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Kay Linaker

American actress and screenwriter (1913-2008)

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
3 min read
Source updated June 7, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Mary Katherine Linaker (July 19, 1913, April 18, 2008) was an American actress and screenwriter who appeared in many B movies during the 1930s and 1940s, most notably Kitty Foyle (1940). Linaker used her married name, Kate Phillips, as a screenwriter, notably for the cult film The Blob (1958). She is credited with coining the name "The Blob" for the movie, which was originally titled The Molten Meteor.

01Biography

Linaker was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and graduated from a private school in Connecticut and from New York University. She went on to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Linaker acted in supporting roles on Broadway before signing a film contract with Warner Bros. She was signed by the studio after a talent scout saw her in Jackson White at the Providencetown Theater. Her Broadway credits included Every Man for Himself (1940), and Yesterday's Orchids (1934).

In 1935, she briefly changed her name to Lynn Acker "for screen purposes", but she soon dropped that name. Most of her film work had her in limited roles, with one of her notable leading parts coming in The Girl from Mandalay (1936). Her screen debut was in The Murder of Dr. Harrigan (1936).

Linaker wrote for the Voice of America during World War II in addition to working for the Red Cross.

She later taught in the film studies department at Keene State College in New Hampshire from 1980 to 2006.

From the 1960s to her death, Linaker dedicated much of her time to education. She went on to teach acting and screenwriting at Hampshire Country School in Rindge, New Hampshire.

02Personal life

Linaker, on June 9, 1953, in Bedford, New York, married Howard Baron Phillips (1909-1985), who initially was a baritone and writer but later worked as an executive with NBC television. In December 1936, for about a year, Phillips sang with Ray Noble under the pseudonym Howard Barrie.

See "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm"

03Death

On April 18, 2008, Linaker died in Keene, New Hampshire.

04Partial filmography

Watch videos about Kay LinakerExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Kay Linaker”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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