During her career in Hollywood from 1937 to 1972, LDS actress Laraine Day appeared in 33 films, but she admits her age has now "taken me beyond the point of being in demand" as a Hollywood actress.
So, instead of dashing off to the studio, she spends two days each week serving in a more meaningful and fulfilling activity - temple work in the Los Angeles Temple, about 10 minutes from where she and her husband live.Miss Day, who was born in Roosevelt, Utah, and her husband, producer Michel M. Grilikhes, a convert to the Church, are members of the Westwood 1st Ward, and he serves on the Los Angeles California Stake high council.
When Grilikhes goes to work these days, it's usually down the yellow brick road, instead of one of the Los Angeles freeways. His own company has produced a spectacular, family-oriented arena-size production of "The Wizard of Oz," that premiered earlier this year at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and is now touring the country.
Grilikhes and Miss Day first met in the mid-1950s when he was an executive producer for CBS and she was a guest star on one of the network's series. A year or so later, they met again when he was producing a "Playhouse 90" segment in London and she was co-starring in the show with Michael Wilding.
In the evening, Grilikhes and Miss Day - the only two Americans involved in the project - would have dinner together and discuss religion. She was born and reared in the LDS Church and Grilikhes was a Quaker. After she returned to the United States, Grilikhes remained in London and investigated the gospel in depth, joining the Church shortly after he went back to California.
In 1960, she married Grilikhes.
These days, marriage is again on the Grilikhes' minds. Their two daughters, Gigi, a psychology major at BYU, and Dana, a story analyst for CBS, are both getting married this year.
Laraine Day also has two adopted children from a previous marriage - daughter Michelle Thompson, who is active in the Church in Idaho, and son Chris, who lives in Denver, where he works for Continental Airlines.
Grilikhes' production of "The Wizard of Oz" took nearly 15 years to go from conception to a fully staged spectacular. In 1975, Grilikhes began negotiating for the rights to the MGM musical - a classic from Hollywood's famous "class of 1939" that starred Judy Garland as the youngster from Kansas who's swept up in a tornado and into an adventure along the fabled yellow brick road to the Emerald City of Oz.
When Ted Turner of Atlanta, Ga., purchased the entire MGM library, Grilikhes had to start all over again and renegotiate a deal, but Turner's corporate chiefs agreed that the original agreement was just fine and the deal was consummated.
Working with arena extravaganzas is nothing new for Grilikhes. For many years prior to his "Wizard of Oz" production he was involved with a number of Disney touring shows, including the popular "Disney on Parade" series and a touring production of "Peter Pan."
But flying a few actors across the room in "Peter Pan" was just child's play compared to some of the high-tech theatrical magic that "The Wizard of Oz" encompasses - melting witches, parades of munchkins, tornadoes - stuff that can be handled rather simply in a movie studio, but can be complicated and difficult in a giant arena.
And it takes seven different dogs to portray Dorothy's little traveling companion, Toto. As Laraine Day explained during an interview when "The Wizard of Oz" made a stop in Salt Lake City, the canine performers don't have particularly long attention spans, so five of the dogs appear in any one of the shows - each one performing the role of Toto in whatever mood the role calls for that particular dog is best at . . . aggressive and outgoing at some points, quiet or tranquil at other times.
Shortly after joining the Church, Grilikhes' expertise at producing spectacular stage shows was utilized for the first production at the then-fledgling Polynesian Cultural Center. In 1976, after 13 years, he was released from the PCC board of directors. During that time he also produced a patriotic show entitled "Let Freedom Ring" and staged a touring Maori production.
