Laraine Day

Not to be confused with Lorraine Day.

Laraine Day
Day in My Dear Secretary (1949)
Born	La Raine Johnson October 13, 1920(1920-10-13) Roosevelt, Utah, USA
Died	November 10, 2007(2007-11-10) (aged 87) Ivins, Utah, USA
Years active	1937–1986
Spouse	Ray Hendricks (1942–47) Leo Durocher (1947–60) Michael Grilikhes (1960–2007)

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

Career

Born La Raine Johnson in Roosevelt, Utah, to an affluent Mormon family, she 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.

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

In Foreign Correspondent (1940)

She was married to Ray Hendricks from 1942 to 1947, then to the baseball manager Leo Durocher from 1947 to 1960, and would often be referred to as "The First Lady of Baseball". While Durocher was managing the New York Giants, she wrote, Day With the Giants.(1952). That same year 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.

Shortly after her divorce from Durocher, Day married television producer Michael Grilikhes in 1960. She and Grilikhes had two daughters, Dana (b. 1962) and Gigi (b. 1964). After their births, Day rarely appeared in films, and only occasionally appeared on TV, usually portraying matronly types. During this time, Day devoted herself to the raising of her two daughters and was active in her church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Day's fame mostly coincided with her dedication to Mormonism. 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. Laraine was very honored to have had the opportunity. Other members of this special included Howard Keel, Richard Boone, and Dan O'Herlihy. Her then husband Michael Grilikhes produced and wrote the special.

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 career to a rise.

Later years and death

Day had moved back to her native Utah in March 2007 following the death of her third husband. She had been a resident of California for over seventy years. She died in Ivins, Utah on Saturday, November 10, 2007 at age 87 from natural causes. Following her death her body was taken back to California and on Thursday, November 15, 2007 a memorial service was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills. There she is buried next to her husband Michael. Her former husband Leo Durocher is buried nearby.

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

Selected filmography

• Sergeant Madden (1939)
• Calling Dr. Kildare (1939)
• Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939)
• The Secret of Dr. Kildare (1939)
• I Take This Woman (1940)
• My Son, My Son! (1940)
• And One Was Beautiful (1940)
• Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940)
• Foreign Correspondent (1940) with Joel McCrea; directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Dr. Kildare Goes Home (1940)
• Dr. Kildare's Crisis (1940)
• The Bad Man (1941) with Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, and Ronald Reagan
• The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941)
• Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day (1941)
• Unholy Partners (1941) with Edward G. Robinson
• A Yank on the Burma Road (1942) with Barry Nelson
• Fingers at the Window (1942) with Lew Ayres and Basil Rathbone
• Journey for Margaret (1942) with Robert Young and Fay Bainter
• Mr. Lucky (1943) with Cary Grant
• The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) with Gary Cooper
• Bride by Mistake (1944) with Alan Marshal, Marsha Hunt, Allyn Joslyn, and Edgar Buchanan
• Keep Your Powder Dry (1945) with Susan Peters and Lana Turner
• Those Endearing Young Charms (1945) with Robert Young and Ann Harding
• The Locket (1946) with Robert Mitchum
• Tycoon (1947) with John Wayne
• I Married a Communist (1949) with Robert Ryan
• My Dear Secretary (1949) with Kirk Douglas
• Without Honor (1949) with Franchot Tone and Dane Clark
• The High and the Mighty (1954) with John Wayne

Television

• Nash Airflight Theatre (1951)
• Daydreaming with Laraine (1951)
• G.E. True Theatre (1953)
• Willys Theatre Presenting Ben Hecht's Tales of the City (1953)
• Screen Directors Playhouse (1955)
• Celebrity Playhouse (1956)
• Lux Video Theatre (1951 to 1957, 7 episodes)
• The Ford Television Theatre (1952 to 1957, 7 episodes)
• Climax! (1957)
• Schlitz Playhouse (1957)
• The Loretta Young Show (1955 to 1957, 3 episodes)
• Swiss Family Robinson (1958, made for TV movie)
• Pursuit (1958)
• Rendezvous (1958)
• Playhouse 90 (1956 to 1959, 2 episodes)
• Checkmate (1961)
• Follow The Sun (1962)
• The New Breed (1962)
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963)
• Burke's Law (1963)
• Wagon Train (1963)
• The Name of the Game (1968)
• The F.B.I. (1969)
• The Sixth Sense (1972)
• Medical Center (1973)
• The Love Boat (1978, 2 episodes)
• Lou Grant (1979)
• Airwolf (1985)
• Hotel (1985)
• Murder, She Wrote (1986, 2 episodes)

External links

• Laraine Day at the Internet Movie Database
• Laraine Day at the TCM Movie Database
• Obituary, The Times, 16 November 2007
• Laraine Day – Obituary and Memorial
• Laraine Day at Find a Grave