Doris Day (bornDoris Mary Anne Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. With an entertainment career that spanned nearly 50 years, Day was one of the most popular and acclaimed female singers of the 1940s and 1950s, with a parallel career as a leading actress inHollywood films, where she became one of the biggest box-office stars of the 1960s. She was known for her on-screengirl next door image and her distinctive singing voice.
Day was born Doris Mary Kappelhoff[4] on April 3, 1922, inCincinnati, Ohio,[5] the daughter ofGerman-American[6][7][8] parents Alma Sophia (née Welz; 1895–1976) and William Joseph Kappelhoff (1892–1967). She was named after actressDoris Kenyon.[9] Her mother was ahomemaker, and her father was a music teacher andchoirmaster.[10][11] Her paternal grandfather Franz Joseph Wilhelm Kappelhoff immigrated to the United States in 1875 and settled within the large German community in Cincinnati.[7][12] For most of her life, Day stated that she was born in 1924, but on the occasion of her 95th birthday, theAssociated Press found her birth certificate that showed a 1922 year of birth.[5]
Day had two older brothers: Richard (1917–1919), who died before her birth, and Paul (1919–1957).[13] Her father's infidelity caused her parents to separate in 1932 when she was 10.[2][14] She developed an early interest in dance, and in the mid-1930s formed a dance duo with Jerry Doherty that performed in nationwide competitions.[15] She had signed a contract with a casting company to be a dancer and she was preparing to move to Los Angeles to pursue this opportunity. Family friends that lived just north of Cincinnati, in Hamilton, Ohio, planned a going-away party for her, but tragedy struck on her way to the party.[16] 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.[17][18][19]
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 ofBenny Goodman,Duke Ellington,Tommy Dorsey, andGlenn Miller. But the one radio voice I listened to above others belonged toElla 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.[20] 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.[21]
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 theWLW radio programCarlin's Carnival and in a local restaurant, Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn.[22] During her radio performances, she first caught the attention ofBarney 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.[23]
In 1939, Rapp suggested the stage name Doris Day[24] because the Kappelhoff surname was too long formarquees and he admired her rendition of the song "Day After Day".[25] While working with Rapp, she sang for his band, the New Englanders, and was paid $50 per day; her manager stole half.[26]
After working with Rapp, Day worked with bandleaders Jimmy James,[27]Bob Crosby[28] andLes Brown.[29] In 1941, Day appeared as a singer in threeSoundies with the Les Brown band.[30]
While singing with the Les Brown band and for nearly two years onBob Hope's weekly radio program,[18] Day toured extensively across the United States as the era of big bands had given way to solo pop singers.
Her performance of the song "Embraceable You" impressed songwriterJule Styne and his partnerSammy Cahn, and they recommended her for a role inRomance on the High Seas (1948). Day was cast for the role after auditioning for directorMichael Curtiz.[35][36] 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 "herfreckles made her look like the All-American Girl."[37]
The film provided her with a No. 2 hit recording as a soloist, "It's Magic", which occurred two months after her hit "Love Somebody", a duet withBuddy Clark and they would have another hit shortly after that with a cover of Patti Page's "Confess."[38] Her first solo hit was "Sentimental Journey" in 1945. Day recorded "Someone Like You" before the filmMy Dream Is Yours (1949), which featured the song.[39] In 1950, she collaborated as a singer with thepolka musicianFrankie Yankovic,[40][41] and the U.S. servicemen in Korea voted her their favorite star.
Her heyday as a hitmaker was from 1948 to 1951 when she placed 15 songs on the Billboard Hot 30 list and was one of the top female pop vocalists, competing with rivals such asDinah Shore,Jo Stafford, andPatti Page.
Her most commercially successful film for Warner Bros. wasI'll See You in My Dreams (1951), a musical biography of lyricistGus Kahn that broke box-office records of 20 years. It was Day's fourth film directed by Curtiz.[44] She appeared as the title character in the comedic western-themed musicalCalamity Jane (1953).[45] A song from the film, "Secret Love", won theAcademy Award for Best Original Song and became Day's fourth No. 1 hit single in the United States.[46]
Between 1950 and 1953, the albums from six of her film musicals charted in the Top 10, including three that reached No. 1. After filmingLucky Me (1954) withBob Cummings andYoung at Heart (1955) withFrank Sinatra, Day elected to not renew her contract with Warner Brothers.[47]
During this period, Day also had her own radio program,The Doris Day Show. It was broadcast on CBS in 1952–1953.[48]
Cameron Mitchell, Day and James Cagney in a publicity still forLove 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 singerRuth Etting inLove Me or Leave Me (1955), with top billing aboveJames Cagney, received critical and commercial success, becoming Day's greatest film success to that point.[49] 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 ofLaurette Taylor in the Broadway productionThe Glass Menagerie (1945).[50] Day felt that it was her best film performance. The film's producerJoe Pasternak said, "I was stunned that Doris did not get an Oscar nomination."[51] The film's soundtrack album became a No. 1 hit.[52][53]
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. However, Day still had several more major hits over the '50s, including "Secret Love", "I'll Never Stop Loving You", and "Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be Will Be)" despite rock-and-roll reducing interest in older singers. The last charting single she had was "Lover Come Back" in 1962.[59]
Day's next filmDo Not Disturb (1965) did fairly well at the box office, but not enough to recoup its costs, and her popularity started to wane. By the late 1960s, in the midst of theSexual Revolution, critics and comics dubbed her The World's Oldest Virgin.[71][72] She slipped from the list of top box-office stars, last appearing in the top ten withThe Glass Bottom Boat (1966). Among the roles she declined was that of Mrs. Robinson inThe Graduate, a role that eventually went toAnne Bancroft.[73] In her memoirs, Day wrote that she rejected the part on moral grounds, finding the script "vulgar and offensive."[74]
In another sign of the times, Day was dropped from Columbia Records in 1965 when the label dismissed long-running pop division headMitch Miller and hired new, young, rock-focused management, ending her active career as a recording artist.
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 sixGolden Globe nominations for best female performance in three comedies, one drama (Midnight Lace), one musical (Jumbo) and her television series.[77]
After her third husbandMartin 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.[78] Rosenthal had been her attorney since 1949 when he represented her in her uncontested divorce action against her second husband,George W. Weidler. Day filed suit against Rosenthal in 1969 and won in 1974, but did not receive compensation until a settlement was reached in 1979.[79]
Day also learned to her displeasure that Melcher had committed her to a television series that becameThe 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 inBeverly 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 obliged to forge ahead with the series.[76] The first episode ofThe Doris Day Show aired on September 24, 1968,[81] 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 afterCBS ceded creative control to her and her son. The show enjoyed a successful five-year run,[82] although it may be best remembered for its abrupt season-to-season changes in casting and premise.[83]
Day withJohn Denver on the TV specialDoris Day Today (CBS, February 19, 1975)[84]
Day also completed two television specials,The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special (1971)[85] andDoris Day Today (1975),[84] and guested on various shows in the 1970s. In 1985 she recorded new songs, which were released in 2011 asMy Heart.
In the 1985–86 season, Day hosted her own television talk show,Doris Day's Best Friends, on theChristian Broadcasting Network (CBN).[82][86] The channel cancelled the show after 26 episodes despite the worldwide publicity that it had received due to an appearance byRock Hudson, who was showing the first public symptoms ofAIDS, including severe weight loss and fatigue. He died from the disease later that year.[87] 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'."[88]
In October 1985, theSupreme Court of California rejected Rosenthal's appeal of the multimillion-dollar judgment awarded to Day in her suit against him forlegal malpractice and upheld the conclusions of a trial court and an appeals court[89] that Rosenthal had acted improperly.[90] 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 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 lost was the result of unwise advice of other attorneys who suggested she sell three hotels at a loss, as well as oil leases inKentucky andOhio.[91] He claimed to have made the investments under a long-term plan and did not intend to sell until they appreciated in value. Two of the hotels sold in 1970 for $7 million, and their estimated worth by 1986 was $50 million.[92]
Terry Melcher stated that his father's premature death saved Day from financial ruin. It was not known whether Martin Melcher was duped by Rosenthal,[93] and Day stated publicly that she believed him innocent of any deliberate wrongdoing, in that he "simply trusted the wrong person."[94] According to author David Kaufman, Day's former costarLouis Jourdan maintained that Day disliked her husband,[95] although Day's public statements suggest otherwise.[96]
Day was scheduled to present, along withPatrick Swayze andMarvin Hamlisch, the award for Best Original Score Oscar at the61st Academy Awards in March 1989, but suffered a deep leg cut from a sprinkler and was unable to attend.[97]
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.[98] In 1994, Day'sGreatest Hits album entered the British charts.[75] Her cover of "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" was included in the soundtrack ofStrictly Ballroom.[99]
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.[101]
ColumnistLiz Smith and film criticRex Reed mounted vigorous campaigns to gather support for anAcademy Honorary Award for Day.[102] According toThe 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.[103] Day received aGrammy for Lifetime Achievement in Music in 2008, albeit again in absentia.[104]
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.[105] She was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2007,[106] and in 2010 received the first Legend Award presented by the Society of Singers.[75]
At the age of 89, Day releasedMy Heart in 2011, her first new album since the 1994 release ofThe Love Album, which was recorded in 1967.[107] The album is a compilation of previously unreleased recordings produced by Day's son Terry Melcher. Tracks include the 1970sJoe Cocker hit "You Are So Beautiful",the Beach Boys' "Disney Girls" and jazz standards such as "My Buddy", which Day originally sang in the filmI'll See You in My Dreams (1951).[108][109]
In the U.S., the album reached No. 12 onAmazon's bestseller list and helped raise funds for theDoris Day Animal League.[110] Day became the oldest artist to score a UK Top 10 with an album featuring new material.[111]
During the filming ofThe 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 withMary Tyler Moore,Angie Dickinson andJayne Meadows.[118]
In 1978, Day founded the Doris Day Pet Foundation, now the Doris Day Animal Foundation (DDAF).[119] An independent nonprofit501(c)(3) grant-giving public charity, DDAF funds other nonprofit causes that promote animal welfare.[120]
The Doris Day Horse Rescue and Adoption Center, which helps abused and neglected horses, opened in 2011 inMurchison, Texas on the grounds of an animal sanctuary started by Day's late friend, authorCleveland Amory.[124] Day contributed $250,000 toward the founding of the center.[125]
A posthumous auction of 1,100 of Day's possessions in April 2020 generated $3 million for the Doris Day Animal Foundation.[126]
Day actively engaged inHIV/AIDS awareness for many years.[127] 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 magazineGay Globe paid tribute to Day by featuring her on the cover of their #79 edition.[128]
Day was married four times.[3] From April 1941 to February 1943, she was married to trombonist Al Jorden (1917–1967), whom she met in Barney Rapp's band.[132] 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 toGeorge William Weidler (1926–1989), a saxophonist and brother of actressVirginia Weidler, from March 30, 1946, to May 31, 1949.[132] Weidler and Day met again several years later during a brief reconciliation and he introduced her toChristian Science.[133]
Day married American film producerMartin 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.[132] Melcher adopted Day's son Terry.[134] 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.[135] Following Melcher's death, Day separated from theChurch of Christ, Scientist and grew close to charismatic Protestants such asKathryn Kuhlman, although she never lost interest in Christian Science teaching and practice.[136]
Day's fourth marriage was to Barry Comden (1935–2009) from April 14, 1976, until April 2, 1982.[137] He was themaître 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.[137]
In a rare interview withThe 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 withCalamity 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."[141]
To commemorate her birthday, Day's fans gathered in late March each year for a three-day party inCarmel-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 filmPillow 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."[141]
Day died ofpneumonia 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.[142][143][144] As requested by Day, the foundation announced that there would be no funeral services, grave marker or other public memorials.[145][146][147]
^abElber, Lynn (April 2, 2017)."Birthday surprise for ageless Doris Day: She's actually 95".Associated Press. Archived fromthe original on April 4, 2017. RetrievedApril 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 fromthe 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. RetrievedJanuary 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 fromthe original on November 12, 2013. RetrievedAugust 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
.png)
