Doris Day (born Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey" and "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" with Les Brown and His Band of Renown. She left Brown to embark on a solo career and recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967.
Day was born Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff[3] on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio,[4] the daughter of German-American[5][6][7] parents Alma Sophia (née Welz; 1895–1976) and William Joseph Kappelhoff (1892–1967). She was named after actress Doris Kenyon.[8] Her mother was a homemaker, and her father was a music teacher and choirmaster.[9][10] Her paternal grandfather Franz Joseph Wilhelm Kappelhoff immigrated to the United States in 1875 and settled within the large German community in Cincinnati.[6][11] For most of her life, Day stated that she was born in 1924, but on the occasion of her 95th birthday, the Associated Press found her birth certificate that showed a 1922 year of birth.[4]
Day had two older brothers: Richard (1917–1919), who died before her birth, and Paul (1919–1957).[12] Her father's infidelity caused her parents to separate in 1932 when she was 10.[2][13] She developed an early interest in dance, and in the mid-1930s formed a dance duo with Jerry Doherty that performed in nationwide competitions.[14] On October 13, 1937, while Day was riding with friends, their car collided with a freight train, and she broke her right leg, curtailing her prospects as a professional dancer.[15][16][17]
While recovering from her car accident, Day sang along with the radio and discovered her singing talent. She later said: "During this long, boring period, I used to while away a lot of time listening to the radio, sometimes singing along with the likes of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller. But the one radio voice I listened to above others belonged to Ella Fitzgerald. There was a quality to her voice that fascinated me, and I'd sing along with her, trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words."
Day's mother Alma arranged for Doris to receive singing lessons from Grace Raine.[18] After three lessons, Raine told Alma that Day had "tremendous potential" and gave her three lessons per week for the price of one. Years later, Day said that Raine had a greater effect on her singing style and career than had anyone else.[19]
Day at the Aquarium Jazz Club, New York (1946)
During the eight months when she was receiving singing lessons, Day secured her first professional jobs as a vocalist on the WLW radio program Carlin's Carnival and in a local restaurant, Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn.[20] During her radio performances, she first caught the attention of Barney Rapp, who was seeking a female vocalist and asked her to audition for the job. According to Rapp, he had auditioned about 200 other singers.[21]
In 1939, Rapp suggested the stage name Doris Day[22] because the Kappelhoff surname was too long for marquees and he admired her rendition of the song "Day After Day".[23] After working with Rapp, Day worked with bandleaders Jimmy James,[24]Bob Crosby[25] and Les Brown.[26] In 1941, Day appeared as a singer in three Soundies with the Les Brown band.[27]
While singing with the Les Brown band and for nearly two years on Bob Hope's weekly radio program,[16] Day toured extensively across the United States.
Her performance of the song "Embraceable You" impressed songwriter Jule Styne and his partner Sammy Cahn, and they recommended her for a role in Romance on the High Seas (1948). Day was cast for the role after auditioning for director Michael Curtiz.[32][33] She was shocked to receive the offer and admitted to Curtiz that she was a singer without acting experience. but he appreciated her honesty and felt that "her freckles made her look like the All-American Girl."[34]
The film provided her with a No. 2 hit recording as a soloist, "It's Magic", which occurred two months after her first No. 1 hit "Love Somebody", a duet with Buddy Clark.[35] Day recorded "Someone Like You" before the film My Dream Is Yours (1949), which featured the song.[36] In 1950, she collaborated as a singer with the polka musician Frankie Yankovic,[37][38] and the U.S. servicemen in Korea voted her their favorite star.
Her most commercially successful film for Warner Bros. was I'll See You in My Dreams (1951), a musical biography of lyricist Gus Kahn that broke box-office records of 20 years. It was Day's fourth film directed by Curtiz.[41] She appeared as the title character in the comedic western-themed musical Calamity Jane (1953).[42] A song from the film, "Secret Love", won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Day's fourth No. 1 hit single in the United States.[43]
Between 1950 and 1953, the albums from six of her film musicals charted in the Top 10, including three that reached No. 1. After filming Lucky Me (1954) with Bob Cummings and Young at Heart (1955) with Frank Sinatra, Day elected to not renew her contract with Warner Brothers.[44]
During this period, Day also had her own radio program, The Doris Day Show. It was broadcast on CBS in 1952–1953.[45]
Breakthrough (1955–1958)
Cameron Mitchell, Day and James Cagney in a publicity still for Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
Primarily recognized as a musical-comedy actress, Day began to accept more dramatic roles in order to broaden her range. Her dramatic star turn as singer Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me (1955), with top billing above James Cagney, received critical and commercial success, becoming Day's greatest film success to that point.[46] Cagney said that she had "the ability to project the simple, direct statement of a simple, direct idea without cluttering it," comparing her performance to that of Laurette Taylor in the Broadway production The Glass Menagerie (1945).[47] Day felt that it was her best film performance. The film's producer Joe Pasternak said, "I was stunned that Doris did not get an Oscar nomination."[48] The film's soundtrack album became a No. 1 hit.[49][50]
Billboard's annual nationwide poll of disc jockeys had ranked Day as the No. 1 female vocalist nine times in ten years (1949 through 1958), but her success and popularity as a singer was now being overshadowed by her box-office appeal.[56]
Box-office success (1959–1968)
Day in a publicity portrait for Midnight Lace (1960)
Along with David Niven and Janis Paige, Day starred in Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) and with Cary Grant in the comedy That Touch of Mink (1962).[62] During 1960 and the 1962-1964 period, she ranked No. 1 at the box office, the second woman to be No. 1 four times, an accomplishment equaled by no other actress except Shirley Temple.[63] She set a record that has yet to be matched by receiving seven consecutive Laurel Awards as the top female box-office star.[64]
Day's next film Do Not Disturb (1965) was popular with audiences, but her popularity soon waned. By the late 1960s, in the period of the emerging sexual revolution, some critics and comics dubbed Day "The World's Oldest Virgin,"[68][69] and she slipped from the list of top box-office stars, last appearing in the top ten with the hit film The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). Among the roles that she declined was that of Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, a role that eventually went to Anne Bancroft.[70] In her memoirs, Day said that she had rejected the part on moral grounds, finding the script "vulgar and offensive."[71]
From 1959 to 1970, Day received nine Laurel Award nominations (and won four times) for best female performance in eight comedies and one drama. From 1959 through 1969, she received six Golden Globe nominations for best female performance in three comedies, one drama (Midnight Lace), one musical (Jumbo) and her television series.[74]
After her third husband Martin Melcher died on April 20, 1968, Day was shocked to discover that Melcher and his business partner and advisor Jerome Bernard Rosenthal had squandered her earnings, leaving her deeply in debt.[75] Rosenthal had been her attorney since 1949 when he had represented her in her uncontested divorce action against her second husband, saxophonist George W. Weidler. Day filed suit against Rosenthal in February 1969 and won a successful decision in 1974, but she did not receive compensation until a settlement was reached in 1979.[76]
Day also learned to her displeasure that Melcher had committed her to a television series that became The Doris Day Show.
It was awful. I was really, really not very well when Marty [Melcher] passed away, and the thought of going into TV was overpowering. But he'd signed me up for a series. And then my son Terry [Melcher] took me walking in Beverly Hills and explained that it wasn't nearly the end of it. I had also been signed up for a bunch of TV specials, all without anyone ever asking me.
Day hated the idea of performing on television but felt obligated to forge ahead with the series.[73] The first episode of The Doris Day Show aired on September 24, 1968,[77] and featured a rerecorded version of "Que Sera, Sera" as its theme song. Day persevered with the show, needing to work to repay her debts, but only after CBS ceded creative control to her and her son. The show enjoyed a successful five-year run,[78] although it may be best remembered for its abrupt season-to-season changes in casting and premise.[79]
Day with John Denver on the TV special Doris Day Today (CBS, February 19, 1975)[80]
After the end of the television show's run in 1973, Day largely retired from acting but completed two television specials, The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special (1971)[81] and Doris Day Today (1975),[82] and she was a guest on various shows in the 1970s.
In the 1985–86 season, Day hosted her own television talk show, Doris Day's Best Friends, on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN).[78][83] The network canceled the show after 26 episodes despite the worldwide publicity that it had received. One episode featured Rock Hudson, who was showing the first public symptoms of AIDS, including severe weight loss and fatigue. He died from the disease later that year.[84] Day later said, "He was very sick. But I just brushed that off and I came out and put my arms around him and said, 'Am I glad to see you'."[85]
1980s and 1990s
In October 1985, the Supreme Court of California rejected Rosenthal's appeal of the multimillion-dollar judgment awarded to Day in her suit against him for legal malpractice and upheld the conclusions of a trial court and an appeals court[86] that Rosenthal had acted improperly.[87] In April 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the lower court's judgment. In June 1987, Rosenthal filed a $30 million lawsuit against lawyers who he claimed had cheated him out of millions of dollars in real-estate investments. He named Day as a codefendant, describing her as an "unwilling, involuntary plaintiff whose consent cannot be obtained." Rosenthal claimed that much of the money that Day had lost was the result of the unwise advice of other attorneys who had suggested that she sell three hotels at a loss, as well as some oil leases in Kentucky and Ohio.[88] He claimed that he had made the investments under a long-term plan and did not intend to sell them until they appreciated in value. Two of the hotels sold in 1970 for about $7 million, and their estimated worth in 1986 was $50 million.[89]
Terry Melcher stated that his father's premature death saved Day from financial ruin. It was not known whether Martin Melcher had himself been duped by Rosenthal,[90] and Day stated publicly that she believed him to be innocent of any deliberate wrongdoing, stating that he "simply trusted the wrong person."[91] Author David Kaufman asserts that Day's former costar Louis Jourdan, maintained that Day disliked her husband,[92] but Day's public statements regarding Melcher appear to contradict that assertion.[93]
Day was scheduled to present, along with Patrick Swayze and Marvin Hamlisch, the award for Best Original Score Oscar at the 61st Academy Awards in March 1989, but she suffered a deep leg cut from a sprinkler and was unable to attend.[94]
Day was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 1981 and received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement in 1989.[95] In 1994, Day's Greatest Hits album entered the British charts.[72] Her cover of "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" was included in the soundtrack of the Australian film Strictly Ballroom.[96]
2000s
Day participated in celebrations of her birthday with an annual Doris Day music marathon.[97]
In the years since, she has kept her fans and shown the breadth of her talent in television and the movies. She starred on screen with leading men from Jimmy Stewart to Ronald Reagan, from Rock Hudson to James Garner. It was a good day for America when Doris Marianne von Kappelhoff (sic) of Evanston, Ohio decided to become an entertainer. It was a good day for our fellow creatures when she gave her good heart to the cause of animal welfare. Doris Day is one of the greats, and America will always love its sweetheart.[98]
Columnist Liz Smith and film critic Rex Reed mounted vigorous campaigns to gather support for an Academy Honorary Award for Day.[99] According to The Hollywood Reporter, the academy had offered her the honorary Oscar multiple times, but she declined as she saw the film industry as a part of her past life.[100] Day received a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in Music in 2008, albeit again in absentia.[101]
Day received Grammy Hall of Fame Awards in 1998, 1999 and 2012 for her recordings of "Sentimental Journey", "Secret Love" and "Que Sera, Sera", respectively.[102] She was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2007,[103] and in 2010 received the first Legend Award presented by the Society of Singers.[72]
2010s
At the age of 89, Day released My Heart in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2011, her first new album since the 1994 release of The Love Album, which had been recorded in 1967.[104] The album is a compilation of previously unreleased recordings produced by Day's son Terry Melcher. Tracks include the 1970s Joe Cocker hit "You Are So Beautiful", the Beach Boys' "Disney Girls" and jazz standards such as "My Buddy", which Day originally sang in the film I'll See You in My Dreams (1951).[105][106]
In the U.S., the album reached No. 12 on Amazon's bestseller list and helped raise funds for the Doris Day Animal League.[107] Day became the oldest artist to score a UK Top 10 with an album featuring new material.[108]
In April 2014, Day made an unexpected public appearance to attend the annual Doris Day Animal Foundation benefit.[111]
Clint Eastwood offered Day a role in a film that he was planning to direct in 2015,[112] but she eventually declined.[113]
Day granted ABC a telephone interview on her birthday in 2016 that was accompanied by photos of her life and career.[114]
Activism
During the filming of The Man Who Knew Too Much, Day observed the mistreatment of animals in a marketplace scene and was inspired to act against animal abuse. She was so appalled at the conditions with which the animals used in filming were kept that she refused to work unless they received sufficient food and proper care. The production company erected feeding stations for the animals and fed them every day before Day would agree to return to work.
In 1971, she cofounded Actors and Others for Animals and appeared in a series of newspaper advertisements denouncing the wearing of fur along with Mary Tyler Moore, Angie Dickinson and Jayne Meadows.[115]
In 1978, Day founded the Doris Day Pet Foundation, now the Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF).[116] An independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) grant-giving public charity, DDAF funds other nonprofit causes that promote animal welfare.[117]
The Doris Day Horse Rescue and Adoption Center, which helps abused and neglected horses, opened in 2011 in Murchison, Texas on the grounds of an animal sanctuary started by Day's late friend, author Cleveland Amory.[121] Day contributed $250,000 toward the founding of the center.[122]
A posthumous auction of 1,100 of Day's possessions in April 2020 generated $3 million for the Doris Day Animal Foundation.[123]
Doris Day actively engaged in HIV/AIDS awareness for many years. Her commitment was primarily focused on raising awareness and fundraising for HIV/AIDS research. She co-organized several fundraising events for HIV/AIDS-related charities and provided financial contributions to research and support programs for individuals affected by the disease. In 2011, the Canadian magazine Gay Globe paid tribute to Doris Day by featuring her on the cover of their #79 edition.[124]
Day was married four times.[128] From April 1941 to February 1943, she was married to trombonist Al Jorden (1917–1967), whom she met in Barney Rapp's band.[129] Jorden was violent, had schizophrenia, and died by suicide years after their divorce. When Day became pregnant and refused to have an abortion, he beat her in an attempt to force a miscarriage. Their son was born Terrence Paul Jorden in 1942, and he adopted the surname of Melcher when he was adopted by Day's third husband.
Her second marriage was to George William Weidler (1926–1989), a saxophonist and brother of actress Virginia Weidler, from March 30, 1946, to May 31, 1949.[129] Weidler and Day met again several years later during a brief reconciliation and he introduced her to Christian Science.[130]
Day married American film producer Martin Melcher (1915–1968), who produced many of her films, on April 3, 1951, her 29th birthday, and the marriage lasted until he died in April 1968.[129] Melcher adopted Day's son Terry.[131] As Day and Melcher were both Christian Scientists, she refused to visit a doctor for some time after experiencing symptoms that might have suggested cancer.[132] 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 practice.[133]
Day's fourth marriage was to Barry Comden (1935–2009) from April 14, 1976, until April 2, 1982.[134] He was the maître d'hôtel at one of Day's favorite restaurants. He knew of her great love of dogs and endeared himself to her by giving her a bag of meat scraps and bones as she left the restaurant. He later complained that Day cared more for her "animal friends" than for him.[134]
In a rare interview with The Hollywood Reporter on April 4, 2019, the day after her 97th birthday, Day talked about her work on the Doris Day Animal Foundation, founded in 1978. Asked to name the favorite of her films, she answered with Calamity Jane: "I was such a tomboy growing up, and she was such a fun character to play. Of course, the music was wonderful, too—'Secret Love,' especially, is such a beautiful song."[138]
To commemorate her birthday, Day's fans gathered in late March each year for a three-day party in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. The event was also a fundraiser for her animal foundation. During the 2019 event, there was a special screening of her film Pillow Talk (1959) to celebrate its 60th anniversary. Speaking about the film, Day stated that she "had such fun working with my pal, Rock. We laughed our way through three films we made together and remained great friends. I miss him."[138]
Death
Day died of pneumonia at her home in Carmel Valley, California, on May 13, 2019, at the age of 97. Her death was announced by the Doris Day Animal Foundation.[139][140][141] As requested by Day, the foundation announced that there would be no funeral services, grave marker or other public memorials.[142][143][144]
^ abElber, Lynn (April 2, 2017). "Birthday surprise for ageless Doris Day: She's actually 95". Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 4, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2017. A copy of Day's birth certificate, obtained by The Associated Press from Ohio's Office of Vital Statistics, settles the issue: Doris Mary Kappelhoff, her pre-fame name, was born on April 3, 1922, making her 95. Her parents were Alma and William Kappelhoff of Cincinnati.
^"Ancestry.com". Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Born 1922: age on April 10, 1940, in Hamilton County, Ohio, 91–346 (enumeration district), 2552 Warsaw Avenue, was 18 years old as per 1940 United States Census records; name transcribed incorrectly as "Daris Kappelhoff", included with mother Alma and brother Paul, all with same surname. (registration required; initial 14-day free pass)
^Kaufman, David (May 2008). "Doris Day's Vanishing Act". Vanity Fair. Retrieved January 17, 2014. Both Doris and I hated the director [Andrew L. Stone]. I also disliked her husband, and I was surprised to discover she did, too.
^Smith, Liz (November 27, 2011). "Let's Give Doris Day An Award". ThirdAge. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2013. When, oh when, will Doris receive her long-overdue honorary Academy Award?
Barothy, Mary Anne (2007), Day at a Time: An Indiana Girl's Sentimental Journey to Doris Day's Hollywood and Beyond. Hawthorne Publishing, ISBN9780978716738
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