Dwight David Frye

Dwight David Frye, the son of Laura Bullivant and Dwight Iliff Frye, was born in his mother's hometown of Spokane, Washington, on December 26, 1930. As a youth, Dwight D. was affectionately known as "Buddy" by family and friends. When very young, Buddy traveled extensively with his parents while they were still doing stock and regional theater together (e.g., "The Pursuit of Happiness," 1934). After his mother gave up the stage, Buddy grew up in Hollywood, where his father struggled to find minor screen work. Buddy himself appeared in at least two films for RKO in 1937, including "The Man Who Found Himself" (as a young boy injured in a train wreck), which also featured his father as a hysterical patient on a plane. Buddy was with his father on that tragic day of November 7, 1943, when Dwight I. collapsed on a bus on the way home from the movies. His father was pronounced dead shortly after. Dwight D. graduated from Hollywood High School in 1947. He and his mother, who had remarried (t