Doris Day
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[edit] Headline text
Doris Day
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| Background information
<tr><td>Birth name</td><td colspan="2">Doris Mary Ann von Kappelhoff</td></tr><tr><td>Born</td><td colspan="2">April 3 1924 (age 84), Cincinnati, Ohio, USA</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Big band, Traditional pop</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1940-1967</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Columbia</td></tr><tr><td textalign="top" style="padding-right: 1em;">Associated |
Doris Mary Ann von Kappelhoff, known as Doris Day (born April 3, 1924), is an American singer, actress, and animal welfare advocate. A vivacious blonde with a wholesome image, she was one of the most prolific actresses of the 1950s and 1960s. Able to sing, dance, and play comedy and dramatic roles, she has been an all-round star whose personality has permeated many popular and diverse movies.
[edit] Biography
Day was born Doris Mary Anne von Kapelhoff in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Evanston to German immigrants. The younger of two children, she was named after silent movie actress Doris Kenyon, whom her mother liked. Her family was Roman Catholic, despite her parents' divorce. She later embraced Christian Science.
[edit] Movie career
Day's popularity as a radio performer and vocalist led directly to a career in films. After her separation from second husband George Weidler in 1948, Day was apparently set to leave Los Angeles and return to her mother's home in Cincinnati when her agent Al Levy convinced her to attend a party at the home of composer Jule Styne. Her personal circumstances at the time and her reluctance to perform on such short notice apparently contributed to an emotive performance of Embraceable You which so impressed Styne and his partner Sammy Cahn that they recommended her for a role in Romance on the High Seas (which they were currently working on for Warner Bros). The withdrawal of Betty Hutton due to pregnancy left the main role to be recast. Thus, Day began her film career in a "peppy" Hutton-esque role.
The success of Romance on the High Seas established her as a talented (and popular) performer. In 1950, U.S. servicemen in Korea voted her their favourite star. Early publicity saddled her with such unflattering nicknames as "The Tomboy with a Voice" and "The Golden Tonsil". She continued to make saccharine and somewhat low-level musicals such as Starlift, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, and Tea For Two for Warner Brothers until the cycle exhausted itself. 1953 found Doris as pistol-packin' Calamity Jane in what has become one of Hollywood's most enduring musicals, winning the Oscar for Best Song for Secret Love.
After filming Lucky Me, a lacklustre musical comedy, Day choose not to renew her contract with Warner Bros. and instead freelanced under the management of her third husband, Martin Melcher. As a consequence, the range of roles she played broadened to include more dramatic roles. In 1955, she received some of the best notices of her career for her portrayal of singer Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me, co-starring James Cagney. She continued to be paired with some of Hollywood's biggest male stars, including James Stewart, Cary Grant, David Niven and Clark Gable.
In Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much, she sang Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Qué Será, Será), which won an Oscar. 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 Será, Será. When the studio pushed her, she relented, but after recording the number in one take, she reportedly told a friend of Livingston's, "That's the last time you'll ever hear that song." This was ironic, as Que Será, Será (Spanish for "what will be, will be") became her most famous song. It was used, for example, in her later film Please Don't Eat the Daisies and was reprised as a brief duet with Arthur Godfrey in The Glass Bottom Boat and became the theme song for her television show. (The song was also covered by Sly & the Family Stone in 1973 in a recording that has become a sort of secondary standard version.)
After the great critical and popular success of Teacher's Pet, Day's popularity at the U.S. box office seemed to wane and some critical attention focused on perceived elements of "blandness" in her on-screen persona, although in some foreign markets (Germany, Britain and the Commonwealth), she remained a top boxoffice draw. A dynamic performance in The Pajama Game received warm critical notices, but boxoffice returns were disappointing. In the case of Tunnel of Love and It Happened to Jane, both the critical and popular response was uneven. As a result, during the period 1957-1959, she was no longer regarded a "Top Ten Box Office Draw" by U.S. film exhibitors. Arguably, this development may have been linked to the marked decline in popularity of musical films during the late 1950's, and some poor choices in material made by Melcher on Day's behalf, rather than any waning in public regard. In addition, Day's popularity as a recording artist was diminished due to the growing popular taste for rock and roll. Que Sera Sera, for instance, was never a "U.S. Number One", being kept from the top spot by Elvis Presley's recording of Hound Dog.
[edit] Box office queen and "world's oldest virgin"
In 1959, Day entered her most successful phase as a film actress with a series of romantic comedies, starting with the hugely popular Pillow Talk co-starring Rock Hudson, who became a lifelong friend. The film received positive reviews and was a box office favourite. It also brought a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Day. She and Hudson made two more films together, and she also made two films alongside James Garner, starting with 1963's The Thrill Of It All. Many of her 1960s films ignored her singing abilities and painted her as a good-hearted woman with a strong will, a hint of naïveté, and the purest virtue. Algonquin Round Table member and showbusiness wit Oscar Levant, who had known Day earlier in her career, summed up the paradox of Day's late-blooming ingenue phase when he famously said, "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin." But the public loved Day's light, frothy comedies of this period, buying enough tickets to make her by far the top female movie star in America during the first half of the 1960s.
By the late 1960s, the sexual revolution and the widely discussed promiscuity of the maturing baby boomer generation had refocused public attitudes about sex and sexuality. Times changed, but Day's films did not. Critics, comics and pundits dubbed Day "the world's oldest virgin" and audiences began to shy away from her repetitive, gimmicky roles. Day herself found many of her mid-late 1960s films to be of very poor quality (her least favorite was Caprice, co-starring Richard Harris) and did them only at the insistence of her third husband and sometime producer, Marty Melcher. One of the roles he supposedly turned down for her was that of middle-aged adulteress Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (a role that went to Anne Bancroft). Later, in her published memoirs co-authored by A.E. Hotchner, Doris says that she herself rejected the part on moral grounds.
The impact of changing public tastes can also be seen in the waning popularity of Day as a vocalist and recording artist at this time. Paradoxically albums like Duet and Latin for Lovers garnered much critical praise, but did not generate strong sales within the U.S. (although sales were strong in overseas markets like Britain). Day's last "Top Ten Hit" was achieved in the UK in 1964 with her recording of Move Over Darling, written by her son specifically for her, that Day secured her final chart success in the UK at this particular time was ironic considering that the "British Invasion" of the mid-1960's contributed to a decisive change in popular taste away from the type of music that Day was associated with. In 1967 Day recorded her last album, The Love Album essentially concluding her recording career, though this album was not released until 1994.
[edit] Bankruptcy and TV career
Melcher died in 1968. After more than a decade as a top box office star, Day was shocked to discover that her husband of 17 years and his business partner Jerry Rosenthal had squandered her earnings, leaving her deeply in debt. Day sued Rosenthal and won the largest civil judgment up until that time in California, over $20,000,000 (USD). (How much Day actually collected is not certain).
According to Day's as-told-to autobiography by A.E. Hotchner, the usually athletic, healthy Melcher had an enlarged heart. Another factor in Melcher's death may be that he converted to the Christian Science religion during his relationship with Day, and his newfound religious beliefs -- which include a doctrine that illness is illusory -- led him to put off going to the doctor for some time.
Upon Melcher's death, Day also learned that he had committed her to a TV 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 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 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 per cent anyway. That's the only way I know how to do it." Melcher died on April 20, 1968 and the first episode of the TV show aired September 24, 1968.
From 1968 to 1973, Day starred in The Doris Day Show, a situation comedy which had "Que Será, Será" as its theme song. Day continued with the show grudgingly and only as long as she needed the work to help pay down her debts. By the end of the series in 1973, Day was nearing 50, and public tastes had changed to such a degree that her firmly established wholesome persona was now completely out of fashion. Day essentially retired from acting when The Doris Day Show ended.
[edit] Animal Welfare Activism
Although the press had occasionally noted Day's interest in animal welfare it was not until the early 1970's that her interest in animal rights was widely publicised. 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. Throughout the 1980's and 1990's, Day actively promoted the annual Spay Day USA, and on a number of occasions actively lobbied Congress -- and, it has been suggested, Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton -- in support of legislation designed to safeguard animal rights. The Doris Day Animal League http://www.ddal.org is a group she funds. She has for many decades stopped her car on LA freeways when she saw an abandoned, stray or hit animal. She is a vegetarian because she does not want to eat animals.
[edit] Private Life
In 1975 Day released her autobiography, Doris Day: Her Own Story, it revealed to the general public many of the painful events in her private life that belied the sunny image Day projected on the screen and through her music. In particular the book detailed Day's first three difficult marriages:
- To Al Jorden, a trombonist whom she had met when he was in Barney Rapp's band, from March 1941 to 1943. She was not yet 17 when she married Jorden, and her only child, Terry Melcher (a boy), was born from this marriage, when Day was 17. Jorden committed suicide after their divorce.
- To George Weidler (a saxophonist), from March 30, 1946 to May 31, 1949. They broke up after eight months. Weidler and Day met again several years later and during a brief reconciliation he helped her become involved in Christian Science.
- To Marty Melcher, whom she married on her 27th birthday, April 3, 1951. This looked like a happy marriage, and lasted much longer than her first two. Melcher adopted Terry (thus renaming the boy Terry Melcher), and also produced many of Day's movies. Day also later revealed that Melcher had physically abused Terry. His profligate spending caused money difficulties for Day that continued for a number of years after his death.
- In addition to which, there was a fourth unsuccessful marriage to Barry Comden, from April 14, 1976 to 1981. Comden was her only husband outside show business. Comden was the maitre d' at one of Doris's favorite restaurants. Knowing of her great love of dogs, Comden began the practice of giving Doris a bag of meat scraps and bones on her way out. This is how he got to meet and endear himself to her. Sadly, this marriage, which could have been the happiest of all, unraveled, and Comden complained that Day cared more for her "animal friends" than she did for him.
The revelations contained in the book about Day's private life, and the testimony of many of her friends and colleagues about aspects of her life and career (most were scathing with regard to husband number three Marty Melcher) helped to make the book a bestseller. In promoting the book Day also caused a stir by rejecting the "girl next door - virgin" label so often attached to her. Notably in an interview with Barbara Walters she commented "I don't know where that label came from. Maybe it's the way I look - do I look like a virgin?", and in later interviews went on to say that she believed that people should live together prior to marriage - something that she herself would do if the opportunity arose again. Her candour won her some admiration among book reviewers and interviewers, and possibly contributed to the book's success.
At conclusion of her book tour Day largely retired from show business, though film and TV offers continued to be made, she seemed content to focus on her charity work and business interests (In 1985 she became part-owner of the Cypress Inn in Carmel, California). In May 1983 Day became a grandmother for the first time when her son and his wife Melissa became the parents of a baby boy they named Ryan. However, in 1985 Day hosted her own talk show, Doris Day's Best Friends. The show generated unexpected press when her old friend Rock Hudson appeared in the first episode. Day was taken aback by Hudson's emaciated and wizened frame, as he had always been in top physical condition. Soon after, she and the world learned that he was dying of AIDS. Day stood by his side, but refused to accept that his illness was the result of sexual transmission. Despite the world-wide publicity the show received it was cancelled after 26 episodes.
After a brief attempt to become a surf music singing star, Day's son Terry Melcher became a staff producer for Columbia Records in the 1960s, and was famous for producing most of the hit recordings by pioneering folk rock band The Byrds. In November 2004, Terry Melcher died from complications of melanoma (skin cancer), aged 62.
[edit] A Renewal of Interest
During the 1990s interest in Day revived. The release of a greatest hits CD in 1992 garnered her another entry into the British charts, while the inclusion of the song Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps in the soundtrack of the Australian film Strictly Ballroom gained her a legion of new fans. During the late 1990's/early 2000's the progressive release of her films and TV series/specials on DVD fed into this renewal of interest in and respect for her work. A fact underlined by the development of a large number of websites devoted to her, and the growing number of academic texts analysing various aspects of her career. In 2004 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom but refused to attend the ceremony because of a fear of flying. She has turned down an honorary Academy Award and one of the Kennedy Center Honors for similar reasons.
[edit] Songs
[edit] Albums
(see [1] for details)
[edit] 10" LPs
- You're My Thrill (1949)
- Tea for Two (1950) (Soundtrack)
- Young Man with a Horn (1950) (w/Harry James) (soundtrack)
- Lullaby Of Broadway (1951) (soundtrack)
- On Moonlight Bay (1951) (soundtrack)
- I'll See You in My Dreams (1951) (soundtrack)
- By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) (soundtrack)
- Calamity Jane (1953) (soundtrack)
- The Deadwood Stage
- Secret Love
- Just Blew in From The Windy City
- The Black Hills Of Dakota
- (4 more)
- Young at Heart (1954) (soundtrack) (w/Frank Sinatra)
- Till My Love Comes To Me
- You, My Love
- Ready, Willing and Able
- Hold Me In Your Arms
- (2 more)
[edit] 12" LPs
- Day Dreams
- Reissue of "You're My Thrill"
- plus 4 more, also early singles
- Love Me or Leave Me (Soundtrack of the MGM film: Orchestra arranged and conducted by Percy Faith) (1955)
- It All Depends on You (DeSylva, Brown, Henderson)
- Sam, The Old Accordion Man (Donaldson)
- Shaking The Blues Away (Berlin)
- Mean To Me (Ahlert, Turk)
- plus 8 more, plus outtakes on current reissues
- Day By Day (1956) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Paul Weston)
- The Song Is You (Kern, Hammerstein)
- I Remember You (Mercer, Schertzenberger)
- Day By Day (Cahn, Stordahl, Weston)
- Autumn Leaves (Mercer, Kosma)
- plus 8 more
- Day By Night (1957) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Paul Weston)
- I See Your Face Before Me (Dietz, Schwartz)
- Moonglow
- Dream A Little Dream Of Me (Kahn)
- You Do Something To Me (Porter)
- plus 8 more
- The Pajama Game (1957) (Soundtrack of the Warner Bros. film: Orchestra arranged and conducted by Ray Heindorf) (w/John Raitt and cast of film)
- I'm Not At All In Love
- Small Talk
- There Once Was A Man
- Seven-and-a-Half Cents
- Once-A-Year Day
- Hooray For Hollywood (2 volumes: orchestra arranged and conducted by Frank DeVol)
- Volume One: (1958)
- Cheek To Cheek (Berlin)
- Over The Rainbow (Arlen, Washington)
- Blues In The Night (Mercer, Arlen)
- Night And Day (Porter)
- plus 8 more
- Volume Two: (1959)
- Three Coins In The Fountain (Cahn, Styne)
- It Might As Well Be Spring (Rodgers, Hammerstein)
- You'll Never Know (Gordon, Warren)
- Nice Work If You Can Get It (GGershwin, IGershwin)
- plus 8 more
- Volume One: (1958)
- Cuttin' Capers (1959) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Frank DeVol)
- Making Whoopee (Kahn, Donaldson)
- Sitting On Top Of The World (Brown)
- Let's take A Walk Around The Block (Arlen, Lane, I.Gershwin)
- Stepping Out With My Baby (Berlin)
- plus 8 more
- What Every Girl Should Know (1960) (Orchestra arranged and consucted by Harry Zimmerman)
- When You're Smiling
- Something Wonderful (Rodgers, Hammerstein)
- Mood Indigo (Ellington)
- A Hundred Years From Today (Washington)
- plus 8 more
- Show Time (1960) (Orchestra arranged and conducted by Axel Stordahl)
- On The Stre
