Building by a giant ape in the movie King Kong, has died at age 96.

Wray died Sunday at her Manhattan apartment, said her friend, Rick McKay.

Wray was born Vina Fay Wray in Cardston, Alberta, on Sept. 15, 1907. She was one of six children living on the family ranch known as Wrayland. Her family moved to the United States when she was three years old.

In June she was added to Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto, and she had a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, as well.

Wray had a long career in film appearing in about 100 films. She had numerous television appearances, as well.

In Hollywood, she worked with such legendary stars as Ronald Colman, Gary Cooper and Spencer Tracy.

She became known as Hollywood's first scream queen, earning the title with a series of thrillers released in 1932-33. They included Doctor X, The Most Dangerous Game and Mystery of the Wax Museum.

But it is her role in the 1933 classic King Kong that turned her into a big-screen legend.

"They told me I was going to have the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood," Wray once quipped. "Naturally, I thought of Clark Gable."

In fact, her co-star was an 46-centimetre rubber model covered in rabbit fur, with a mechanical arm and a bearhide-covered head and shoulders.

"I used to resent King Kong," she said in an interview in 1963.

"But now I don't fight it anymore. I realize that it is a classic, and I am pleased to be associated with it."

She wrote in her 1988 autobiography, On the Other Hand: "Each time I arrive in New York and see the skyline and the exquisite beauty of the Empire State Building, my heart beats a little faster."

Wray was paid $10,000 for King Kong, but what was supposed to be 10 weeks' work was stretched over 10 months.

"Residuals were not even considered, because there were no established unions to protect us," she added.

Many credit Wray's success with her combination of sex appeal, vulnerability and lung capacity -- as she screamed and resisted while the giant ape took her all the way to the top of the Empire State Building.

For many her name will be forever linked with the landmark skyscraper. She was the guest of honour in 1991 at a ceremony marking its 60th birthday.

Seven years later, in 1998, Wray made a special appearance at the 70th Anniversary Academy Awards. Host Billy Crystal described her as the, "The Legendary Fay Wray."

Her last performance before the cameras was in 1980 in the made-for-tv movie, Gideon's Trumpet.

In recent years she described herself as "almost" a vegetarian who tried not to eat late at night. She said she would get up each day before sunrise and spent a lot of time writing.

Wray had a daughter, Susan, by her first marriage and two children, Robert and Vicky, by her second marriage.