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Molly O'Day (born Suzanne Dobson Noonan; October 16, 1909 – October 22, 1998) was an American film actress and the younger sister of Sally O'Neil.
O'Day has a star at 1708 Vine Street in the Motion Pictures category on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated February 8, 1960.
Hollywood Walk of Fame webpageObituary in the ''L.A. Times''Molly O'Day
at Virtual History 1909 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from New Jersey American film actresses American silent film actresses Actors from Bayonne, New Jersey WAMPAS Baby Stars {{US-film-actor-1910s-stub
Biography
Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, she was the youngest of 11 children of Judge Thomas Francis Patrick Noonan and his wife, Hannah Kelly, aMetropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...
singer. After their father's death, O'Day and her two sisters moved to Hollywood. Besides O'Neil, another sister, Isabelle, also acted in films.
O'Day's first appearance was in the Laurel and Hardy short '' 45 Minutes from Hollywood'' in 1926. She also appeared in Hal Roach
Harry Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr. Skretvedt, Randy (2016), ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies'', Bonaventure Press. p.608. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director, and screenwriter, ...
's Our Gang series.
Only 16, she defeated 2,000 contenders in an audition for the tough girl heroine in the 1927 prizefighter movie '' The Patent Leather Kid''.
Like O'Neil in 1926, O'Day became one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars
The WAMPAS Baby Stars was a promotional campaign sponsored by the United States Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers, which honored 13 (15 in 1932) young actresses each year whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom. ...
in 1928. Also in 1928, she had surgery to "remove several pounds of flesh from her hips and legs." An Associated Press news story reported: "The actress has been gaining weight steadily for the last year and although under contract to a film studio has been idle. Her excessive weight was the cause of her lack of work, Miss O'Day said, and after other flesh reducing methods failed she decided on the surgeon's knife as the final resort."
After appearing in a few dozen films in the 1930s she retired.
Personal life and death
O'Day married actor Jack Durant in 1934 in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. They divorced July 10, 1951, in Los Angeles, California. They had 4 children together. O'Day died inAvila Beach, California
Avila Beach (Spanish: ''Ávila'') is an unincorporated community in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, located on San Luis Obispo Bay about 160 miles (257 km) northwest of Los Angeles, and about south of San Francisco. The ...
, one day before her 89th birthday.
Recognition
O'Day has a star at 1708 Vine Street in the Motion Pictures category on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated February 8, 1960.
Filmography
References
External links
*Hollywood Walk of Fame webpage
at Virtual History 1909 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from New Jersey American film actresses American silent film actresses Actors from Bayonne, New Jersey WAMPAS Baby Stars {{US-film-actor-1910s-stub