Actress and singer Doris Day has died at age 97. The blonde with a sunny disposition and wholesome image was an icon of American cinema, one of Hollywood’s brightest stars during the 1950s and ‘60s. Day was also well-known for her animal rights advocacy. The Doris Day Animal Foundation confirmed that she died in her Carmel Valley, California, home after a recent bout with pneumonia. Until the recent sickness, Day was in excellent health, considering her age. Day reportedly requested that no memorial service be held for her. Nor did she want any grave marker.
Doris Day was a favorite of American moviegoers for her starring roles in such comedies as “Pillow Talk,” “That Touch of Mink,” and “The Thrill of It All.” Her renditions of songs like “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)” remain iconic. In 2004, Day was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Photo: Facebook/Pillow Talk
Day was born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1922. Her father was a music teacher, her mother a housewife. As a child, Day dreamed of a career as a dancer. Her dreams were shattered when, at age 14, she broke her leg after a train hit the car she was riding in. It was while recovering from her injury that she turned to singing.
Early in her music career, a bandleader changed the singer’s name from Kappelhoff to Day (after the song “Day After Day”) in order to fit it on the tight space of a theatre marquee. Day’s first marriage was to trombonist Al Jordan when she was 17-years-old. The marriage ended when, according to Day, Jordan beat her while she was eight months pregnant. Her son Terry was born in 1942. Day would ultimately be married four times, divorced three times, and widowed once.
Photo: Facebook/Pillow Talk
During the 1950s and ‘60s, she starred alongside Rock Hudson, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and James Garner. Day was the nation’s top moneymaking star of 1960, ’62, ’63, and ’64. Her final film was 1968’s “With Six You Get Eggroll.”
“My public image is unshakably that of America’s wholesome virgin, the girl next door, carefree and brimming with happiness,” Day wrote in a memoir. “An image, I can assure you, more make-believe than any film part I ever played.” Her friend Paul McCartney remembered Day as a true star with a heart of gold. “I will miss her but will always remember her twinkling smile and infectious laugh,” McCartney said. Singer Tony Bennet tweeted, “She was a wonderful friend to us and a lovely and very talented lady.”