Doris Day

For other people named Doris Day, see Doris Day (disambiguation).

Doris Day
Day in a studio publicity portrait for 1960 film Midnight Lace
Born	Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff April 3, 1924 (1924-04-03) (age 87) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, singer, animal rights activist
Years active	1939–75, 1985–86, 2011-Present
Spouse	Al Jorden (1941–43, divorced) George Weidler (1946–49, divorced) Martin Melcher (1951–68, his death) Barry Comden (1976–81, divorced)
Children	Terry Melcher (deceased)
Website
dorisday.com (Official Site) ddaf.org (Doris Day Animal Foundation)

Doris Day (born Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff; April 3, 1924)^[1][2] is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording, "Sentimental Journey", in 1945. After leaving the Les Brown & His Band of Renown to try a solo career, she started her long-lasting partnership with Columbia Records, which would remain her only recording label. The contract lasted from 1947 to 1967, and included more than 650 recordings, making Day one of the most popular singers of the 20th century. In 1948, after being persuaded by Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne and her agent at the time, Al Levy, she auditioned for Michael Curtiz, which led to the lead in Romance on the High Seas, her first film with close friend, Jack Carson. ^[3]

With a legendary Hollywood "girl-next-door" image and capable of delivering comedy, romance as well as heavy drama, she appeared in 39 films, released 29 albums and spent 460 weeks in the Top 40 charts^[4]. She received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Pillow Talk, won a Golden Globe, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Legend Award from the Society of Singers, and, in 1989, received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.

Day's strong commitment to animal rights began in 1971, when she co-founded the "Actors and Others for Animals". In the late 70's, she started her own non-profit organization, the Doris Day Animal Foundation and, later, the Doris Day Animal League.^[5] Establishing the annual observance Spay Day USA in 1994, The Doris Day Animal League now partners with the Humane Society of the United States and continues to be a leading advocacy organization. In 2004, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in recognition of her distinguished service to the country. President Bush recognized Miss Day's work on behalf of animals by saying, "It was a good day for our fellow creatures when she gave her good heart to the cause of animal welfare."^[6]

Day was ranked the biggest box-office star for four years (1960; 1962–1964) and ranked in the top ten for ten years (1951–1952; 1959–1966). She became the top-ranking female box-office star of all time and ranked sixth among the top ten box-office performers (male and female), as of 2009.^[7][8]

Early life

Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff was born in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Evanston to Alma Sophia Welz (a housewife) and William Kappelhoff (a music teacher and choir master). All of her grandparents were German immigrants.^[9] In Doris Day: Her Own Story she states, "I was named by my mother in honor of her favorite actress, Doris Kenyon, a silent screen star of that year 1924." Her biographer, Pianist Jim Martinez, who organized her 87th birthday party in her home town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, at Day's hotel, the Cypress Inn, states that according to Doris Day's current assistant, when Day was a teenager, she added two years to her age so she would be old enough to sing with big bands.^[10] The youngest of three children, she had two brothers: Richard, who died before her birth, and Paul, a few years older.^[11]

Her parents' marriage failed, owing to her father's reported infidelity. Practicing Roman Catholics, her parents divorced despite doctrine. After her second marriage, Day became a Christian Scientist. She married four times.

She developed an early interest in dance, and in the mid-1930s formed a dance duo with Jerry Doherty that performed locally in Cincinnati. A car accident on October 13, 1937, damaged her legs and curtailed her prospects as a professional dancer.^[12]

Career

Early career

While recovering, Day started to sing along with the radio and discovered a talent that she didn't know she had. Day 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."^[13] Observing her daughters, rekindled Alma's interest in show business, and she decided to give Doris singing lessons. She engaged a teacher, Grace Raine.^[14] After three lessons, Raine told Alma that Day had a "tremendous potential", which led her to give Day three lessons a week for the price of one. Years later, Day said that Raine had the biggest effect on her singing style and career.^[15] During the eight months of singing lessons, Day had her first professional jobs as a vocalist in the WLW radio program, Carlin's Carnival and in a local restaurant, the Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn.^[16] It was during her performances in Carlin's Carnival that Day first caught the attention of Barney Rapp, who sought a girl vocalist and asked if Day would like to audition for the job. According to Day, Rapp had auditioned two hundred vocalists when she got the job.^[17] It was while working for Rapp in 1939 that she adopted the stage name "Day" as an alternative to "Kappelhoff," at his suggestion. Rapp felt her surname was too long for marquees. The first song she had performed for him was "Day After Day", thus the origin of her stage name.^[18]

After working with Rapp, Day worked with a number of other band-leaders including Jimmy James,^[19] Bob Crosby, and Les Brown. It was while working with Brown that Day scored her first hit recording, "Sentimental Journey", released in early 1945. It soon became an anthem of the desire of World War II demobilizing troops to return home. This song is still associated with Day, and she re-recorded it on several occasions, including a version in her 1971 television special.^[20] Her recording of "Sentimental Journey" was the first song placed in the Grammy Hall of Fame. At one point in 1945–46, Doris (as vocalist with the Les Brown Band) had five Top Ten Hits on the Billboard Hall of Fame. These included: "My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time", "Till The End of Time", "Come To Baby Do", and "I Got the Sun in the Mornin'".

Film career

Main article: Doris Day filmography

With Gordon MacRae in Starlift

Doris Day and Howard Keel, Calamity Jane

While singing with the Les Brown band and briefly with Bob Hope, Day toured extensively across the United States. Her popularity as a radio performer and vocalist, which included a second hit record "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time", led directly to a career in films. Already in 1941 Day appeared as a singer with the Les Brown band in a soundie (a Cinemasters production). After her separation from her second husband, George Weidler, in 1948, Day reportedly intended to leave Los Angeles and return to her mother's home in Cincinnati. Her agent Al Levy convinced her to attend a party at the home of composer Jule Styne. Her performance of the song "Embraceable You" impressed Styne and his partner, Sammy Cahn and they recommended her for a role in Romance on the High Seas, which they were working on for Warner Brothers. The withdrawal of Betty Hutton due to pregnancy left the main role to be re-cast, and Day got the part. The film provided her with another hit recording "It's Magic."

In 1950 U.S. servicemen in Korea voted her their favorite star. She continued to make minor and frequently nostalgic period musicals such as Starlift, The West Point Story, On Moonlight Bay, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, and Tea For Two for Warner Brothers. In 1953 Day appeared as Calamity Jane, giving an extraordinary singing and acting performance, and winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Secret Love" (her recording of which became her fourth U.S. No. 1 recording).

After filming Young at Heart (1954) with Frank Sinatra, Day chose not to renew her contract with Warner Brothers. She elected to work under the advice and management of her third husband, Marty Melcher, whom she married in Burbank on April 3, 1951. Day had divorced saxophonist-songwriter George W. Weidler (born September 11, 1917 – died July 26, 1995) on May 31, 1949 in Los Angeles in an uncontested divorce action after marrying him on March 30, 1946 in Mount Vernon, New York, separating in April 1947 and filing for divorce in June 1948.

Love Me or Leave Me

Day subsequently took on more dramatic roles, including her 1954 portrayal of singer Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me. Day would later call it, in her autobiography, her best film. She starred in The Pajama Game in 1957 with John Raitt, Carol Haney & Eddie Foy Jr. She also starred alongside top actors Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Cary Grant, David Niven, and Clark Gable.

In Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Day sang "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and became her signature song. According to Jay Livingston, who wrote the song with Ray Evans, Day preferred another song used briefly in the film, "We'll Love Again" and skipped the recording for "Que Sera, Sera". At the studio's insistence she relented. After recording the number, she reportedly told a friend of Livingston, "That's the last time you'll ever hear that song". However, the song appeared again in Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960), and reprised as a brief duet with Arthur Godfrey in The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). "Que Sera, Sera" was also the theme song for her CBS television show (1968–73). The Man Who Knew Too Much was her only film for Hitchcock and, as she admitted in her 1975 autobiography, initially his lack of direction concerned her. She finally asked if anything was wrong and Hitchcock said everything was fine — if she weren't doing what he wanted, he would have said something.^[21]

She had one more Top Ten hit with "Everybody Loves a Lover" in 1958.

Box office success

Main article: Doris Day filmography

In 1959, Day entered her most successful phase as a film actress with a series of romantic comedies, starting with Pillow Talk, Co-starring Rock Hudson, who became a lifelong friend. Day received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Day and Hudson made two more films together, Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964). Day also teamed up with James Garner, starting with 1963's The Thrill of It All, followed later that year by Move Over, Darling. Move Over, Darling was originally entitled Something's Got to Give, a 1962 comeback vehicle for Marilyn Monroe and featuring Dean Martin. Filming suspended following the firing of Monroe and her subsequent death. A year later, filming resumed, renamed and recast with Day as the lead character.

By the late 1960s, the sexual revolution of the baby boomer generation had refocused public attitudes about sex. Times changed, but Day's films did not. Critics and comics dubbed Day "the world's oldest virgin",^[22] and audiences began to shy away from her films. As a result, she slipped from the list of top box office stars, last appearing in the Top 10 in 1966 with the hit film The Glass Bottom Boat.

One of the roles she turned down was that of the iconic Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate,^[23] a role that eventually went to Anne Bancroft. In her published memoirs, Day said that she had rejected the part on moral grounds. Her final feature film, With Six You Get Eggroll, released in 1968.

Recording success

Main article: Doris Day discography

Day's last major hit single came in the UK in 1964 with "Move Over, Darling", co-written by her son specifically for her. The recording was a notable departure for Day, with its distinctly contemporary-sounding arrangement. In 1967, Day recorded her last album, The Love Album, essentially concluding her recording career, though not released until 1994.^[24]

Bankruptcy and television career

1960s

When third husband Marty Melcher died April 20, 1968, a shocked Day discovered that her husband of 17 years and his business partner Jerome Bernard Rosenthal^[25] had squandered her earnings, leaving her deeply in debt. Rosenthal had been her attorney since the late 1940s, and he represented her on May 31, 1949, in her uncontested divorce action against her second husband, songwriter George W. Weidler. In February 1969, Day filed suit against Rosenthal and won the then-largest civil judgment (over $20 million) until that time in the state of California.^[26]

1970s

On September 18, 1974, courts awarded Day $22,835,646 for fraud and malpractice in an hour-long oral decision by Superior Judge Lester E. Olson, ending a 99-day trial that involved 18 consolidated lawsuits and countersuits filed by Day and Rosenthal that involved Rosenthal's handling of her finances after she terminated him in July 1968. The civil trial included 14,451 pages of transcript from 67 witnesses. Represented by attorney Robert Winslow and the law firm of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP, courts awarded Day $1 million punitive damages, $5.6 million plus $2 million interest for losses incurred in a sham oil venture; $3.4 million plus $1.2 million interest over a hotel venture; $2.2 million plus $793,800 interest for duplicate or unnecessary fees paid to Rosenthal; more than $2 million to recoup loans to Rosenthal; $3.9 million plus $1 million interest for fraud, and $850,000 attorney fees for Day. Olson also enjoined Rosenthal from prosecuting any more lawsuits against Day or her business operations. (Rosenthal had filed more than 20 suits from 1969 to 1974). Olson, an expert in complex financial marital settlements, read every page of 3,275 individual exhibits and 68 boxes of miscellaneous financial records.^{[citation needed]}

In October 1979, Rosenthal's liability insurer settled with Day for about $6 million payable in 23 annual installments. Rosenthal continued to file an appeal in the 2nd District Court of Appeal. He also filed another half-dozen suits related to the case. Two were libel suits, one against Day and her publishers over comments she made about Rosenthal in her book in which he sought damages. The other suits sought court determinations that insurance companies and individual lawyers failed to defend Rosenthal properly before Olson and in appellate stages. In April 1979, he filed a suit to set aside the $6 million settlement with Day and recover damages from everybody involved in agreeing to the payment supposedly without his permission.^{[citation needed]}

1980s

In October 1985, the state Supreme Court rejected Rosenthal's appeal of the multimillion-dollar judgment against him for legal malpractice, and upheld conclusions of a trial court and a Court of Appeal that Rosenthal acted improperly. 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 he claimed cheated him out of millions of dollars in real estate investments. He also named Day as a co-defendant, describing her as an "unwilling, involuntary plaintiff whose consent cannot be obtained".^{[clarification needed]} Rosenthal claimed that millions of dollars Day lost were in real estate sold after Melcher died in 1968, in which Rosenthal asserted that the attorneys gave Day bad advice, telling her to sell, at a loss, three hotels, in Palo Alto, Dallas and Atlanta and some oil leases in Kentucky and Ohio. Rosenthal claimed 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. In July 1984, after a hearing panel of the State Bar Court, after 80 days of testimony and consideration of documentary evidence, the panel accused Rosenthal of 13 separate acts of misconduct and urged his disbarment in a 34-page unsigned opinion. The State Bar Court's review department upheld the panel's findings, which asked the justices to order Rosenthal's disbarment. He continued representing clients in federal courts until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against him on March 21, 1988. Disbarment by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals followed on August 19, 1988.^{[citation needed]}

The Supreme Court of California, in affirming the disbarment, held that Rosenthal engaged in transactions involving undisclosed conflicts of interest, took positions adverse to his former clients, overstated expenses, double-billed for legal fees, failed to return client files, failed to provide access to records, failed to give adequate legal advice, failed to provide clients with an opportunity to obtain independent counsel, filed fraudulent claims, gave false testimony, engaged in conduct designed to harass his clients, delayed court proceedings, obstructed justice and abused legal process. Terry Melcher stated that it was only Martin Melcher's premature death that saved Day from financial ruin. It remains unresolved whether Martin Melcher was himself duped. Day stated publicly that she believed her husband innocent of any deliberate wrongdoing, stating that he "simply trusted the wrong person".^[27] According to Day's autobiography, as told to A. E. Hotchner, the usually athletic and healthy Martin Melcher had an enlarged heart. Most of the interviews on the subject given to Hotchner (and included in Day's autobiography) paint an unflattering portrait of Melcher. Author David Kaufman asserts that one of Day's costars, actor Louis Jourdan, maintained that Day herself disliked her husband,^[28] but Day's public statements regarding Melcher appear to contradict that assertion.^[29]

The Doris Day Show

Upon her husband's death on April 20, 1968, Day learned that he had committed her to a television series, which became The Doris Day Show.

"It was awful", Day told OK! Magazine in 1996. "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 doing television, but felt obligated. "There was a contract. I didn't know about it. I never wanted to do TV, but I gave it 100 percent anyway. That's the only way I know how to do it." The first episode of The Doris Day Show aired on September 24, 1968, and, from 1968 to 1973, employed "Que Sera, Sera" as its theme song. Day grudgingly persevered (she needed the work to help pay off her debts), but only after CBS ceded creative control to her and her son.

The successful show enjoyed a five-year run, and functioned as a curtain-raiser for The Carol Burnett Show, remembered today for its abrupt season-to-season changes in casting and premise. It was not widely syndicated as many of its contemporaries, and re-broadcast very little outside the United States and the United Kingdom.^[30] By the end of its run in 1973, public tastes had changed and her firmly established persona regarded as passé. She largely retired from acting after The Doris Day Show, but did complete two television specials, The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special (1971) and Doris Day to Day (1975). She appeared in a John Denver TV special in 1974.^[24]

1990s and renewal of interest

A Greatest Hits CD released in 1994 became another entry into the British charts, ^[24] The song "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" included in the soundtrack of the Australian film Strictly Ballroom, and a theme song for the British TV show "Coupling". Mari Wilson performed the song "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" for the title sequence.

2000s

In 2006, Day recorded a commentary for the DVD release of the fifth (and final) season of her TV show. Recently Day has participated in telephone interviews with a radio station that celebrates her birthday with an annual Doris Day music marathon.^{[citation needed]} In July 2008 she appeared on the Southern California radio show of longtime friend, newscaster George Putnam, reported in the Los Angeles Times.

While Day turned down a tribute offer from the American Film Institute,^{[citation needed]} she received and accepted the Golden Globe's Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in 1989. In 2004, Day received the Presidential Medal of Freedom but declined to attend the ceremony because of her fear of flying. Day did not accept an invitation to be a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors for the same reason.^[24]

Both columnist Liz Smith and film critic Rex Reed have mounted vigorous campaigns to gather support for an honorary Academy Award for Day to herald her film career and her status as the top female box-office star of all time.^{[citation needed]} Honored in absentia, Day also received a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in Music in February 2008.

2010s

Day released My Heart in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2011, her first new album in nearly two decades.^[31] The album is a compilation of previously unreleased recordings produced by Day's son, Terry Melcher, prior to his death in 2004. 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 her 1951 film I'll See You in My Dreams. Day dedicates this song to her son.

She has become the oldest artist to score a UK Top 10 with an album featuring new material, according to the Official Charts Company, entering at Number 9. British singer Vera Lynn reached the top of the chart in August 2009 at the age of 92, but that was with the greatest hits album We'll Meet Again – The Very Best of Vera Lynn.^[32]

Personal life

In 1975, Day released her autobiography, Doris Day: Her Own Story, an "as-told-to" work with A. E. Hotchner. The book detailed her first three marriages:

• To Al Jorden, a trombonist whom she first met when he was in Barney Rapp's Band, from March 1941 to 1943. Her only child, son Terry Melcher, resulted from this marriage. Jorden, who was reportedly physically abusive to Day, committed suicide in 1967 by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
• To George Weidler (a saxophonist), from March 30, 1946 to May 31, 1949. Weidler, the brother of actress Virginia Weidler, and Day met again several years later. During a brief reconciliation, he helped her become involved in Christian Science.
• To Martin Melcher, whom she married on April 3, 1951. This marriage lasted far longer than her first two. Melcher adopted Terry (thus renaming the boy Terry Melcher), and produced many of Day's movies. Melcher, a practicing Christian Scientist, drew Doris further into it, resulting in her not seeing a doctor for some time after symptoms which suggested cancer. This distressing period ended when finally consulting a physician and, finding the lump was benign, she fully recovered. After publishing her autobiography, Day married one last time.
• Her fourth and last marriage was to Barry Comden, who was roughly a decade younger, from April 14, 1976 until 1981. Comden was the maitre d' at one of Day's favorite restaurants. Knowing of her great love of dogs, Comden endeared himself to Day by giving her a bag of meat scraps and bones on her way out of the restaurant. When this marriage unraveled, Comden complained that Day cared more for her "animal friends" than she did for him. Comden died on May 25, 2009, aged 74.

While promoting the book, Day caused a stir by rejecting the "girl next door" and "virgin" labels so often attached to her. As she remarked in her book, "The succession of cheerful, period musicals I made, plus Oscar Levant's highly publicized comment about my virginity ('I knew Doris Day before she became a virgin.') contributed to what has been called my 'image', which is a word that baffles me. There never was any intent on my part either in my acting or in my private life to create any such thing as an image." Day said she believed people should live together prior to marriage, something that she would do if the opportunity arose. At the conclusion of this book tour, Day seemed content to focus on her charity and pet work and her business interests. (In 1985, she became part-owner with her son of the Cypress Inn in Carmel, California.)

In May 1983, she became a grandmother. In 1985 she briefly hosted her own talk show, Doris Day's Best Friends on CBN. The network canceled the show after 26 episodes, despite the worldwide publicity her show received. Terry Melcher first made a brief attempt to become a surf music singing star, then became a staff producer for Columbia Records in the 1960s, and was famous for producing some latter-day recordings by The Beach Boys and The Byrds. In November 2004, he died from complications of melanoma, aged 62.

Day is a committed Republican.^[33]

Animal welfare activism

Day's interest in animal welfare and related issues apparently dates to her teen years. While recovering from an automobile accident, she took her dog Tiny for a walk without a leash. Tiny ran into the street and was killed by a passing car. Day later confessed guilt and loneliness. In 1971, she co-founded Actors and Others for Animals and appeared in a series of newspaper advertisements denouncing the wearing of fur, alongside Mary Tyler Moore, Angie Dickinson, and Jayne Meadows.^[34] Day's friend, Cleveland Amory, wrote about these events in Man Kind? Our Incredible War on Wildlife (1974).

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Day promoted the annual Spay Day USA, and on a number of occasions, actively lobbied the United States Congress in support of legislation designed to safeguard animal rights. She also founded The Doris Day Animal League, which merged into The Humane Society of the United States in 2006.^[35] Staff members of the Doris Day League took positions within The HSUS, and Day recorded public service announcements for the organization. The HSUS now manages Spay Day USA, the one-day spay/neuter event she originated.^[36]

A facility to help abused and neglected horses opened in 2011 and bears her name: the Doris Day Horse Rescue and Adoption Center, located in Murchison, Texas, on the grounds of an animal sanctuary started by her late friend, author Cleveland Amory. Day contributed $250,000 toward the founding of the center.^[37]

Recent years

Day now lives near Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.^[38] In 2011, Day released "My Heart," her first album of new material since 1967's The Love Album. With its debut at No. 9 on the U.K. Billboard charts, Day made history, becoming the oldest female artist to ever have had a top ten album on the U.K. Billboard charts.^[39]

In October 2011, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association announced that Day would be the recipient of the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award.^[40]

References

1. ^ "California Marriage Index, 1960–1985 about Doris M Kappelhoff". State of California. California Marriage Index, 1960–1985. Ancestry.com. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?ti=0&indiv=try&db=camarrindex&h=7805220. Retrieved April 13, 2011. "Age: 52 ;Date 14 Apr 1976" 
2. ^ Many sources indicate that Day was born in 1922, although some maintain she was born in 1924. In the census of April 1930, she is listed as age seven. The exact date a census taker visited her home was April 10, 1930. This would indicate Day's birth year of 1923 as her birthday is April 3. It states at the heading of the column, age at last birthday. If she was born April 3, she was born 1923. Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio; Roll: 1808; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 55. Kaufman's publishers, Virgin Books, list Day's year of birth as 1924 on the Verso (Copyright) page, but Kaufman gives her year of birth as 1922. Intelius gives her age as of November 19, 2010 as 86, but this is not dispositive.
3. ^ Hotchner, A. E. "Doris Day: Her Own Story", pg. 91
4. ^ Santopietro, Tom "Considering Doris Day", pg. 191
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ [2]
7. ^ Quigley Publishing: Annual Box Office Poll & All-Time Top Ten Stars List
8. ^ [3]
9. ^ Doris Day's ancestry
10. ^ Carmel Pine Cone, Vol 97 No. 13, April 1–7, 2011, Page 1
11. ^ [Hotchner, A. E., Doris Day: Her Own Story, Morrow & Co., Inc., 1976, p. 18]
12. ^ Hamilton Daily News Journal, October 18, 1937, "Trenton Friends Regret Injury To Girl Dancer"
13. ^ [ Hotchner, A. E. "Doris Day: Her Own Story", pg. 39 – 38]
14. ^ [ Hotchner, A. E. "Doris Day: Her Own Story", pg. 38]
15. ^ [Hotchner, A. E. "Doris Day: Her Own Story", pg. 38 – 39]
16. ^ [ Hotchner, A. E. "Doris Day: Her Own Story", pg. 40–41]
17. ^ [Hotchner, A. E. "Doris Day: Her Own Story", pg. 44]
18. ^ "The Dark Days of Doris Day", June 14, 2008, Daily Mail newspaper (Britain).
19. ^ The Lima (Ohio) News, April 17, 1940, p. 11, "To Entertain At Convention Here"
20. ^ Doris Day (2nd Ed. ed.). London: Orion Books. September 1, 2004. p. 26. ISBN 978-0752817156. "It is not surprising ... that she took so readily to Christian Science in her later life" 
21. ^ McGilligan, Patrick, Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, ReganBooks, 2003, p. 520
22. ^ Doris Day films, passim, The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures.
23. ^ Dorisday.net
24. ^ ^{a b c d} Doris Day's website. Retrieved on September 23, 2010
25. ^ Jerome Bernard Rosenthal (born April 1, 1911 – died August 15, 2007), admitted to the State Bar of California on June 11, 1946 after graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, whose clients also included Ross Hunter, Van Johnson, and Gordon MacRae, also Day's lawyer, business manager, and tax adviser under a May 1956 agreement (in which he was to receive 10% of virtually everything owned or earned by Day and Melcher)
26. ^ Uncle Jerry Wants to 'Kiss and Make Up' With High Court Justices
27. ^ Doris Day: A Sentimental Journey, Television Documentary, Arwin Productions, PBS, 1991
28. ^ "Doris Day's Vanishing Act", by David Kaufman, Vanity Fair, May 2008, p. 260
29. ^ Hotchner, Doris Day: Her Own Story, p. 226
30. ^ McGee, Garry (2005). Doris Day: Sentimental Journey. McFarland & Co.. pp. 227–8. 
31. ^ http://www.dorisday.com/news?id=0013
32. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14870590
33. ^ Kaufman, David Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door", pg. 437
34. ^ Pierre Patrick, Que Sera, Sera: The Magic of Doris Day Through Television, Bear Manor Media, 2006, p. 132 (photograph of ad)
35. ^ Merger Adds To Humane Society's Bite, Washingtonpost.com Retrieved on 06–05–07.
36. ^ Humane Society and Doris Day, official website of Humane Society of the United States. Retrieved on 06–05–07.
37. ^ "Doris Day Center Gives Abused Horses Sanctuary...", Bloomberg News, 03–30–11.
38. ^ Rep: Doris Day Still "Sharp as a Tack", UPI.com August 13, 2008
39. ^ [4]
40. ^ {http://www.thewrap.com/awards/column-post/doris-day-wins-lifetime-achievement-award-la-film-critics-32300}

Further reading

• Barothy, Mary Anne. Day at a Time: An Indiana Girl's Sentimental Journey to Doris Day's Hollywood and Beyond. Hawthorne Publishing, 2007.
• Bret, David. Doris Day: Reluctant Star. JR Books, London. 2008.*Kaufman, David (2008). Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door. New York: Virgin Books. ISBN 9781905264308. 
• McGee, Garry. Doris Day: Sentimental Journey. McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005.
• Patrick, Pierre and Garry McGee. Que Sera, Sera: The Magic of Doris Day Through Television. Bear Manor Media, 2005.
• Patrick, Pierre and Garry McGee. The Doris Day Companion: A Beautiful Day (One on One with Doris and Friends). BearManor Media, 2009.
• Braun, Eric. "Doris Day." Orion Books, 1994.
• Santopietro, Tom. "Considering Doris Day". Thomas Dunn Books, 2008.

External links

• Doris Day at the Internet Movie Database
• Doris Day at AllRovi
• Doris Day at the TCM Movie Database
• Doris Day Animal Foundation
• Doris' Official Website
• Discovering Doris (Longest running fan tribute website)
• Spotlight at Turner Classic Movies
• Doris Day Animal League
• Doris Day on "Solid! The encyclopedia of big band, lounge, classic jazz and space-age sounds"
• Photographs of Doris Day
• Doris Day Official Discography (+78rpm)
• Theatrical tribute to Doris Day (Touring to Hollywood and Scotland in 2011)

Persondata
Name	Day, Doris
Alternative names	Kappelhoff, Doris Mary Ann von
Short description	Singer, actress, animal rights activist
Date of birth	April 3, 1924 (some sources cite 1922 or 1923)
Place of birth	Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death