Kay Hughes (born Catherine Mary Hughes; January 16, 1914 – April 4, 1998) was an American actress in the 1930s and 1940s who appeared mainly in
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
films and
serials.
Biography
Hughes was born in Los Angeles, California.
When she was a year old, her family moved back to her father's native
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
to be closer to his mother; after she died, they moved back to California when Kay was nine years old.
She originally hoped to be a dancer, but health issues requiring two operations during her early years prevented her from pursuing a dance career.
[Magers, p. 109.] In 1935 she auditioned for and received a part in ''Broadway Melody of 1936'' which involved dancing. The film featured Jack Benny and Robert Taylor. Her first speaking role was in ''After the Dance'' (1936). While shooting on location in Sonora, California, she met her future husband who worked as a still photographer for MGM at the time.
[Magers, p. 111.]
In 1936, Hughes was signed to a contract with
Republic Pictures, where she received leading roles. Although she was only with the studio for six months, she starred in several
B Westerns and two of the studio's famed serials. She starred in the first two installments of the popular series of films, ''
The Three Mesquiteers''—''
The Three Mesquiteers'' (1936) and ''
Ghost-Town Gold
''Ghost-Town Gold'' is a 1936 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and was the second entry of the 51-film series of Western "Three Mesquiteers" B-movies. It was based on the 1935 novel of the same name by William Colt MacDonald.
Plot
H ...
'' (1936)—which launched an entire subgenre of Western movies. She was also the female lead in Republic's third serial, ''
The Vigilantes Are Coming
''The Vigilantes Are Coming'' is a 1936 American Republic film serial directed by Ray Taylor and Mack V. Wright. It was the third of the sixty six serials made by Republic Pictures (and the third released in 1936).
This serial was filmed betwee ...
'' (1936) with
Robert Livingston.
That same year she appeared in two
Gene Autry films as his leading lady, ''
Ride Ranger Ride'' and ''
The Big Show''. She had been scheduled to appear in a third Autry film but was injured during a horse-riding sequence.
In 1937, Hughes starred in the first serial of the ''
Dick Tracy'' series with
Ralph Byrd
Ralph Byrd (April 22, 1909 – August 18, 1952) was an American actor. He was most famous for playing the comic strip character Dick Tracy on screen, in serials, films and television.
Early life and career
The son of George and Edna ...
and
Smiley Burnette
Lester Alvin Burnett (March 18, 1911 – February 16, 1967), better known as Smiley Burnette, was an American country music performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick to Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, a ...
. The series was re-edited into a feature film, which was released in the same year. At the time, her agent was also managing
Deanna Durbin
Edna Mae Durbin (December 4, 1921 – April 17, 2013), known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian-born actress and singer, who moved to the USA with her family in infancy. She appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With t ...
at
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
, and he encouraged her to change studios. That year she broke her contract with Republic after only six months and began making films at
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
as Catherine Hughes, which she thought sounded more sophisticated.
[Magers, p. 112.] Unfortunately, Hughes ended up doing the same type of work, starring in another serial ''Radio Patrol'' (1937) and the film ''Trouble at Midnight'' (1938).
After a break of two years, she signed a contract with
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
and appeared in the Western film ''Riders of the Badlands'' (1941). She was pregnant with her daughter during the 1940 filming.
[Magers, p. 113.] After taking off a few years, she made a brief comeback in 1945 appearing with
Tex Ritter
Woodward Maurice Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a popular singer and actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John, grandsons Jason and ...
in ''Enemy of the Law'' under the name Ruby Martin. Her final screen appearance was in the
Buster Crabbe
Clarence Linden Crabbe II (; February 7, 1908 – April 23, 1983), known professionally as Buster Crabbe, was an American two-time Olympic swimmer and film and television actor. He won the 1932 Olympic gold medal for 400-meter freestyle swimmi ...
Western ''Fighting Bill Carson'' (1945). That year she decided to retire from films and raise her family.
Hughes was married three times. She married for the first time in the 1940s and the couple had two children. Her first child, a daughter, was born in 1941. They were divorced in 1947.
[Magers, p. 114.] Hughes married her second husband in 1947 and moved with him to
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
, Missouri and then later to
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
. They remained married until his death in 1964.
Hughes married her third husband in 1964 and they traveled together throughout the United States, eventually moving to
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
. After he died, she moved to
Desert Hot Springs, California
Desert Hot Springs is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The city is located within the Coachella Valley geographic region. The population was 25,938 at the 2010 census, up from 16,582 at the 2000 census. The city has exp ...
to live near her sister Lois.
After undergoing heart surgery in December 1997, Hughes died on April 4, 1998 in
Palm Springs, California.
Filmography
* ''
Saturday's Millions'' (1933) as Student (uncredited)
* ''
Men in Black
In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are purported men dressed in black suits who claim to be quasi- government agents, who harass, threaten, or sometimes even assassinate unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesse ...
'' (1934, Short) as Nurse (uncredited)
* ''It's the Cats'' (1934, Short) as Club Member
* ''The Chases of Pimple Street'' (1934, Short) as Clerk (uncredited)
* ''His Old Flame'' (1935, Short)
* ''
George White's 1935 Scandals
''George White's 1935 Scandals'' is an American musical film, written by Jack Yellen and produced in 1935 by Fox Film Corporation. It was a follow-up to (but not a sequel to) the 1934 release, ''George White's Scandals''.
Plot
The film centers ...
'' (1935) as One of the Girls (uncredited)
* ''
Slightly Static'' (1935, Short) as Telephone operator (uncredited)
* ''
Fighting Youth'' (1935) as Sorority Girl (uncredited)
* ''
Strike Me Pink'' (1936) as Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
* ''
The Robin Hood of El Dorado
''Robin Hood of El Dorado'' is a 1936 American Western film directed by William A. Wellman for MGM. It stars Warner Baxter as real-life Mexican folk hero Joaquin Murrieta and Ann Loring as his love interest, with Bruce Cabot as Bill Warren and ...
'' (1936) as Louise
* ''
Every Saturday Night'' (1936) as Patty Newall
* ''
Brides Are Like That'' (1936) as Mary Ann Coleridge
* ''
Snowed Under
''Snowed Under'' is a 1936 American romantic comedy film directed by Ray Enright and starring George Brent as a playwright who is working under a tight deadline. He becomes snowed-in in his remote cabin with two ex-wives and a girlfriend, play ...
'' (1936) as Miss Jones (uncredited)
* ''Romance in the Air'' (1936, Short) as Minor Role (uncredited)
* ''
The Vigilantes Are Coming
''The Vigilantes Are Coming'' is a 1936 American Republic film serial directed by Ray Taylor and Mack V. Wright. It was the third of the sixty six serials made by Republic Pictures (and the third released in 1936).
This serial was filmed betwee ...
'' (1936) as Doris Colton
* ''
The Three Mesquiteers'' (1936) as Marian Bryant
* ''
Ride Ranger Ride'' (1936) as Dixie Summerall
* ''
Ghost-Town Gold
''Ghost-Town Gold'' is a 1936 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and was the second entry of the 51-film series of Western "Three Mesquiteers" B-movies. It was based on the 1935 novel of the same name by William Colt MacDonald.
Plot
H ...
'' (1936) as Sabina Thornton
* ''
The Big Show'' (1936) as Marion Hill
* ''
The Mandarin Mystery
''The Mandarin Mystery'' is a 1936 American film directed by Ralph Staub, loosely based on ''The Chinese Orange Mystery'', a novel featuring detective character Ellery Queen.
Plot summary
Two murders are committed and a $50,000 Chinese Mandar ...
'' (1936) as Irene Kirk
* ''
A Man Betrayed'' (1936) as Marjorie Norton
* ''
Dick Tracy'' (1937, Serial) as Gwen Andrews
* ''
Radio Patrol
''Radio Patrol'' is a police comic strip carried in newspapers from August 7, 1933 to December 16, 1950 in the dailies, with a Sunday strip that ran from November 25, 1934 to October 20, 1946. It was created by artist Charles Schmidt and writer E ...
'' (1937, Serial) as Molly Selkirk
* ''
Trouble at Midnight'' (1938 as Catherine Benson
* ''
Honolulu Lu'' (1941) as Nurse (uncredited)
* ''
Riders of the Badlands'' (1941) as Celia Barton
* ''Enemy of the Law'' (1945) as Ruby Lawson
* ''
Fighting Bill Carson'' (1945) as Jean Darcy (final film role)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, Kay
1914 births
1998 deaths
20th-century American actresses
American film actresses
Film serial actresses
Western (genre) film actresses