Katharine ("Kay") Gratten Aldridge was an American actress and model, best known for playing feisty and imperiled heroines in black-and-white serials during the 1940s.

The damsel in distress is a narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has been kidnapped or placed in other peril. Kinship, love, lust or a combination of those motivate the male protagonist to initiate the narrative.