Laraine Day AKA Laraine Johnson
Born: 13-Oct-1920 [1] Birthplace: Roosevelt, UT Died: 10-Nov-2007 Location of death: Ivins, UT Cause of death: Natural Causes Remains: Buried, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, CA
Gender: Female Religion: Mormon Race or Ethnicity: White Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Actor, Talk Show Host Party Affiliation: Republican [2] Nationality: United States Executive summary: Foreign Correspondent Laraine Day was a major movie star of the 1940s and '50s. Raised in Utah as part of a prominent Mormon family, she came to Hollywood as a young woman, and made her film debut with an uncredited role in Stella Dallas. Before she was famous she also played the birth-mother of Tarzan and Jane's adopted son "Boy" in Tarzan Finds a Son. Her break came in 1939, with the wildly popular "Dr Kildare" sequels. Day played Kildare's nurse -- and love interest -- in the third through ninth Kildare movies, until her character married the doctor in Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day. As Mrs Kildare, she was written out of the next, and last, Kildare feature.
In 1942, she starred with Ayres again in the underrated axe murder melodrama Fingers at the Window. Over subsequent decades, her memorable films included the flashback-within-flashback-within-flashback drama The Locket, the gangster comedy Mr Lucky, and the campy paranoia piece I Married A Communist. She was among the all-star passengers in the overwrought airliner-in-peril drama The High and the Mighty, and in Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent it was Day who encouraged Joel McCrea to give his stirring report of the air raid at the film's climax -- Hitchcock's thinly-veiled plea for America to enter World War II.
When television became a viable income source, Day found the small screen more inviting and less time-consuming than making movies, and she became primarily a TV actress. She had a 15-minute series of uplifting vignettes called Daydreaming with Laraine, and another 15-minute daily celebrity chat show called The Laraine Day Show. Married to New York Giants manager Leo Durocher, Day became one of TV's first female sports reporters when she hosted Day with the Giants, an early 1950s baseball talk show with Giants' players that aired on New York City's Channel 11.
Her last film was a low-budget thriller, The Third Voice, in 1960, but she continued taking occasional guest roles on TV series -- Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Murder, She Wrote, etc. -- through the mid-1980s.
Day also played a small part in the early success of science fiction master Ray Bradbury. They met when he was in his early 20s, and she was between films, donating her time to establishing a playhouse in Los Angeles for Mormon actors. Bradbury, though not Mormon, wangled a small role in a short play scripted by Day -- and ended up rewriting it, and authoring a few other works for the theater.
[1] Many published sources give 1917, but 1920 is the likely correct date. 1920 is the date given in the Social Security Death Index. See also Aljean Harmetz, "Laraine Day, B+ Movie Star, Dies at 87", The New York Times, 13 November 2007. Interview, "Talking with Laraine Day", Classic Images Magazine, 31 May 1996: "A lot of sources said I was born in 1917. That is incorrect. I was born in 1920. 1917 was the year the studios listed as my birth year to make me appear younger."
[2] Interview, "Talking with Laraine Day", Classic Images Magazine, 31 May 1996: "I am very much a Republican. I think that Richard Nixon is a great man and that he is very dedicated to what he does. I had the pleasure of meeting him when I attended the Republican National Convention in Miami. You can really tell that he is willing to go out of his way to help the American people. I am proud to support him as president and I wish him all the success in the world and may I also say that it was an honor to endorse him."
Brother: Lamar Johnson (her twin) Husband: Ray Hendricks (jazz musician, m. 1942, div. 1947, two children adopted) Husband: Leo Durocher (baseball player/manager, m. 1947, div. 1960, one son, one daughter) Son: Christopher Durocher Daughter: Michelle Durocher Husband: Michael Grilikhes (screenwriter, m. 1960, d. 2007, two daughters) Daughter: Gigi Bell Daughter: Dana Grilikhes Nassi
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals Hollywood Walk of Fame 6676 Hollywood Blvd.
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR Murder on Flight 502 (21-Nov-1975) The 3rd Voice (5-Mar-1960) The Toy Tiger (29-Jun-1956) The High and the Mighty (3-Jul-1954) Without Honor (26-Oct-1949) I Married a Communist (8-Oct-1949) · Nan Collins My Dear Secretary (12-Jan-1949) · Stephanie Gaylord Tycoon (27-Dec-1947) The Locket (20-Dec-1946) · Nancy Those Endearing Young Charms (27-Apr-1945) Keep Your Powder Dry (8-Mar-1945) · Leigh Rand Bride by Mistake (27-Jul-1944) · Norah Hunter The Story of Dr. Wassell (26-Apr-1944) · Madeleine Mr. Lucky (22-Jul-1943) · Dorothy Bryant Journey for Margaret (28-Oct-1942) · Nora Davis Fingers at the Window (22-Apr-1942) · Edwina Brown Yank on the Burma Road (19-Jan-1942) · Gail Farwood Kathleen (18-Dec-1941) · Dr. A. Martha Kent Unholy Partners (Nov-1941) Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day (22-Aug-1941) · Mary Lamont The People vs. Dr. Kildare (2-May-1941) · Mary Lamont The Bad Man (28-Mar-1941) · Lucia Pell The Trial of Mary Dugan (14-Feb-1941) Dr. Kildare's Crisis (29-Nov-1940) · Mary Lamont Dr. Kildare Goes Home (6-Sep-1940) · Mary Lamont Foreign Correspondent (16-Aug-1940) · Carol Fisher Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (12-Apr-1940) · Mary Lamont My Son, My Son! (22-Mar-1940) I Take This Woman (2-Feb-1940) · Linda Rodgers The Secret of Dr. Kildare (24-Nov-1939) · Mary Lamont Tarzan Finds a Son! (16-Jun-1939) · Mrs. Richard Lancing Calling Dr. Kildare (28-Apr-1939) · Mary Lamont Sergeant Madden (24-Mar-1939) Arizona Legion (20-Jan-1939) · Letty Meade
Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript.
Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile
Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications
|