Laraine Day was tired of doing the Mary Lamont character and begged to be let out of doing any more Kildare pictures. Apparently someone at the studio must have decided (vindictively, of course) "Okay, if she doesn't want to play Mary Lamont anymore, we'll make sure of it!" That's why they killed the character off.
A short time ago I read an online obit of Laraine Day. The obituary said that for years and years afterwards, fans would come up to her and ask "Why did Mary have to die?"
Nearly 70 years later, fans still ask the same question!
At the time, the death of Mary Lamont caused a furor. In those times, the two most likely professions a woman would choose would be either a nurse or teaching. I am certain many young womens saw her portrayal on the screen and went on to become nurses as well! I suspect though, after Mary's death at least some of the young women decided against it.
Yes, it was a foolish and shortsighted mistake the studio made. There was no reason Dr. Kildare and Mary could not have wed, and Laraine could have just put in cameo appearances in any future films. I am sure the furor and negative publicity hurt the studio a lot more than whatever self satisfaction the studio got out of giving Laraine what they thought was her due.
The Kildare series ended when it did not because of Laraine, but because Lew Ayres was a conscientious objector, then at the start of WWII he declared himself a "non-combatant". The movie studio fired him and movie theaters across the country vowed never to show another one of his pictures.
He did go into WWII as a medic and served on battlefields in the Pacific. He went back into pictures after World War II, starting with the 1946 movie "The Dark Mirror", and even played Dr. Kildare on the radio in 1950-51.
I, like you enjoyed the Dr. Kildare-Mary Lamont pairing and was shocked the first time I saw this film, that they would so suddenly and blatantly kill Mary off on the eve of her wedding day. Certainly at the time the women in the movie theaters must have cried...then, apparently they got angry!
I think it ironic (but not uncommon in Hollywood) that the Kildare series which Laraine wanted out of ended up being what she was remembered the most for in her entire career.
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chuckju-1
13 years ago
Even weirder and more damaging than killing off Mary Lamont (Larraine Day), in my opinion, was the totally inappropriate use of Red Skelton starting in this same movie. Up until this time, Nat Pendleton provided much of the comic relief, and comedy that fit in well with the picture. Skelton's schtick was all wrong for the film and his silliness was especially wrong given the intense drama of the death of Dr. Kildare's fiance. I loved the series until this one.
chuckju
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xerses13
12 years ago
chuckju-1; Just saw the film this month (12/2011) and agree with your statement. SKELTON was totally inappropriate and dragged the film down by two (2) stars. Would have rated it a IMDB 8/10 but dropped it to 6/10. It was bad enough to lose DAY's Mary Lamont character, but adding on SKELTON's dead weight was just to much.
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Enrique-8
11 years ago
The Skelton Shtick was there for "comic relief"...it just didn't work as it should. It was TOO depressing after Mary dying. Sure was a STUPID move on the studio's part. The next movie was it for this wonderful series. It was Laraine Day's fault. Grrr...
Enrique Sanchez
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joemarine
10 years ago
Red's skit was funny but difficult to appreciate given Mary's tragic accident five minutes beforehand.
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