DORIS DAY (1922 - 2019)

One of the last surviving performers of Hollywood's golden age, Doris Day has died today at the age of ninety-seven. She had a good-girl image with a spunky screen persona but there was still an intriguing edginess that helped make her universally appealing. Day would go on to make thirty-nine feature films over a twenty-year period and was the number one box-office star for four years.

She was born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio and came from a musical family with her father being a a music teacher and choir master. She was initially interested in becoming a professional dancer but a car accident in 1937 ended that dream. While recovering, Doris enjoyed singing to the radio and her mother enrolled her in lessons. With a natural ability, she was soon hired for performances at restaurants and radio programs. This lead to her working with prominent bandleaders of the era and to perform on several successful recordings.

Hollywood soon came calling and she signed a contract with Warner Bros. Day's first screen appearance was in 1948 with "Romance on the High Seas". She played a singer and had replaced the original star, Betty Hutton who had become pregnant. The film was a hit and she became one of the studio's musical stars, appearing in "Lullaby of Broadway", "April in Paris", "Calamity Jane" and "Young at Heart" with Frank Sinatra in 1954.

Day left Warner Bros. in 1954 and wanted to pursue more dramatic work. Her first attempt, "Love Me or Leave Me", a bio-pic of jazz singer, Ruth Etting, managed to combine music and drama. Day received some of the best reviews of her career and the film was one of her biggest box-office successes. She would also appear in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense drama, "The Man Who Knew Too Much" with James Stewart and the noir thriller, "Julie" in 1956 which both received less acclaim.

Day soon returned to musicals and romantic-comedies and appeared in "The Pajama Game", "Teacher's Pet" and "The Tunnel of Love". But it would be her screen pairing with Rock Hudson (with Tony Randall along for the ride) that would help her become one of the biggest movie stars of all time. They first teamed-up for the romantic-comedy, "Pillow Talk" in 1959 (with Day receiving a Best Actress Oscar nomination). This became such a smash that they all would appear again in "Lover Come Back" (1961) and "Send Me No Flowers" (1964). Day would also find success with "The Thrill of It All", "Move Over, Darling" (both with James Garner), "That Touch of Mink" (with Cary Grant), "Midnight Lace" and "Please Don't Eat the Daisies". Day's last film appearance was the comedy, "With Six You Get Eggroll" in 1968.

When her third husband, Martin Melcher died in 1968, Day was shocked to learn that he had squandered all of her earnings and left her heavily in debt. She also discovered that he had committed her to a television show. Day hated the idea of working on television but felt she had to do the program. After insisting on creative control, the sitcom, "The Doris Day Show" ran for five years on CBS from 1968 to 1973. After the show ended, Day largely had retired from show business. She would appear occasionally on television specials and a talk show, "Doris Day's Best Friends" which ran for a year in 1985.

Day would later become a serious animal activist and founded the non-profits, Doris Day Animal Foundation in 1978 and the Doris Day Animal League in 1987 with both having a mission to protect animals from pain and suffering.

I don't think Doris Day was nearly as appreciated as she should have been in her lifetime. There was never any doubt that she was a gifted performer but she made it all look effortless, making many overlook how hard it is to accomplish that. She was a special, one-of-a-kind talent that is truly rare to find and won't be easily duplicated.