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IMDbPro

Kathryn Kane(1919-2019)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Kathryn Kane
For a brief moment in the 30s, she was one of Hollywood's fashionable Cinderellas. Sometimes billed as 'Sugar Kane', she epitomised girl-next-door wholesomeness. Taking advantage of that appeal, her studio publicised the blonde, blue-eyed lass as the female answer to MGM's Mickey Rooney.

Kathryn grew up on a farm and was struck by the acting bug in her mid-teens -- by which time her family relocated to New York. She soon found steady work as a model with the prestigious John Powers Agency, at the same time helping to augment her family's meagre income by singing and dancing in nightclubs. Spotted by a Warner Brothers talent scout during a 1934 fashion show, she was signed to a contract and shipped off to California. Kathryn's subsequent career followed an all-too-familiar pattern: more often than not, she would be cast as hometown sweethearts or gridlocked into playing the supportive friend of the leading lady. On the few occasions she enjoyed top-billing, it was in one-reel musical specialties. Perhaps her happiest moment was on loan to Universal, where she co-starred exuberantly opposite Ken Murray and Johnny Downs in the lower half of a double bill, Swing, Sister, Swing (1938) (introducing the 'Baltimore Bubble', a short-lived dance fad). Kathryn was also the only (and, in this case, perfunctory) female in the cast of The Spirit of Culver (1939), a patriotic yarn aimed at junior audiences, designed to rejuvenate the flagging careers of former child stars Jackie Cooper and Freddie Bartholomew. On radio, Kathryn could be heard singing with the Benny Goodman Orchestra in 'Jack Oakie's College', recorded on Sunset Boulevard for CBS.

During World War II, Kathryn went on tour with the United Service Organizations (USO) to entertain overseas service personnel. In 1944, she appeared on stage in one of Earl Carroll's musical variety shows. Deserting the screen three years later, Kathryn went on to act in live theatre and (until 1989) nurtured a new career on the Californian lecture circuit as a musical teacher. Her moniker, 'Sugar Kane', was famously used by Billy Wilder for Marilyn Monroe's character in Some Like It Hot (1959). Kathryn passed away, a centenarian, on March 10, 2019 in Brentwood, California.
BornMarch 3, 1919
DiedMarch 10, 2019(100)
BornMarch 3, 1919
DiedMarch 10, 2019(100)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

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Known for

John Carroll, Jerry Colonna, Fritz Feld, Charley Foy, Kathryn Kane, and Helen Lynd in Swingtime in the Movies (1938)
Swingtime in the Movies
5.7
Short
  • Joan Mason(as Katherine Kane)
  • 1938
Stella Adler and John Payne in Love on Toast (1937)
Love on Toast
6.4
  • Polly Marr(as Katherine Kane)
  • 1937
Vince Barnett, Frank O'Connor, George Douglas, Reed Hadley, Henry King, Dennis Moore, Esther Muir, Stanley Price, Sally Rand, and Paul Sutton in Sunset Murder Case (1938)
Sunset Murder Case
4.7
  • Penny(as Sugar Kane)
  • 1938
Kathryn Kane, Ken Murray, and Edna Sedgewick in Swing, Sister, Swing (1938)
Swing, Sister, Swing
6.0
  • Snookie Saunders
  • 1938

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress



  • Shirley Temple, Ronald Reagan, and Rory Calhoun in That Hagen Girl (1947)
    That Hagen Girl
    6.2
    • College Student (uncredited)
    • 1947
  • Quiet, Please (1939)
    Quiet, Please
    5.6
    Short
    • Marian Starr (as Katherine Kane)
    • 1939
  • Freddie Bartholomew and Jackie Cooper in The Spirit of Culver (1939)
    The Spirit of Culver
    6.5
    • June Macy
    • 1939
  • John Carroll, Jerry Colonna, Fritz Feld, Charley Foy, Kathryn Kane, and Helen Lynd in Swingtime in the Movies (1938)
    Swingtime in the Movies
    5.7
    Short
    • Joan Mason (as Katherine Kane)
    • 1938
  • Kathryn Kane, Ken Murray, and Edna Sedgewick in Swing, Sister, Swing (1938)
    Swing, Sister, Swing
    6.0
    • Snookie Saunders
    • 1938
  • Vince Barnett, Frank O'Connor, George Douglas, Reed Hadley, Henry King, Dennis Moore, Esther Muir, Stanley Price, Sally Rand, and Paul Sutton in Sunset Murder Case (1938)
    Sunset Murder Case
    4.7
    • Penny (as Sugar Kane)
    • 1938
  • Stella Adler and John Payne in Love on Toast (1937)
    Love on Toast
    6.4
    • Polly Marr (as Katherine Kane)
    • 1937
  • A Great Idea
    Short
    • Kathryn 'Sugar' Kane - Vocalist (as Sugar Kane)
    • 1935

Soundtrack



  • Movieland Magic (1946)
    Movieland Magic
    5.5
    Short
    • performer: "So You Want to Be in Movies", "Springtime in Vienna", "Jitterbug Jamboree" (uncredited)
    • 1946
  • Musical Movieland (1944)
    Musical Movieland
    5.6
    Short
    • performer: "The Toast of the Texas Frontier" (uncredited)
    • 1944
  • Quiet, Please (1939)
    Quiet, Please
    5.6
    Short
    • performer: "So You Want to Be in Movies", "Springtime in Vienna", "Jitterbug Jamboree" (uncredited)
    • 1939
  • John Carroll, Jerry Colonna, Fritz Feld, Charley Foy, Kathryn Kane, and Helen Lynd in Swingtime in the Movies (1938)
    Swingtime in the Movies
    5.7
    Short
    • performer: "The Toast of the Texas Frontier" (as Katherine Kane, uncredited)
    • 1938
  • Kathryn Kane, Ken Murray, and Edna Sedgewick in Swing, Sister, Swing (1938)
    Swing, Sister, Swing
    6.0
    • performer: "Baltimore Bubble"
    • 1938
  • Vince Barnett, Frank O'Connor, George Douglas, Reed Hadley, Henry King, Dennis Moore, Esther Muir, Stanley Price, Sally Rand, and Paul Sutton in Sunset Murder Case (1938)
    Sunset Murder Case
    4.7
    • performer: "I'd Rather Look at You"
    • 1938
  • Stella Adler and John Payne in Love on Toast (1937)
    Love on Toast
    6.4
    • performer: "I Want a New Romance"
    • 1937
  • Richard Himber and Marion Martin in The Magic of Music (1935)
    The Magic of Music
    Short
    • performer: "Lookie, Lookie, Lookie, Here Comes Cookie" (as Sugar Cane, uncredited)
    • 1935

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative names
    • Sugar Cane
  • Height
    • 5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
  • Born
    • March 3, 1919
    • White Plains, New York, USA
  • Died
    • March 10, 2019
    • Brentwood, California, USA(undisclosed)
  • Spouse
    • Horace Boos, Jr.? - December 15, 1956 (his death)
  • Other works
    Stage: Appeared in a production of "A Streetcar Named Desire".
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Pictorial

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    On 3/24/2019, she was honored with a Sketch of the Day caricature on the website Star Portraits.
  • Trademarks
      Sparking Blue Eyes
  • Nicknames
    • Katie
    • Sugar Kane

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