Tonight: BYU screens Hitchcock's 'Foreign Correspondent'

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In the pantheon of Alfred Hitchcock's iconic actresses — Kim Novak in "Vertigo," Janet Leigh in "Psycho," Grace Kelly in "Rear Window," Tippi Hedren in "Marnie" and "The Birds" — one doesn't often think of Laraine Day.

But the Utah-born actress did work with Hitchcock once, in the 1940 thriller "Foreign Correspondent."

That Hitchcock title will screen on Friday, Jan. 13, at the Harold B. Lee Library auditorium at Brigham Young University, Provo.

Day —born Laraine Johnson in Roosevelt, Utah, in 1920 — made her name in the 1930s in the "Dr. Kildare" series of films for MGM. Her acting career, with roles in "Mr. Lucky" (1943) and "The Story of Dr. Wassell" (1944), was overshadowed by her marriage to baseball manager Leo Durocher.

In "Foreign Correspondent," Day plays Carol Fisher, the daughter of a European peace activist just before the start of World War II. The activist is the topic that American reporter Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea) is assigned to cover — but the assignment quickly finds Johnny, and Carol, dodging assassins and Nazis.

Day, who died in 2007, donated her papers, films and memorabilia to BYU's L. Tom Perry Special Collections.

The screening starts at 7 p.m., and is free to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Children 8 and up are welcome. No food or drink permitted.