Kathryn Loder(1940-1978)
- Actress
Kathryn (Kay) Loder, grew up in Nebraska and Texas, the daughter of a
drama professor and an elementary school principal. Her mother was
Frances Loder, who taught theater at the University of Texas at Austin
for many years. Her older brother was James Edwin Loder, a renowned
theologian who taught at Princeton Theological Seminary. Loder
discussed his younger sister in his book, "The Transforming Moment,"
saying that a religious experience at the age of 14 diverted her from
an emotionally troubled childhood towards a career in the theater. Her
distinctive voice and looks, as well as her operatic acting style, made
her perfectly suited to play memorable female villains in exploitation
pics such as "The Big Doll House" and "Foxy Brown." It is no small
irony that the genre itself was passing around the time of her death in
1978.
