Molly O'Day

Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, she was the youngest of 11 children of Judge Thomas Francis Patrick Noonan and his wife, Hannah Kelly, a Metropolitan Opera 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.^[3] Her brother, John J. Noonan, received a seven-year prison sentence in 1930 for receiving stolen property. Another brother, Victor Noonan, faced two charges of grand larceny, as he was accused in two cases of receiving money to buy stocks that were never purchased. He was arrested in 1934 as a fugitive from justice.^[4]

O'Day appeared in minor roles in films early in her career.^[5] Her first appearance was in the Laurel and Hardy short 45 Minutes from Hollywood in 1926. She also appeared in Hal Roach'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.^{[citation needed]} One source says that producer Al Rockett chose O'Day for the film after he saw her as one of the extras in a mob scene. Although others preferred to cast a prominent actress in the role, Rockett said, "Either Molly O'Day plays the part or we don't make the picture."^[6] When she signed with First National Pictures in 1927 she was initially assigned Kitty Kelly as her screen name.^[5] By mid-March 1927 her screen name had been changed to Molly O'Day.^[7]

Like O'Neil in 1926, O'Day became one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1928.^[8] Also in 1928, she had surgery to "remove several pounds of flesh from her hips and legs."^[9] 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."^[9]

In June 1930 O'Day and Sally O'Neil headlined the vaudeville bill at the Eighty-sixth Street Theater in New York City.^[10]

After appearing in a few dozen films in the 1930s she retired.

In 1930 O'Day filed a voluntary petition in bankruptcy in Hollywood, listing $200 in assets and $12,798.78 in liabilities.^[11]

O'Day married actor Jack Durant in 1934 in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.^[12] They divorced July 10, 1951, in Los Angeles, California.^[13] They had 4 children together.

O'Day died in Arroyo Grande, California, on October 15, 1998.^[14]

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.^[15]