Updated

John Kerry (search) watched his eldest daughter graduate from film school in a two-day trip to California that also included a brief visit to pay his respects to Ronald Reagan.

The Democratic presidential candidate, who canceled political events this week in deference to Reagan, was simply father of a graduate Wednesday when Alexandra Kerry, 30, graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory (search).

She is one of Kerry's two daughters from his first marriage to Julia Thorne. A younger daughter, Vanessa, is a medical student at Harvard University.

Both daughters spent much of Wednesday with Kerry, having lunch in Santa Monica at a family friend's home on the beach and then dining at a West Hollywood restaurant after the graduation.

A day earlier, Kerry attended a screening of Alexandra's 15-minute film, "The Last Full Measure," which is about a 9-year-old girl trying to cope with her father's difficult return home from the Vietnam War. The film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival last month.

Kerry also stopped by Reagan's presidential library, where the Republican's body lay in repose.

He will make a return trip to California June 24 as Hollywood stars, including Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond and Billy Crystal, perform at a fund-raising concert. The event had been scheduled for Monday. A similar concert in New York, originally planned for Thursday, has been rescheduled for July 8.