Actress Laraine Day, who began her acting career in Hollywood in the late 1930s and remained active until the 1980s, passed away Saturday of natural causes. She was 87.

Laraine Day died Saturday, Nov. 10, at her daughter’s home in Ivins, Utah, according to her publicist, Dale Olson. The veteran actress had moved to Utah in March after the death of her husband of 47 years, producer Michel M. Grilikhes, the Los Angeles Times reports.

She was born Laraine Johnson on October 13, 1920, in Roosevelt, Utah, in a prominent Mormon family. She moved to Long Beach, Calif., in the early 1930s and was discovered by a Hollywood talent scout.

Day made her film debut in 1937 with a small role in “Stella Dallas” (starring Barbara Stanwyck) and signed a contract with RKO. She starred opposite George O'Brien in a series of Westerns under her birth name Laraine Johnson.

She later earned a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and made her debut as Nurse Mary Lamont in the 1939 hospital/crime drama “Calling Dr. Kildare.” It was at this time that she took the name of Day, after her acting teacher, Elias Day.

“Calling Dr Kildare” starred Lew Ayres and veteran actor and Academy Award-winner Lionel Barrymore. Day portrayed Dr. Kildare’s love interest.

Day also appeared in films, including Alfred Hitchcock's Academy-Award-nominated espionage thriller “Foreign Correspondent,” alongside Joel McCrea. Other films she appeared in were “Mr. Lucky” with Cary Grant, “The Locket” with Robert Mitchum, “The High and the Mighty” with John Wayne and “The Third Voice,” her last film in 1960.

In 1951, she became one of the first female talk show hosts with her own ABC series “The Laraine Day Show.” Variety notes that Day was a regular on the early days of live television, appearing on “Climax” and “Playhouse 90.” Throughout the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s she appeared in such series as “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” “FBI,” “Sixth Sense,” “Fantasy Island” and “Murder She Wrote.”

Her first marriage was to singer Ray Hendricks. Her memoir “Day with Giants” was about her second marriage to baseball manager Leo Durocher, when people began to refer to her as “the first lady of baseball.” Her third marriage was to producer Michel M. Grilikhes, from 1961 until his death in 2007.

Day is survived by three daughters, a son, numerous grandchildren and a twin brother.