Wilson, Fred S.

Fred S. Wilson was an executive who worked for the Petrox Corporation. An extremely small-minded, greedy man, Wilson spearheaded the movement to send an expedition to Kong Island to search for rumored oil wells. When it was discovered that the island was inhabited, Wilson was unconcerned. He told Roy Bagley and Captain Ross to simply scare the natives away and begin drilling for oil, with little regard for how this would affect their culture.

When Bagley discovered that the oil deposit was a washout, Wilson, fearful that he would be fired because of a wasted expedition, hatched a hairbrained scheme to capture the giant gorilla known as King Kong. His intention was to make back the money Petrox had spent on the expedition (plus some extra for himself) by exhibiting the huge ape back in the United States, starting with Shea Stadium in New York City. Although Wilson successfully captured Kong, the gorilla only made one appearance before escaping.

Comments

In the official version of King Kong, Wilson seems to die when Kong steps on him while escaping from Shea Stadium. Originally though, it was revealed that Kong had narrowly missed him and instead squished Wilson's hat, but preview audiences demanded that the film's villain die and so the revelation that Wilson survived is cut out: We merely see Kong's foot come down on something following a shot of Wilson screaming.