Kay Hughes

This "B"-level actress was one of the more wholesomely attractive serial queens of the late 30s to make the grade, albeit briefly. Born Catherine Mary Rhoads in Los Angeles in 1914, she lived part of her childhood in her father's native Ohio before returning to California with hopes of being a dancer. She suffered a near fatal bout of pleurisy at the age of six which left her health extremely fragile, and as a teenager was prone to sickness as well. This left her dancing career pretty much in the dust after appearing in bits in a couple of musical movies, including "Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935) and Strike Me Pink (1936). Thereafter, she focused her energies entirely on acting. Her first co-starring parts were in comedy shorts with The Three Stooges and Charley Chase, among others, then played various "prairie flowers" opposite Gene Autry and The Three Mesquiteers in standard oaters. Her best known parts would be in cliffhangers with such thrillers as The Vigilantes Are Coming (1936), Dick Tracy (1937) and Radio Patrol (1937) coming her way, playing both vulnerable and resourceful femmes. She also was top billed in the "B" feature A Man Betrayed (1936). In the 1940s her career took a secondary position following marriage. Her first child was born in 1940. By 1945, after filming Enemy of the Law (1945) with Tex Ritter and Fighting Bill Carson (1945) with Buster Crabbe, she retired completely. Married three times, she lived much of her later life in Desert Hot Springs, California. She had heart surgery in December of 1997 and died the following April at the age of 84.