Molly O'Day: Movies & Filmography

Molly O'Day (born Suzanne Dobson Noonan; October 16, 1909 – October 15, 1998) was an American film actress who rose to prominence during the silent and early sound film eras. Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, she was the youngest of eleven children of Judge Thomas Francis Patrick Noonan and his wife, Hannah Kelly, a Metropolitan Opera singer. After her father's death, Molly moved to Hollywood along with two of her sisters, one of whom was the actress Sally O'Neil, and another sister, Isabelle, also pursued acting in films. O'Day began her career with minor roles, making her first on-screen appearance in the Laurel and Hardy short 45 Minutes from Hollywood in 1926, and she also featured in Hal Roach's Our Gang series. At just sixteen years old, she defeated two thousand contenders in an audition for the tough heroine in the 1927 prizefighter film The Patent Leather Kid, a role championed by producer Al Rockett. Initially signed with First National Pictures under the screen name Kitty Kelly, her name was changed to Molly O'Day by March 1927. In 1928, she was honored as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, the same year she underwent surgery to remove excess weight from her hips and legs, a procedure that kept her out of work for some time. In June 1930, Molly headlined a vaudeville bill at the Eighty-sixth Street Theater in New York alongside her sister Sally O'Neil. She also faced financial difficulties, filing for voluntary bankruptcy in 1930 with assets of just $200 and liabilities nearing $13,000. O'Day married actor Jack Durant in 1934 in Tijuana, Mexico, and they had four children before divorcing on July 10, 1951. She later married James Kenaston in 1952, divorcing in 1956. After appearing in a few dozen films throughout the 1930s, she retired from acting. Molly O'Day passed away on October 15, 1998, in Arroyo Grande, California, just one day shy of her 89th birthday. Her legacy endures with a star dedicated on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street in the Motion Pictures category, unveiled on February 8, 1960.