Laraine Day

Not to be confused with Lorraine Day.

Laraine Day
File:Laraine Day - Yank.jpg 1942
Born	La Raine Johnson (1920-10-13)October 13, 1920 Roosevelt, Utah, United States
Died	Ivins, Utah, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills
Nationality	American
Other names	Laraine Jonson
Education	Long Beach Polytechnic High School
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1937–1986
Spouse(s)	Ray Hendricks (m. 1942; div. 1947) Leo Durocher (m. 1948; div. 1960) Michael Grilikhes (m. 1960)
Children	5

Laraine Day (October 13, 1920 – November 10, 2007) was an American actress and a former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract star.

Career

Day was born La Raine Johnson in Roosevelt, Utah, one of eight children in an affluent Mormon family. She had a twin brother, Lamar. The family later moved to California where she began her acting career with the Long Beach Players. She was a 1938 graduate of Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, California.

In 1937, Day debuted onscreen in a bit part in Stella Dallas. Shortly afterwards, she won lead roles in several George O'Brien westerns at RKO, in which she was billed as "Laraine Hays" and then "Laraine Johnson".

In 1939 she signed with MGM, and became popular and well-known (billed as Laraine Day) as "Nurse Mary Lamont", the title character's fiancee in a string of seven "Dr. Kildare" movies beginning with Calling Dr. Kildare (1939), with Lew Ayres in the title role.

Her roles for other studios were often far more stimulating than those MGM gave her, including a prominent supporting part in the Irish melodrama My Son, My Son! (1940). She also starred in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Foreign Correspondent (1940) with Joel McCrea, and the psychological mystery The Locket (1946) with Robert Mitchum, Brian Aherne, and Gene Raymond. In 1941 she was voted the number one "star of tomorrow" in Hollywood.

She was paired opposite major film stars, including Lana Turner, Cary Grant, and John Wayne, and hosted a TV show alternately called Daydreaming With Laraine or The Laraine Day Show (1951). During a time when she had a break in her film career she made her stage debut opposite Gregory Peck in the national theatre tour of Angel Street. She also made other stage appearances in Lost Horizon, the 1973 revival of The Women, and a revival of The Time of the Cuckoo. In the 1940s she made guest appearances on radio in both Lux Radio Theatre and The Screen Guild Theater.

Personal life

File:Foreign Correspondent trailer 14.jpg

In Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Day's first marriage was to singer turned airport executive, James Ray Hendricks in 1942. The couple adopted three children: Christopher, Angela and Michelle. Day filed for divorce from Hendricks in December 1946. Day was granted an interlocutory divorce from Hendricks on January 20, 1947, which required her to wait one year before remarrying.

On January 21, 1947, Day traveled to Juarez, Mexico where she received a second divorce decree. Later that day, she traveled to El Paso, Texas, where she married baseball manager Leo Durocher. Upon returning to California, the judge who granted Day's interlocutory divorce from Hendricks stated that the Mexican divorce she received was not legal and, since she failed to wait the one-year period for her divorce to become final, deemed her Texas marriage illegal as well. After waiting approximately one year, Day and Durocher remarried on February 16, 1948, in Santa Monica, California. During her marriage to Durocher, Day was often referred to as "The First Lady of Baseball". While Durocher was managing the New York Giants, she wrote the book Day With the Giants (1952). In 1952, she wrote and published another book entitled The America We Love. She was also the host of Day With the Giants, a 15-minute television interview program broadcast before New York Giants home games. Day and Durocher divorced in June 1960.

On March 7, 1961, Day married television producer Michael Grilikhes. She and Grilikhes had two daughters, Dana Laraine (born November 13, 1962) and Gigi (born October 6, 1964). After their births, Day rarely appeared in films, and only occasionally appeared on TV, usually portraying matronly types.

Religion

Day was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Throughout her life she never swore, smoked, or drank any kind of alcohol, coffee or tea. Until her death in 2007 she retained her Mormon faith, stating that: "It brings me comfort in a confusing world".

In 1961 she appeared with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in their production of Let Freedom Ring, which was an inspirational one hour program dedicated to the spirit of American Freedom.

Politics

Day was, as she described herself, 'very much a Republican'. She was also a vocal supporter for Richard Nixon, whom she later met with at the 1968 Republican National Convention, citing him to be the type who would ' go out of his way to help the American people'.

Later years and death

In October 1960, Day appeared in the Nixon-Lodge Bumper Sticker Motorcade Campaign in Los Angeles along with Ginger Rogers, Cesar Romero, Irene Dunne, Dick Powell, Mary Pickford and John Payne.

In the 1970s she was the spokesperson for the Make America Better campaign and traveled across the country sharing her views on environmental issues. In that same period of time she was active in establishing a playhouse in Los Angeles for Mormon actors and she helped bring Ray Bradbury's work to the attention of the public.

Day had moved back to her native Utah in March 2007 following the death of her third husband. She died at her daughter Gigi's home in Ivins, Utah, on November 10, 2007, at the age of 87. Following her death her body was taken back to California and on November 15, 2007 a memorial service was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Laraine Day has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6676 Hollywood Blvd.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1937	Stella Dallas	Girl at Resort and on Train	Uncredited
1938	Scandal Street	Peg Smith	Credited as Laraine Johnson
1938	Border G-Man	Betty Holden	Credited as Laraine Johnson
1938	Painted Desert	Miss Carol Banning	Credited as Laraine Johnson
1939	Arizona Legion	Letty Meade	Credited as Laraine Johnson
1939	Sergeant Madden	Eileen Daly
1939	Calling Dr. Kildare	Mary Lamont
1939	Tarzan Finds a Son!	Mrs. Richard Lancing
1939	Think First	Marjorie (Margie) Smith	Short subject
1939	The Secret of Dr. Kildare	Nurse Mary Lamont
1940	I Take This Woman	Linda Rodgers
1940	My Son, My Son!	Maeve O'Riorden
1940	And One Was Beautiful	Kate Lattimer
1940	Dr. Kildare's Strange Case	Nurse Mary Lamont
1940	Foreign Correspondent	Carol Fisher
1940	Dr. Kildare Goes Home	Mary Lamont
1940	Dr. Kildare's Crisis	Mary Lamont
1941	The Trial of Mary Dugan	Mary Dugan
1941	The Bad Man	Lucia Pell
1941	The People vs. Dr. Kildare	Nurse Mary Lamont
1941	Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day	Mary Lamont
1941	Unholy Partners	Miss 'Croney' Cronin
1941	Kathleen	Dr. Angela Martha "Angel" Kent
1942	A Yank on the Burma Road	Mrs. Gail Farwood
1942	Dr. Kildare's Victory	Mary Lamont in photo	Uncredited
1942	Fingers at the Window	Edwina Brown
1942	Mister Gardenia Jones	Joanne
1942	Journey for Margaret	Nora Jones
1943	Mr. Lucky	Dorothy Bryant
1944	The Story of Dr. Wassell	Madeleine
1944	Bride by Mistake	Norah Hunter
1945	Keep Your Powder Dry	Leigh Rand
1945	Those Endearing Young Charms	Helen Brandt
1946	The Locket	Nancy
1947	Tycoon	Maura
1948	My Dear Secretary	Stephanie "Steve" Gaylord
1949	I Married a Communist	Nan Lowry Collins	Alternative titles: The Woman on Pier 13 Beautiful But Dangerous
1949	Without Honor	Jane Bandle	Alternative title: Woman Accused
1954	The High and the Mighty	Lydia Rice
1956	The Toy Tiger	Gwendolyn "Gwen" Taylor
1956	Three for Jamie Dawn	Sue Lorenz
1960	The 3rd Voice	Marian Forbes

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1951	Nash Airflyte Theatre		Episode: "The Crisis"
1951–1957	Lux Video Theatre	Various roles	7 episodes
1952–1957	The Ford Television Theatre	Various roles	7 episodes
1953	Willys Theatre Presenting Ben Hecht's Tales of the City		Episode #1.2
1953	General Electric Theater		Episode: "Hired Mother"
1955	Screen Directors Playhouse	Joyce Carter	Episode: "The Final Tribute"
1955–1957	The Loretta Young Show	Various roles	3 episodes
1956	Celebrity Playhouse	Holly's Mother	Segment: " Tomorrow We May Part"
1956	Hollywood Summer Theater
1956–1959	Playhouse 90	Various roles	2 episodes
1957	Climax!	Ellen Parker	Episode: "Walk a Tightrope"
1957	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars	Mrs. Lorenz	Episode: "Bitter Parting"
1957	Pursuit	Kathy Nelson	Episode: "Tiger on a Bicycle"
1958	Swiss Family Robinson	Mother	Television film
1958	Rendezvous		Episode: "Alone"
1960	Moment of Fear		Episode: "Cage of Air"
1961	Checkmate	Woman	Episode: "To the Best of My Recollection"
1962	Follow the Sun	Aunt Charlotte	Episode: " Not Aunt Charlotte!"
1962	The New Breed	Vivian Cowley	Episode: "A Motive Named Walter"
1963	The Alfred Hitchcock Hour	Ruth	Episode: "Death and the Joyful Woman"
1963	Burke's Law	Lisa Cole	Episode: "Who Killed Billy Jo?"
1963	Wagon Train	Cassie Vance	Episode: "The Cassie Vance Story"
1967	The World: Color It Happy		Television film
1968	The Name of the Game	Grace Jellicoe	Episode: "The Taker"
1969	The F.B.I.	Ellen York	Episode: "Gamble with Death"
1972	The Sixth Sense	Marion Ford	Episode: "The Heart That Wouldn't Stay Buried"
1973	Medical Center	Arelene Gillette	Episode: "Broken Image"
1975	Murder on Flight 502	Claire Garwood	Television film
1978	The Love Boat	Vera Simpson	2 episodes
1978–1979	Fantasy Island	Various roles	2 episodes
1979	Lou Grant	Laura Sinclair	Episode: "Hollywood"
1985	Airwolf	Amelia Davenport	Episode: "Eruption"
1985	Hotel	Mrs. Kupchak	Episode: "Second Offense"
1986	Murder, She Wrote	Constance Fletcher	2 episodes

External links

• Laraine Day at the Internet Movie Database
• Laraine Day at the TCM Movie Database
• Obituary, The Times, 16 November 2007
• Obituary, ThisIsAnnouncements.co.uk, 10 November 2007
• Laraine Day at Find a Grave