{{Short description|American journalist, broadcaster and socialite}} {{Infobox person | image = KayHalleVanVechten1938.jpg | caption = Kay Halle (1938) <br>Photo by Carl Van Vechten | birth_name = Katherine Murphy Halle | birth_date = October 13, 1903 | birth_place = | death_date = August 7, 1997 (age 93) | death_place = | death_cause = | education = | spouse = | occupation = Journalist<br> Author<br> Radio broadcaster | children = | parents = Blanche Murphy Halle<br> Samuel Horatio Halle | family = Salmon Portland Chase Halle (uncle) }}

'''Katherine 'Kay' Murphy Halle''' (October 13, 1903 – August 7, 1997) was an American journalist, broadcaster and socialite.

She was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Blanche (née Murphy) and Samuel Horatio Halle.<ref name=WPObitKay>{{Cite news|last= Smith |first=J.Y.|authorlink= |title= Kay Halle, Washington Grand Dame, Dies At 93 |newspaper=Washington Post|date=August 12, 1997 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/08/12/kay-halle-washington-grande-dame-dies-at-93/0dc05ce1-d265-4b4e-b74a-208537a768b9/ |accessdate=}}</ref> Her father co-founded the Halle Brothers department store with his brother, Salmon Portland Chase Halle. Her mother was an Irish Catholic and her father Jewish.<ref name=WPObitKay /> She attended Smith College and the Cleveland Institute of Music.<ref name=WPObitKay />

Halle was a department store heiress, World War II intelligence operative with the Office of Strategic Services, and intimate confidant and/or mistress of many luminaries of the 20th century, including George Gershwin, Randolph Churchill, W. Averell Harriman, Joseph P. Kennedy, Walter Lippmann, and Buckminster Fuller.<ref>{{cite news|last=Thomas|first=Robert McG.|authorlink=Robert McG. Thomas, Jr.|title=Kay Halle, 93, an Intimate of Century's Giants|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/10/05/letters/obit-halle.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=5 October 1997}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-08-24-9708240154-story.html|title=KAY HALLE, GLAMOROUS HEIRESS WHO CAPTIVATED THE POWERFUL|first=New York Times News|last=Service|website=chicagotribune.com|date=24 August 1997 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=FOIA Release: Kay Halle |url=https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/fbifiles/journalists/1509746-000.pdf |website=blackvault |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation}}</ref> She compiled and edited ''Irrepressible Churchill: A Treasury of Winston Churchill's Wit'' in 1966.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/KHPP|title=Kay Halle Personal Papers &#124; JFK Library|website=www.jfklibrary.org}}</ref><ref>Randolph Churchill: The Young Unpretender, edited by Kay Halle, 1971.</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Halle, Kay}} Category:American broadcasters Category:Radio personalities from Cleveland Category:People of the Office of Strategic Services Category:1903 births Category:1997 deaths Category:20th-century American women writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Jewish descent Category:20th-century American women journalists

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