Laraine Day (born La Raine Johnson, October 13, 1920 – November 10, 2007) was an American actress, radio and television commentator, and former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) contract star. As a leading lady, she was paired opposite major film stars, including Robert Mitchum, Lana Turner, Cary Grant, Ronald Reagan, Kirk Douglas, and John Wayne. In addition to her numerous film and television roles, she acted on stage, conducted her own radio and television shows, and wrote two books. Because of her marriage to Leo Durocher and her involvement with his baseball career, she was known as the "First Lady of Baseball". Her best-known films include Foreign Correspondent; My Son, My Son; Journey for Margaret; Mr. Lucky; The Locket; and the Dr. Kildare series.
Early life and education Day was born in Roosevelt, Utah. She was one of eight children in a wealthy family who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Her parents were Clarence Irwin Johnson and Ada M. (Rich) Johnson. Her father was a grain dealer and an interpreter for the Ute Indian tribes. She had a twin brother. Her great-grandfather was early Mormon pioneer Charles C. Rich. The family later moved to California, where she began her acting career with the Long Beach Players, including her friend and contemporary Robert Mitchum. She attended George Washington Junior High School and was a 1938 graduate of Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, California.
Career
After a talent scout spotted her with the Long Beach Players, she signed a contract with Goldwyn studios, for which she made her cinematic debut. In 1937, Day debuted on screen in a bit part in Stella Dallas. Her contract was dropped shortly thereafter because she "lacked talent". Shortly afterwards, she won lead roles at RKO Pictures in several George O'Brien Westerns, in which she was billed as Laraine Johnson. In 1938, she adopted the name "Laraine Day" to honor her previous playhouse manager, Elias Day, from whom she had received much of her training. During that time, she was active in establishing a playhouse in Los Angeles for Mormon actors. Ray Bradbury joined for a period of time in 1939, and she let him do some stage prop work and publicity.
In 1939, she signed with MGM, and became popular and well known (billed as Laraine Day) as Nurse Mary Lamont, the title character's love interest and eventual fiancée 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. Also in 1941, she was Ronald Reagan's leading lady in the Western comedy The Bad Man, starring top-billed Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore. That same year, she made her stage debut opposite Gregory Peck in the national theater tour of Angel Street. She was released from her contract with MGM of her own discretion in May 1946 and signed a contract with RKO in December of that year. The contract stated that she would make one film a year for five years, earning $100,000 per film. Throughout her film career, she was paired opposite major film stars, including Lana Turner, Cary Grant, and John Wayne. In the 1940s, she made guest appearances on radio on both Lux Radio Theatre and The Screen Guild Theater.
In May 1951, she began hosting a television show alternately called Daydreaming with Laraine and The Laraine Day Show. In May 1952, she was signed to a midnight-to-3 a.m. interview series with New York radio station WMGM featuring interviews related to politics, show business, and sports. She also made stage appearances in Lost Horizon, the 1973 revival of The Women, and a revival of The Time of the Cuckoo.
Personal life Day married her first husband, James Ray Hendricks, on May 16, 1942. He was a dance-band singer who became an airport executive for the Santa Monica airport. The couple adopted three children. 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 Ciudad Juárez, 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. After waiting a little over a year, Day and Durocher re-married on February 16, 1948, in Santa Monica, California.
After the couple moved to New York, Day read every book about baseball she could to understand the game. She became the first woman to be honored by the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers Association at their annual dinner in 1951. 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). This book is considered a rare book as of 2026. She was also the hostess 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. She attended the Baseball Hall of Fame induction for Durocher when he was inducted posthumously in 1994.
On March 7, 1961, Day married television producer Michael Grilikhes, with whom she had two daughters.
Religion Day was a member of the 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, "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. She was heavily involved within the Los Angeles California Temple, Westwood 1st Ward, and the Hollywood California Stake.
Politics Day was, as she described herself, "very much a Republican". 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. Day was a prominent member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. Throughout her career, Day maintained close personal friendships with a prominent network of fellow Hollywood conservatives, including Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Marie Windsor, Yvonne De Carlo, James Stewart, Robert Mitchum, Dean Jagger, John Wayne, Joel McCrea, Frances Dee, Joan Caulfield, Virginia Mayo, Coleen Gray, Gloria DeHaven, June Allyson, Shirley Temple, Cesar Romero, and John Payne.
She supported the campaign of Barry Goldwater in 1964. She was a vocal supporter of Richard Nixon, whom she later met at the 1968 Republican National Convention, citing him as the type who would "go out of his way to help the American people". She also supported Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and longtime Hollywood friend and former co-star Ronald Reagan in the 1980 and 1984 presidential elections, saying of both Nancy Reagan and him, "Ronald Reagan makes me proud to be an American. His intelligence, capability, and Christian brotherhood are so inspiring and his way of leadership is just superb. I consider myself lucky to have been his leading lady in The Bad Man and a short-subject reel and as a nation all together we are beyond fortunate to have the leadership of such fine people as the Reagans."
Later years and death In the 1970s, she was the spokeswoman for the Make America Better campaign and traveled across the country sharing her views on environmental issues. In 1971, she wrote a book called The America We Love. Day moved back to her native Utah in March 2007 following the death of her third husband. She died at the home of her daughter, Gigi Bell, in Ivins, Utah, from undisclosed causes on November 10, 2007. She was 87 years old. 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.Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 11431-11445). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Legacy During World War II, the Royal Canadian Air Force 427 Lion Squadron had been "adopted" by MGM. Many of the aircraft had dedications or nose art honoring MGM's Stars. A Handley-Page Halifax bomber "Yehudi" DK226 ZL Y carried the name of Laraine Day into battle over Germany. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Day has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6676 Hollywood Blvd.
Filmography Some film and television appearances come from Turner Classic Movies. + 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 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 Fingers at the Window Edwina Brown 1942 Mister Gardenia Jones Joanne Short 1942 Journey for Margaret Nora Davis 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 title: The Woman on Pier 13 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