Image of Laraine Day

Laraine Day

Laraine Day, born La Raine Johnson, 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. Following her retierment she spent the remainder of her life active in the Mormon church, Republican politics, and various charity related work. Upon the death of her third husband Michael Grilikhes in March 2007 she moved back to her native Utah where she died that November at age 87. She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, CA.​


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Born:
Oct 13, 1920 In Roosevelt, Utah, USA
Movie/TV Credits:
61
First Appeared:
In the movie Stella Dallas 1937-08-06
Latest Project:
Series Murder, She Wrote 1984-09-30
Known For
Poster of Toy Tiger
Poster of Mr. Gardenia Jones
Poster of Painted Desert
Poster of Border G-Man
Filmography
Series Murder, She Wrote Unknown 1984-09-30
Series Airwolf Amelia Davenport 1984-01-22
Series Hotel Unknown 1982-08-21
Movie Murder on Flight 502 Claire Garwood 1975-11-21
Series The Sixth Sense Unknown 1972-01-15
Series Medical Center Unknown 1969-09-24
Series The F.B.I. Unknown 1965-09-19
Series Burke's Law Unknown 1963-09-20
Series The New Breed Unknown 1961-10-03
Movie The 3rd Voice Marian Forbes 1960-03-05
Series Checkmate Amnesiac Woman 1960-09-17
Movie Swiss Family Robinson Mother 1958-10-12
Movie Three for Jamie Dawn Sue Lorenz 1956-07-08
Movie Toy Tiger Gwendolyn Taylor 1956-06-29
Movie The High and the Mighty Lydia Rice 1954-07-03
Series Climax! Unknown 1954-10-07
Series General Electric Theater Unknown 1953-02-01
Series Letter to Loretta Unknown 1953-09-20
Series Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Unknown 1951-10-05
Series Your Show of Shows Unknown 1950-02-25
Movie The Woman on Pier 13 Nan Lowry Collins 1950-06-15
Series Lux Video Theatre Unknown 1950-10-02
Movie Without Honor Jane Bandle 1949-10-26
Movie My Dear Secretary Stephanie 'Steve' Gaylord 1948-11-05
Movie Tycoon Maura Alexander Munroe 1947-12-27
Movie The Locket Nancy 1946-12-20
Movie Those Endearing Young Charms Helen Brandt 1945-06-19
Movie Keep Your Powder Dry Leigh Rand 1945-04-01
Movie The Story of Dr. Wassell Madeleine 1944-07-04
Movie Twenty Years After (archive footage) 1944-01-01
Movie Bride by Mistake Norah Hunter 1944-07-26
Movie Mr. Lucky Dorothy Bryant 1943-07-01
Movie A Yank on the Burma Road Mrs. Gail Farwood 1942-01-29
Movie Fingers at the Window Edwina 'Eddie' Brown 1942-04-22
Movie Mr. Gardenia Jones Joanne 1942-05-29
Movie The Glass Key Nurse (uncredited) 1942-09-08
Movie Journey for Margaret Nora Davis 1942-12-17
Movie The Bad Man Lucia Pell 1941-03-28
Movie The Trial of Mary Dugan Mary Dugan 1941-02-14
Movie The People Vs. Dr. Kildare Nurse Mary Lamont 1941-05-02
Movie Unholy Partners Miss 'Croney' Cronin 1941-11-01
Movie Kathleen Martha Kent 1941-12-18
Movie Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day Nurse Mary Lamont 1941-08-22
Movie And One Was Beautiful Kate Lattimer 1940-04-05
Movie I Take This Woman Linda Rodgers 1940-02-02
Movie Dr. Kildare's Strange Case Nurse Mary Lamont 1940-04-12
Movie My Son, My Son! Maeve O’Riordan 1940-03-21
Movie Dr. Kildare Goes Home Nurse Mary Lamont 1940-09-06
Movie Foreign Correspondent Carol Fisher 1940-08-16
Movie Dr. Kildare's Crisis Nurse Mary Lamont 1940-11-29
Movie A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound Self 1940-10-24
Movie Sergeant Madden Eileen Daly 1939-03-24
Movie Arizona Legion Letty Meade (as Laraine Johnson) 1939-01-20
Movie Calling Dr. Kildare Nurse Mary Lamont 1939-04-28
Movie Tarzan Finds a Son! Mrs. Richard Lancing 1939-06-16
Movie The Secret of Dr. Kildare Nurse Mary Lamont 1939-11-24
Movie Think First Marjorie (Margie) Smith 1939-09-08
Movie Scandal Street Peg Smith (as Laraine Johnson) 1938-02-11
Movie Painted Desert Carol Banning 1938-08-12
Movie Border G-Man Betty Holden (as Laraine Johnson) 1938-06-24
Movie Stella Dallas Girl at Soda Shop / Train Passenger (uncredited) 1937-08-06