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Laraine Day
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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 ... 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.
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Laraine Day's first husband was the singer Ray Hendricks, whom she married in 1942. Having divorced Leo Durocher she married thirdly, in 1960, the producer Michel M Grilikhes, with whom she later worked as a Mormon missionary in Hawaii and who died earlier this year. She is survived by a son and three daughters.
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American actress Laraine Day, born Laraine Johnson, a descendant of a prominent Mormon pioneer leader, moved with her family from Utah to California, where she began her acting career with the Long Beach Players. In 1937 she 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, going on to become 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); Lew Ayres played Dr. Kildare. During the '40s and '50s she played a variety of leads in medium-budget films made by several studios. She rarely appeared in films after 1960, but later occasionally appeared on TV, portraying matronly types. She was married to famous baseball player Leo Durocher from 1947-60, when she was sometimes referred to as "the first lady of baseball."
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Born into a prominent Mormon family in Utah, Laraine Day's acting career began after her parents moved to Long Beach, California, where she joined the Long Beach Players. She appeared in her first film in 1937 in a bit part, then did leads in several George O'Brien westerns. Signing a contract with MGM, she achieved popularity playing the part of Nurse Lamont in that studio's "Dr. Kildare" series. An atractive, engaging performer, she had leads in several medium-budget films for various studios, but never achieved major stardom. She was married for 13 years to baseball manager Leo Durocher, and took such an active interest in his career and the sport of baseball in general that she became known as "The First Lady of Baseball."
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In 1940, Laraine Day, who has died aged 90, was voted the most promising film star by American distributors. It was the year in which the 23-year-old made an impression in Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent and was gaining a large following as Mary Lamont, the dedicated nurse and fiancee of Dr Kildare, in the popular MGM hospital series. Yet, five years later, Day requested a release from her contract at the studio. "Metro never really wanted me for anything," she explained. "I was always the one who happened to be free when their first choice was not."
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Laraine Day's role in Tycoon was originally meant for Maureen O'Hara, who had to be replaced due to a scheduling conflict. It would have marked the first pairing of O'Hara and Wayne. The two finally appeared together in Rio Grande (1950) and would pair up for five pictures in all.
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Laraine Day