Kay Aldridge

Katharine ("Kay") Gratten Aldridge (July 9, 1917 – January 12, 1995) was an American actress and model, best known for playing feisty and imperiled heroines in black-and-white serials during the 1940s.[1] A notable role was as Nyoka Gordon in Perils of Nyoka.

Kay Aldridge
Kay Aldridge, c. 1940s
Born
Katharine Gratten Aldridge

(1917-07-09)July 9, 1917
Tallahassee, Florida, US
DiedJanuary 12, 1995(1995-01-12) (aged 77)
Rockport, Maine, US
OccupationActress, model
Years active1937–45
Spouse(s)
    Arthur Cameron
    ​
    (m. 1945⁠–⁠1954)​
      Richard Tucker
      ​
      (m. 1956⁠–⁠1979)​
        Harry Nasland
        ​
        (m. 1988⁠–⁠1988)​
        Children4

        Life and work

        Aldridge was born on July 9, 1917, in Tallahassee, Florida. Her father was a surveyor and her mother was an artist and writer.[2] Following her father's death when she was two years old, her mother moved the family to Lyells, Virginia, where her four siblings and she were raised with the help of her great aunts, who were schoolteachers.[2] After attending her first year of high school in Westminster, Maryland, she enrolled in St. Mary's Female Seminary (now St. Mary's College of Maryland) in St. Mary's City, Maryland. While at St. Mary's, she acted in plays, played basketball, and was a member of the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority.[3]

        Following her high-school graduation in 1934, Aldridge found work with the John Powers modeling agency in New York.[2] She appeared on the covers of magazines such as Life, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, and Look. Contemporary artist Anne Taintor used advertisements featuring Aldridge as the base for a number of her pieces. In 1937, Aldridge was chosen as one of the 10 most photographed girls in the world, and was selected to go to Hollywood to appear in the United Artists film Vogues of 1938.[2]

        In 1939, she signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, and in the next few years, landed a number of minor and largely decorative roles, credited as Katherine Aldridge.[2] The films she made during this period include Shooting High (1940) playing Evelyn Trent, Sailor's Lady (1940) playing Georgine, Down Argentine Way (1940) playing Helen Carson, and Dead Men Tell (1941) playing Laura Thursday. She was among the actresses screen tested for the part of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind.[2]

        After her contract with 20th Century Fox expired in 1941, she was approach by Republic Pictures to star in an upcoming film serial. Although she considered serial work a "comedown" from being a featured player at Fox, she accepted the offer because it offered her a lead role and a salary of about $650 a week, good money at the time.[2] Her first serial for Republic was Perils of Nyoka (1942), which offered dramatic cliffhanger scenes at the end of each episode. Now credited as Kay Aldridge, she played the character Nyoka Gordon, who confronts a host of villains while seeking her father, who was lost on an expedition in Africa. It was her most popular role. Further classic serial heroine roles followed with titles such as Daredevils of the West in 1943 and Haunted Harbor in 1944. She retired from acting in 1945.[4]

        Aldridge was married three times: to Arthur Cameron from 1945 to 1954, to Richard Derby Tucker from 1956 until his death in 1979, and lastly to Harry Nasland[4][5] from 1982[6] until his death in 1983.[7] In her later years she lived in Camden, Maine, and was a locally renowned hostess.

        Aldridge died of a heart attack on January 12, 1995, in Rockport, Maine.[4] She is interred at Sea View Cemetery in Rockport.[8]

        Filmography

        References
        1. Brennan, Sandra. "Kay Aldridge". The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
        2. Magars, Boyd. "Chapter Forty-Six: The Perils of Kay Aldridge". Western Clippings. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
        3. Randell, K. D. (April 28, 2014). "Kay Aldridge, Queen of the Serials and St. Mary's Graduate". Library SMCM. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
        4. "Kay Aldridge, 77, Actress Until 1945". The New York Times. January 21, 1995. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
        5. "Kay Aldridge". Matinee Classics. Archived from the original on July 20, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
        6. "Maine, Marriage Index, 1892-1966, 1977-1996". FamilySearch. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
        7. "United States Social Security Death Index". FamilySearch. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
        8. Wilson, Scott (August 19, 2016). "Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed". McFarland – via Google Books.
        9. "Kay Aldridge Filmography". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved August 13, 2014.

        Further reading
        • McCord, Merrill T. (1979). Perils of Kay Aldridge: Life of the Serial Queen. Washington DC: Alhambra Publishers.
        • Manago, Jim. (2015). The Thrills Gone By: The Kay Aldridge Story. Albany, GA: BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1593931865.
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