Doris Day

At 97 years old, Doris Day has this physical status:

Doris Day (born Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and animal rights activist.

She began her career in 1939 as a big band singer, with two No. 2s gaining commercial success in 1945. Les Brown & His Band of Renown have two albums, "Sentimental Journey" and "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time."

She left Brown in 1977 to embark on a solo career and has released more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967. Day's film career began during the second half of Hollywood with the film Romance on the High Seas (1948), leading to a 20-year career as a motion picture actor.

She appeared in films of many genres, including musicals, comedies, dramas, and thrillers.

She appeared in Calamity Jane (1953) and appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with James Stewart.

Her best-known films are ones in which she co-starred with Rock Hudson, including them 1959's Pillow Talk, in which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She appeared in several films with James Garner (1963) and The Thrill of It All (1963), and she appeared alongside Clark Gable, Cary Grant, James Cagney, David Niven, Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Richard Widmark, Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, and Rod Taylor (1963).

She starred in her own sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968-1973), despite ending her film career in 1968 and being just barely removed from the height of her fame. Day became one of the best film actors in the early 1960s, and as of 2012, she was one of eight actors to have been the top box-office earner in the United States four times.

My Heart, her 29th studio album, debuted new music and debuted as a UK Top ten artist in 2011.

The Society of Singers named her Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Legend Award.

In 1960, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and she was honoured with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.

In 2004, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Career Achievement Award was followed in 2011.

Early life

Doris Mary Kappelhoff was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 3, 1922, the granddaughter of Alma Sophia (née Welz, 1895–1976) and William Joseph Kappelhoff (1892–1967). Her mother was a homemaker and her father was a music teacher and choirmaster. Doris Kenyon was named after actress Doris Kenyon. Her maternal and paternal grandparents were German; her paternal grandfather, Franz Joseph Wilhelm Kappelhoff, immigrated to the United States in 1875 and settled in Cincinnati, which had a large German community with its own churches, clubs, and German-language newspapers. Day said she was born in 1924 but it wasn't until her 95th birthday that she discovered she was not born in 1922 that she claimed otherwise.

Richard (who died before her time) and Paul, two to three years older, were the youngest of three siblings. Her parents were divorced due to her father's infidelity. She began to take an interest in dancing and formed a dance duo with Jerry Doherty in the mid-1930s, who appeared in international competitions. On October 13, 1937, a car accident that killed her right leg and ended her hopes as a professional dancer. A train in Pennsylvania was involved in a deadly crash.

Personal life

Day spent in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, after her film career ended. She owned many animals and adopted stray cats. She was a lifelong Republican. Terry Melcher, a music producer and songwriter who had a hit with "Hey Little Cobra" in the 1960s before becoming a successful producer with appearances involving The Byrds, Paul Revere & the Raiders, and The Beach Boys; he died of melanoma in November 2004. Since the 1980s, Day owned the Cypress Inn, which she co-owned with her son. It was the first pet-friendly hotel to be featured in Architectural Digest in 1999.

Day was married four times. She was married to trombonist Al Jorden (1917–1967), who attended Barney Rapp's Band from April 1941 to February 1943. Jorden had schizophrenia and was violent, and he died by suicide. When Day became pregnant and refused to have an abortion, he beat her in an attempt to induce a miscarriage. Terrence "Terry" Paul Jorden, their son, was born in 1942; he renamed him Terrence "Terry" Melcher after he was adopted by Day's third husband.

George William Weidler (1926–1989), a saxophonist and brother of actress Virginia Weidler, from March 30, 1946 to May 31, 1949, was her second marriage. Weidler and Day's reconciliation brought them two years later, and they introduced her to Christian Science.

Martin Melcher (1915–1968) married Day on April 3, 1951, her 29th birthday, and the union lasted until he died in April 1968. Terry Melcher, Day's son Terry, who later became a well-known musician and record producer under the name Terry Melcher, was adopted by Melcher. Many of Day's films were directed by Martin Melcher. Both Christian Scientists, resulting in her not seeing a doctor for some time due to symptoms that suggested cancer. Following Melcher's death, Day separated from the Church of Christ, Scientist, and grew close to charismatic Protestants, such as Kathryn Kuhlman, although she never lost interest in Christian Science teaching and research.

Barry Comden (1935–2009), from April 14, 1976 to 1982, was the day's fourth marriage. He was the maître d'hôtel at one of Day's favorite restaurants. He knew of her keen love for dogs and endeared himself to her by giving her a bag of meat scraps and bones on her way out of the restaurant. He later expressed concern for her "animal friends" rather than she did for him.

Day died on May 13, 2019, at the age of 97, after having contracted pneumonia. The Doris Day Animal Foundation, her charity, announced her death. The Foundation reported that there will be no funeral services, grave marker, or other public memorials as a result of Per Day's request.

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Career

Kappelhoff started to sing along with the radio and discovered a talent she didn't know she had when recovering from her car accident. "I used to spend a lot of time on the radio, occasionally singing along with Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller," she told A. E. Hotchner, one of Day's biographers. "But Ella Fitzgerald's one radio voice I listened to above others was not the one I listened to above." Her voice was captivating, and I'd sing with her, trying to capture the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet sophisticated way she sang the words."

Alma's fascination with show business was revived after her daughter's performance, and she's agreed that Doris must learn singing lessons. Grace Raine, a tutor, was hired by her mother. Raine told Alma that teenage Doris had "tremendous promise" after three lessons; Raine was so impressed that she gave Doris three lessons a week for the price of one. Raine had the greatest influence on her singing style and career, according to Day.

Kappelhoff was first on the WLW radio program Carlin's Carnival and in a local restaurant, Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn, during the eight months she was taking singing lessons. Barney Rapp, a female singer, first caught her interest during her radio appearances, asking if she would like to audition for the position. When Kappelhoff took the job, he had auditioned about 200 singers, according to Rapp.

She adopted the stage surname "Day" when working for Rapp in 1939, at Rapp's suggestion. Rapp felt that "Kappelhoff" was too long for marquees, and he adored her interpretation of the song "Day After Day." Day spent time with Rapp, Bob Crosby, and Les Brown, a bandleader. Day appeared in three Sounders with the Les Brown band in 1941.

Day started working with Brown and released her first hit song, "Sentimental Journey," which was released in early 1945. It became a anthem of World War II's demobilizing troops' longing to return home. The song is still linked to Day, and she has re-recorded it on several occasions, including one in the 1971 television special. "My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time," "You Won't Be Satisfied (Because You Break My Heart)" is among the top ten hits on the Billboard chart from 1945 to 46," "I Got the Sun in the Mornin" is one of six others on the Billboard chart: "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time," "You Won't Be Satisfied (You Can't Be Satisfied (Until You Will You Are You Can' "As a singer Doris belongs to Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra," Les Brown said.

She toured extensively throughout the United States and worked with Bob Hope's weekly radio station, and spent nearly two years with the Les Brown band and twice on Bob Hope's weekly radio show.

Jule Styne and his partner, Sammy Cahn, were enthralled by her appearance on the High Seas (1948), and they recommended her for a role in Romance on the High Seas (1948). After auditioning for director Michael Curtiz, the day was set for the role. She was astonished to learn she was in the film, but Curtiz revealed that she was not an actor with acting experience. However, he said he liked that "he was honest," not afraid to admit it, and he wanted someone who "looked like the All-American Girl." Curtiz was proudest during his career on this day.

The film ended with a No. 3 on the front page. "It's Magic" was her first soloist, followed by two months in No. 2 for two months. In 1948, there was a hit ("Love Somebody") which was released as a duet with Buddy Clark. "Someone Like You" was recorded by Day before the film My Dream Is Yours (1949), which featured the artist. In 1950, U.S. servicemen in Korea voted her their favorite actress.

She continued to produce minor and often nostalgic period musicals such as On Moonlight Bay (1951), By the Light of the Sun (1953), and Tea For Two (1950) for Warner Brothers.

I'll See You in My Dreams (1951), Warner's most commercially profitable film, shattered box-office records of 20 years. Gus Kahn's musical biography is included in the film. Curtiz's fourth film was shot on Day. Day appeared as the title character in Calamity Jane (1953). The Academy Award for Best Original Song went to a song from "Secret Love" on the day and became Day's fourth No. 2 on the day. In the United States, 1 hit single.

Six of her film musicals' albums charted in the Top 10, three of whom were No. 1 between 1950 and 1953, three of whom were charted at No. 10. 1. Day, a child of the United States, refused to renew her contract with Warner Brothers after filming Lucky Me (1954) with Bob Cummings and Young at Heart (1955) with Frank Sinatra, decided not to renew her contract with Warner Brothers.

The Doris Day Show on the radio during this period had her own radio show during this period. In 1952-1953, it was shown on CBS from 1952 to 1953.

Day began to play more varied roles as a musical-comedy actress. Ruth Etting of Love Me or Leave Me (1955), a dramatic star turn as a performer, earned top billing above James Cagney, becoming the day's biggest hit so far. Cagney said she had "the ability to project the straightforward, clear statement of a simple, straightforward proposal without cluttering it," comparing her to Laurette Taylor's appearance in The Glass Menagerie (1945), one of the finest American actress performances. It was her best film performance on the day, according to Day. "I was shocked that Doris did not receive an Oscar nomination," producer Joe Pasternak said. No. 4 was a No. on the soundtrack album from that film. The 1st strike was struck.

Day appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense film The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with James Stewart. "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be)" acade Award-winning film and "We'll Love Again" starred her in two songs. The film was Day's 10th film to be in the Top ten at the box office. Day appeared in the thriller/noir Julie (also 1956) with Louis Jourdan.

Day returned to her musical/comedic roots in The Pajama Game (1957) with John Raitt after three consecutive epic films. The film was based on the Broadway play of the same name. Clark Gable and Gig Young appeared on Teacher's Pet (1958), a film by Paramount Pictures. She co-starred with Richard Widmark and Gig Young in the romantic comedy The Tunnel of Love (also 1958), but she had no success opposite Jack Lemmon in It Happened to Jane (1959).

According to Billboard's annual national poll of disc jockeys, Day was ranked No. No. 1 on the charts. In ten years (1949-1958), 1 female vocalist nine times in ten years (1949-1958), but her success and fame as a singer were now being dominated by her box-office appeal.

Day began in 1959 with a string of romantic comedies. Pillow Talk (1959), co-starring Rock Hudson who became a lifelong friend and Tony Randall, all contributed to this success. Day was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. It was the first Oscar nomination she had received in her career. Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964), Hudson, and Randall made two more films together, Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964).

Day, David Niven and Janis Paige, appeared in Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) and with Cary Grant in the comedy That Touch of Mink (1962). She ranked number one at the box office during 1960 and 1964, the second woman to be number one four times, an achievement equalled by no other actress except Shirley Temple. She set a new record in the female box office business, winning seven straight Laurel Awards as the best female box office actress ever.

Day began with James Garner, The Thrill of It All, and Move Over, Darling (both 1963). "Move Over Darling," the film's theme song that was co-written by her son, at No. 59. In the United Kingdom, there are 8 of them. Day co-starred with Rex Harrison in the film adaptation of the stage thriller Gaslight (1960).

The sexual revolution of the baby boomer generation had refocused public perceptions of sex by the 1960s. Times have changed, but Day's films didn't. Do Not Disturb (1965), Day's next film, was well-received by fans, but her following waned shortly. On the day "The World's Oldest Virgin" is a term that has been dubbed by critics and comedians, audiences are starting to steer away from her films. As a result, she ranked in the top ten for the first time since appearing in the hit film The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, one of her roles, was she turned down, but Anne Bancroft would take over. Day wrote about her decision not to participate in the role on moral grounds: she found the script "vulgar and offensive" in her published memoirs:

In The Ballad of Josie (1967), she appeared in a western film. Day released The Love Album in the same year, but it wasn't announced until 1994. She appeared in the comedy film Where Were Were You When the Lights Went Out? the following year (1968) she appeared in the comedy film Where Were You When the Lights Came Down? The center of the Northeast blackout of November 9, 1965, which focuses on the 1965 blackout in the northeast. In 1968, she made her last film, The Comedian With Six You Get Eggrolls, released.

Day received nine Laurel Award nominations (and four times) for best female appearance in eight comedies and one drama from 1959 to 1970. She received six Golden Globe Awards for her best female appearance in three comedies, one drama (Midnight Lace), one musical (Jumbo), and her television series from 1959 to 1969.

Melcher's third husband Martin Melcher died on April 20, 1968, a stunned Day learned that Melcher and his business partner and "adviser" Jerome Bernard Rosenthal had squandered her income, leaving her deeply in debt. Rosenthal had been her counsel since 1949, when he defended her in an uncontested divorce case against her second husband, saxophonist George W. Weidler. Day filed a lawsuit against Rosenthal in February 1969, which resulted in a favorable decision in 1974, but did not receive compensation until 1979.

Day also learned that Melcher had promised her to a television program called The Doris Day Show, which was also to her dissatisfaction.

Day feared the prospect of appearing on television but felt obliged to do so. On September 24, 1968, the first episode of The Doris Day Show featured a rerecorded version of "Que Sera Sera," its theme song. Day remained (she needed the help with her debts), but only after CBS ceded creative power to her and her son. The successful show ran for five years and was featured as a curtain raiser for the Carol Burnett Show. Today, it is remembered for the sudden shift in casting and premise from season to season.

Public tastes had shifted, as had those of the television industry, and her well-known brand was deemed obsolete by the time it was run in 1973. She largely retired from acting after The Doris Day Exhibition, but she did complete two television specials, The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special (1971) and Doris Day Today (1975), and appeared on several television programs in the 1970s.

Day hosted her own television talk show, Doris Day's Best Friends, on the Christian Broadcasting Network in 1985-1986 (CBN). Despite the worldwide success it received, the network cancelled the show after 26 episodes. Much of the attention came from an episode starring Rock Hudson, in which Hudson was experiencing the first public signs of AIDS, including extreme weight loss and admitted exhaustion; a year later, Hudson will die from the disease. "He was so ill," the day after. But I just brushed it off, and I rushed out and wrapped my arms around him, saying, "I'm glad to see you."

Martin Melcher, the day's husband and agent, had Beverly Hills lawyer Jerome Rosenthal handle his wife's estate since the 1940s. "Browne committed misconduct of professional ethics that were impossible to exaggerate," one court ruled.

Rosenthal's appeal of the multimillion-dollar verdict against him was dismissed for procedural error, but the California Supreme Court upheld the findings of a trial court and a Court of Appeal that Rosenthal acted incorrectly. The Supreme Court refused to hear the lower court's decision in April 1986. Rosenthal filed a $30 million lawsuit against lawyers alleging that he defrauded him out of millions of dollars in real estate investment. Day was named a co-defendant, describing her as a "unwilling, involuntary litigant plaintiff whose consent cannot be obtained" by the government. After Melcher died in 1968, Rosenthal said she lost millions of dollars in real estate sales, including three hotels in Palo Alto, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia, as well as some oil leases in Kentucky and Ohio. He said he had made the investments as part of a long-term strategy and did not intend to sell them until they appreciated in value. Two of the hotels were listed in 1970 for $7 million, but their estimated value in 1986 was $50 million.

Terry Melcher said that his adoptive father's premature death saved the day from financial ruin. Martin Melcher was still deceived, so it is unclear if it was resolved. Day said explicitly that she believed her husband was innocent of any deliberate wrongdoing, and that he "simply trusted the wrong individual." The always fit and healthy Martin Melcher had an enlarged heart, according to Day's autobiography. The bulk of the interviews on Melcher's (and included in Day's autobiography) paint an unflattering portrait of him. Author David Kaufman maintains that one of Day's costars, actor Louis Jourdan, disliked her husband, but that day's public remarks regarding Melcher contradict that statement.

Day had been planned to appear, as well as Patrick Swayze and Marvin Hamlisch, at the 61st Academy Awards in March 1989, but she was unable to attend due to a deep leg injury and was unable to attend. When she cut her leg on a sprinkler, she was strolling through her hotel's gardens. The cut needed stitches.

In 1981, Day was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame, and in 1989, she was named recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement. Day's Greatest Hits album came back to the British charts in 1994. In the soundtrack of the Australian film Strictly Ballroom, she was included in "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps."

Day appeared in interviews and commemorations of her birthday as part of the annual Doris Day music marathon. She appeared on the Southern California radio show of longtime friend and newscaster George Putnam in July 2008.

Because attendance is required in person, the American Film Institute and the Kennedy Center Honors refused a tribute service on Saturday. President George W. Bush named her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 for her work in the entertainment industry and for her advocacy for animals.

President Bush stated:

Columnist Liz Smith and film critic Rex Reed both worked tirelessly to promote an Academy Honorary Award for Day to honor her film career and her fame as the best female box-office actress of all time. The Academy gave her the Honorary Oscar several times in the film industry, but she turned down because she saw the film industry as a part of her past work, according to The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. In 2008, Day received a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in Music, but in absence, he was still in absence.

She received three Grammy Hall of Fame awards in 1998, 1999, and 2012 for her albums "Sentimental Journey," "Secret Love," and "Que Sera Sera." In 2007, Day was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame, and in 2010, the Society of Singers presented the first Legend Award ever given to him.

On September 5, 2011, Day, 89, the first new album to be released in nearly two decades since the debut of The Love Album in 1967 but not released until 1994. Terry Melcher's uncle, Day's son, had previously unreleased recordings before his death in 2004. Tracks include "You Are So Beautiful," the Beach Boys' "Disney Girls," and jazz standards such as "My Buddy," which were originally performed in the film "I'll See You in My Dreams (1951).

After the disc was released in the United States, it quickly soared to No. 1. On Amazon's best sellers list, 12 of them are on the Doris Day Animal League, which also raised funds for the Doris Day Animal League. Day became the first artist to achieve a top-ten in the United Kingdom with an album of new songs.

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association presented Day with a Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2012.

Day made an unexpected public appearance in April 2014 to attend the annual Doris Day Animal Foundation's annual fundraiser. The benefit goes to her Animal Foundation.

Clint Eastwood gave Day a role in a film he was aiming to direct in 2015. Despite being in talks with Eastwood, her neighbor in Carmel, regarding a role in the film, she eventually decided against it.

On her birthday in 2016, ABC was interviewed by a woman with photographs of her life and work.

In a rare interview with The Hollywood Reporter on April 4, 2019, the day after her 97th birthday, Day discussed her work with the Doris Day Animal Foundation, which was established in 1978. Calamity Jane was her favorite film, and she was such a fun character to play." Of course, the music was lovely, as well as 'Secret Love,' which is especially touching.'

In late March, her followers gathered in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, to celebrate her birthday. The benefit for her Animal Foundation was also a fundraiser. Pillow Talk (1959) was the special screening of her film Pillow Talk (1959) during the 2019 festival to celebrate its 60th anniversary. Day reported in the same interview that she "had so much fun" with my pal, Rock. We laughed our way into three films we made together and remained good friends. "I miss him."

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