Frank Fay (born Francis Anthony Donner; November 17, 1891 – September 25, 1961) was an American vaudeville comedian (the first stand-up)[1] and film and stage actor.

For a time he was a well known and influential star, vaudeville's highest-paid headliner, earning $17,500 a week in the 1920s, but he later fell into obscurity, in part because of his abrasive personality and fascist political views.

Their troubled marriage is thought by some to be the basis of the 1937 film A Star Is Born, in which the previously unknown wife shoots to stardom while her husband's career goes into sharp decline.

[3] Fay was notorious for his bigotry and alcoholism, and according to the American Vaudeville Museum, "even when sober, he was dismissive and unpleasant, and he was disliked by most of his contemporaries".

[7] Fay enjoyed considerable success as a variety artist starting around 1918, telling jokes and stories in a carefully planned "off the cuff" manner that was very original for the time.

[7] Later, he was successful as a revue and nightclub comedian and master of ceremonies, arguably originating the form,[7] and also appeared frequently on radio shows.

[7] For example, "Tea for Two": When talkies arrived, Warner Bros. studio was eager to put him under contract along with a host of other famous stage personalities.

[6] Based on the success of that film, Fay was quickly signed up for an all-Technicolor musical comedy entitled Under a Texas Moon (1930), in which he also displayed his singing abilities.

Fay was always cast as a debonair lover, irresistible to women, and he frequently threw in suggestive jokes (e.g., on homosexuality and sex).

Fay made only one more appearance for Warner, billed near the bottom of the cast in Stars over Broadway (1935), in which he presided over a radio amateur hour.

[1][8] In January 1946, just months after Nazi Germany had been defeated, a rally of 10,000 white supremacists gathered at Madison Square Garden for a pro-Fascist event called "The Friends of Frank Fay", organized by Franco supporters and members of the Ku Klux Klan.