Pauline Cynthia Wagner (August 18, 1910 – May 2, 2014) was an American actress and glamour girl whose career was concentrated in Hollywood's early sound era. She made her screen debut in the musical revue King of Jazz, released in 1930, and over the following decade appeared in a string of small, often uncredited roles. Wagner's career illustrates the routines of many working actors of the 1930s who contributed to popular films while rarely receiving top billing.

Career and screen work

Wagner found steady, if modest, work in the studio system. She played bit parts and supporting roles in features and musicals, and she was associated with both larger firms and independent producers. During her active years she worked for studios including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and RKO, appearing in crowd or chorus roles, small speaking parts, and occasional credited bits. Her first larger part came in College Lovers, and she is recorded as having small appearances in titles such as Lady Killer and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.

Notable anecdote

Among collectors and fans of classic Hollywood lore Wagner is perhaps best known for her connection to the 1933 production King Kong. She served as a back-up and stand-in for Fay Wray during that film, a role that placed her close to one of the era's most famous productions even though she did not emerge as a leading star in her own right.

Selected film appearances

  • King of Jazz (debut, 1930) — musical revue
  • College Lovers — a larger supporting part in the early 1930s
  • King Kong (1933) — served as Fay Wray's back-up/stand-in
  • Lady Killer — small role
  • Mr. Deeds Goes to Town — brief appearance

Wagner's last credited or known screen work took place before 1941, after which she left the film industry. Like many performers who worked in bit parts under the studio system, she did not remain prominent in press coverage once her acting work ended, but the films she touched continued to be seen by later generations.

In later life Wagner lived in California and reached advanced age, passing away in Glendale, California on May 2, 2014, at 103. Her life spans an era of dramatic change in motion pictures, from early sound musicals to Golden Age studio dramas, and she is remembered by film historians and enthusiasts as a representative figure of 1930s supporting players whose faces are woven through classic Hollywood productions.