Film and TV actress Kathleen Hughes, 96, died on May 19. The pretty blonde starlet was signed by Fox in 1948, and appeared in small roles in big films. Her best-remembered role was in 1953’s It Came from Outer Space (a photo of Hughes screaming in that film has become a camp icon). From the early 1950s through the ’90s, Hughes worked steadily in such vehicles as The Glass Web, Cult of the Cobra, December Bride, 77 Sunset Strip, Perry Mason, Here’s Lucy, and Medical Center. Unlike Marilyn Monroe (whom Hughes knew at Fox), she adored being a blonde bombshell: “I loved it because I was an ugly duckling. When I was a little girl, my mother used to read to me all these lovely fairy stories about an ugly duckling. I just thought, ‘Oh, if only I could grow up to be a swan.’ I had buck teeth. I was very tall. I just felt ugly. I guess I did finally turn into a swan.”
