Doris Day

If you like this person, let us know!

Do you like this person ?

I like

I don't like

Birth name Doris Mary Kappelhoff
Nationality USA
Birth 3 april 1922 at Cincinnati (USA)
Death 13 may 2019 (at 97 years)
Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

Doris Day (born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 or 1924) is an American actress, singer, and animal rights activist.

Day began her career as a big band singer in 1939. Her popularity began to rise after her first hit recording "Sentimental Journey", in 1945. After leaving Les Brown & His Band of Renown to embark on a solo career, Day started her long-lasting partnership with Columbia Records, which remained her only recording label. The contract lasted from 1947 to 1967 and included more than 650 recordings, making Day one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the 20th century. In 1948, after being persuaded by songwriters Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne and by Al Levy, her agent at the time, she auditioned for film director Michael Curtiz, which led to her being cast as the female lead in Romance on the High Seas.

Over the course of her career, Day appeared in 39 films. She was ranked the biggest box-office star, the only woman appearing on that list in the era, for four years (1960, 1962, 1963 and 1964), ranking in the top 10 for ten years (1951–1952 and 1959–1966). She became the top-ranking female box-office star of all time and is currently ranked sixth among the top 10 box office performers (male and female), as of 2012. Day received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Pillow Talk, won three Henrietta Awards (World Film Favorite), received the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Career Achievement Award and in 1989, she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures. She made her last film in 1968.

She received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Legend Award from the Society of Singers. In 2011, she released her 29th studio album, My Heart, which debuted at No. 9 on the UK Top 40 charts. As of January 2014, Day is the oldest living artist to score a UK Top 10 with an album featuring new material.

Her strong commitment to animal welfare began in 1971, when she co-founded "Actors and Others for Animals". She started her own non-profit organization in the late 1970s, the Doris Day Animal Foundation and, later, the Doris Day Animal League (DDAL). 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. Day is retired from acting and performing, but has continued her work in animal rights causes and animal welfare.

Biography

Since her retirement from films, Day has lived in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. She has many pets and adopts stray animals.

Day is a Republican. Her only child, music producer and songwriter Terry Melcher, who had a hit in the 1960s with "Hey Little Cobra" under the name The Rip Chords, died of melanoma in 2004, about five months after Day had received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She owns a hotel in Carmel-by-the-Sea, the Cypress Inn, which Melcher had co-owned with Day.

Day became an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church in order to officiate at weddings.

Marriages
In 1975, Day published 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 in Barney Rapp's Band, from March 1941 to 1943. Her only child, son Terrence Paul Jorden (later known as Terry Melcher), resulted from this marriage. Husband Jorden, who was reportedly physically abusive to Day, committed suicide in 1967 by gunshot.
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 introduce her to Christian Science.
To Martin Melcher, whom she married on April 3, 1951. This marriage lasted until Melcher's death in 1968. Melcher adopted Day's son Terry, who, with the name Terry Melcher, became a successful musician and record producer. Martin Melcher produced many of Day's movies. She and Melcher were both practicing Christian Scientists, resulting in her not seeing a doctor for some time after symptoms that suggested cancer. This distressing period ended when, finally consulting a physician, and thereby finding the lump was benign, she fully recovered. After publishing her autobiography, Day married one last time.
Her fourth and latest marriage was to Barry Comden (March 30, 1935 – May 25, 2009), who was roughly a decade younger, from April 14, 1976, until 1981. Comden was the maître d'hôtel 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.