![Kay Aldridge](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w185/21ry0nX8mG8pnV1njPMpkTmfDtz.jpg)
Kay Aldridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Katharine 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. A notable role was as Nyoka Gordon in Perils of Nyoka.
Aldridge was born on July 9, 1917 in Tallahassee, Florida. Her father was a surveyor and her mother was an artist and writer. 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.
Following her high school graduation in 1934, Aldridge found work with the John Powers modeling agency in New York. She appeared on the covers of magazines such as Life, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, and Look. In 1937, Aldridge was chosen as one of the ten most photographed girls in the world, and was selected to go to Hollywood to appear in the United Artists film Vogues of 1938.
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. 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.
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. Her first serial for Republic was Perils of Nyoka (1942), which offered dramatic cliffhanger scenes at the end of each episode. She retired from acting in 1945.
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 until his death in 1988. 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. She is interred at Sea View Cemetery in Rockport, Maine.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 2.652 |
Birthday | 1917-07-09 |
Place of Birth | Tallahassee, Florida, USA |
Also Known As | Katharine Aldridge, Katherine Aldridge, Katharine Gratten Aldridge, |
![Down Argentine Way](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/gg3DgplgKq8ZBFnMwMfgGuhSZCs.jpg)
1940
![Down Argentine Way](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/gg3DgplgKq8ZBFnMwMfgGuhSZCs.jpg)
Down Argentine Way
6/23
The story—in which an American heiress on holiday in South America falls in love with an Argentine horse breeder against the wishes of their families—...
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Down Argentine Way
![Dead Men Tell](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/m44nRXkb7bFkGpUF2TbANj5xBsy.jpg)
1941
![Dead Men Tell](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/m44nRXkb7bFkGpUF2TbANj5xBsy.jpg)
Dead Men Tell
6.281/16
When the elderly woman sponsoring a treasure hunt is murdered on board her docked ship, Charlie Chan must deal with a treasure map in four pieces, the...
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Dead Men Tell
![Girl in 313](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/rChPEGRhol08Zvp5jVcESTZt3Uk.jpg)
1940
![Girl in 313](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/rChPEGRhol08Zvp5jVcESTZt3Uk.jpg)
Girl in 313
5.6/6
A priceless necklace goes missing at a plush party. Police close in on the jewel thieves but is one cop getting too close to one of the crooks?
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Girl in 313
![The Phantom of 42nd Street](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/xfc7agRLndVXQh2DeSq4eBpyVpw.jpg)
1945
![The Phantom of 42nd Street](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/xfc7agRLndVXQh2DeSq4eBpyVpw.jpg)
The Phantom of 42nd Street
4.5/10
A theatre critic teams up with a cop to investigate the murder of a Broadway actor.
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The Phantom of 42nd Street
![The Man Who Walked Alone](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/izYR2BOfMR1VikLwgtDZVc6JCVY.jpg)
1945
![The Man Who Walked Alone](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/izYR2BOfMR1VikLwgtDZVc6JCVY.jpg)
The Man Who Walked Alone
5.5/3
A war hero returns home following a medical discharge and ends up entangled with a young woman speeding away from her wedding day in her fiance's car....
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The Man Who Walked Alone
![Here I Am a Stranger](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/vdz1oS52PII43AVfgjL8H4j73vQ.jpg)
1939
![Here I Am a Stranger](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/vdz1oS52PII43AVfgjL8H4j73vQ.jpg)
Here I Am a Stranger
7/1
The story of a young man's discovery of his father.
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Here I Am a Stranger
![Shooting High](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/vjMM9Fh7blCaz8VjUkOB4ypT0tl.jpg)
1940
![Shooting High](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/vjMM9Fh7blCaz8VjUkOB4ypT0tl.jpg)
Shooting High
8/2
A movie company making a film about a famous sheriff hires his grandson as a stand-in for the lead.
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Shooting High
![Perils of Nyoka](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/r39MuIe02A9wfMMe4vOLsMGLuT5.jpg)
1942
![Perils of Nyoka](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/r39MuIe02A9wfMMe4vOLsMGLuT5.jpg)
Perils of Nyoka
0/0
Professor Campbell's expedition into the hills of Libya obtains a papyrus which might reveal the hiding place of the Golden Tablets of Hippocrates, co...
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Perils of Nyoka
![Daredevils of the West](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/rOhsoXfCyjCHFzjfMfXFayoVOEG.jpg)
1943
![Daredevils of the West](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/rOhsoXfCyjCHFzjfMfXFayoVOEG.jpg)
Daredevils of the West
0/0
A gang of land-grabbers tries to prevent safe passage of the Foster Stage Company through frontier territory.
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Daredevils of the West
![Vogues of 1938](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/nhrOyXnf3k1Vz4UQxMWmk3cYIx6.jpg)
1937
![Vogues of 1938](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/nhrOyXnf3k1Vz4UQxMWmk3cYIx6.jpg)
Vogues of 1938
5.3/10
An early Technicolor musical that concentrates on the fashions of the late 1930s, this film was reissued under the title All This and Glamour Too. The...
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Vogues of 1938
![Sailor's Lady](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/h5EhQGKsi62bZ2oGOsEM6Me2h4A.jpg)
1940
![Sailor's Lady](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/h5EhQGKsi62bZ2oGOsEM6Me2h4A.jpg)
Sailor's Lady
4/1
Sailor is going to marry his girlfriend when he returns, but she becomes foster mother to baby whose parents are accidentally killed. The baby is acci...
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Sailor's Lady
![Rosalie](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/6knskJys7GqE2hnasa5lyn7SzeV.jpg)
1937
![Rosalie](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/6knskJys7GqE2hnasa5lyn7SzeV.jpg)
Rosalie
5.5/6
West Point cadet Dick Thorpe falls in love with a girl, who turns out to be a princess from an European kingdom.
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Rosalie
![Free, Blonde and 21](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/sLPx3FsQlJa1eCa4HDnKbHKso8l.jpg)
1940
![Free, Blonde and 21](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/sLPx3FsQlJa1eCa4HDnKbHKso8l.jpg)
Free, Blonde and 21
8/1
Stories of women who live in an all-women hotel. One (Bari) works hard and marries a millionaire; another (Hughes) cheats and goes to jail.
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Free, Blonde and 21
![Navy Blues](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/lfiksNCiyZ0VMjxtX0Xqq1cvZY4.jpg)
1941
![Navy Blues](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/lfiksNCiyZ0VMjxtX0Xqq1cvZY4.jpg)
Navy Blues
4/3
On a layover in Hawaii two conniving Navy seamen borrow money to lay down bets that their ship will win the upcoming gunnery practice trophy, having f...
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Navy Blues
![Golden Hoofs](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/mqcxRvQNk9th0BaJlkZzTu9Tbks.jpg)
1941
![Golden Hoofs](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/mqcxRvQNk9th0BaJlkZzTu9Tbks.jpg)
Golden Hoofs
7/1
A teenage horse trainer fears she'll lose her beloved horses when the stables where she works is sold.
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Golden Hoofs
![You're in the Army Now](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/9UpTDfAhaQBDYji60wZPH3AJ8H7.jpg)
1941
![You're in the Army Now](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/9UpTDfAhaQBDYji60wZPH3AJ8H7.jpg)
You're in the Army Now
3.6/5
Incompetent door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen become enlisted without their knowledge.
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You're in the Army Now
![Something to Shout About](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/cNFiTCRji2ATvlG4Ls16eIRUABj.jpg)
1943
![Something to Shout About](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/cNFiTCRji2ATvlG4Ls16eIRUABj.jpg)
Something to Shout About
5.8/4
A press agent, a composer and a landlord of a theatrical boardinghouse revive vaudeville on Broadway.
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Something to Shout About
![Du Barry was a Lady](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/3KwUsNFGsbrtHibFFTopIvN5Lk4.jpg)
1943
![Du Barry was a Lady](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/3KwUsNFGsbrtHibFFTopIvN5Lk4.jpg)
Du Barry was a Lady
6.1/14
Hat check man Louis Blore is in love with nightclub star May Daly. May, however, is in love with a poor dancer but wants to marry for money. When Loui...
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Du Barry was a Lady
![The Girl from Avenue A](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/4A3umPbwTsE8wOOQjcN5GUVgTGZ.jpg)
1940
![The Girl from Avenue A](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/4A3umPbwTsE8wOOQjcN5GUVgTGZ.jpg)
The Girl from Avenue A
0/0
A tough girl raised in the streets finds that her dialect and manners are helpful as source material for a playwright.
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The Girl from Avenue A
![Louisiana Purchase](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/fyH0aA3nbipy4ylAIW7TbhxsRPj.jpg)
1941
![Louisiana Purchase](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/fyH0aA3nbipy4ylAIW7TbhxsRPj.jpg)
Louisiana Purchase
6.6/7
A bumbling senator investigating graft in Louisiana is the target of a scheme involving a Viennese beauty.
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Louisiana Purchase
![Haunted Harbor](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/yQmNjjycNIwfl6uWheIvqhU3EAr.jpg)
1944
![Haunted Harbor](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/yQmNjjycNIwfl6uWheIvqhU3EAr.jpg)
Haunted Harbor
7/1
A sea captain about to be hanged for a murder he didn't commit is rescued from the gallows by two of his crewmen. They head for the island of Pulinan,...
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