O'Day was born in
Prairie Hill, Texas. Her father was an official with a railroad. Her first work as a professional entertainer was as a vaudeville dancer. She had her first screen roles in the 1920s as a
teenager. In 1930, she portrayed Maribelle Fordyce in the Broadway musical
Fine and Dandy. Her first starring role was in 1932 when she starred in
Rackety Rax opposite
Victor McLaglen and
Greta Nissan. From 1933 through 1940 she starred in nineteen films, with only a small number of those being
western films. Starting in 1941 she began starring in roles placing her as the
heroine in westerns, often opposite
Johnny Mack Brown,
Ray "Crash" Corrigan,
Max Terhune, and
John 'Dusty' King. O'Day's other Broadway credits included
Many Mansions (1937),
One for the Money (1939), and
Many Happy Returns (1945). In 1942 she starred as the heroine in several
cliffhanger episodes of
Perils of the Royal Mounted. In 1943, under contract with
Republic Pictures, she began starring in the
Three Mesquiteers film series, alongside
Bob Steele,
Tom Tyler and
Jimmie Dodd. Her last starring western role was in 1943, in the film
Boss of Rawhide, opposite
Dave O'Brien. She made one more movie, a non-western, in 1946 when she starred in
The Story of Kenneth W. Randall M.D., but concentrated mostly on writing
screenplays and
stage plays. She spent the rest of her life writing for stage and screen. She died of a
heart attack on January 5, 1989, in
Los Angeles, California. ==Partial filmography==