61 Facts About Doris Day

Doris Day began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey" and "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" with Les Brown and His Band of Renown.

Doris Day left Brown to embark on a solo career and recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967.

Doris Day starred in films of many genres, including musicals, comedies, dramas and thrillers.

Doris Day played the title role in Calamity Jane and starred in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much with James Stewart.

Doris Day co-starred with Rock Hudson in three successful comedies, Pillow Talk, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers.

Doris Day worked with James Garner on both Move Over, Darling and The Thrill of It All and starred alongside Clark Gable, Cary Grant, James Cagney, David Niven, Ginger Rogers, Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, and Rod Taylor in various films.

In 1989, Day was awarded the Golden Globe and the Cecil B DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures.

In 2011, Doris Day released her 29th studio album, My Heart, which contained new material and became a UK Top 10 album.

Doris Day's mother was a homemaker, and her father was a music teacher and choirmaster.

For most of her life, Doris Day stated that she was born in 1924, but on the occasion of her 95th birthday, the Associated Press found her birth certificate that showed a 1922 year of birth.

Doris Day had two older brothers: Richard, who died before her birth, and Paul.

Doris Day developed an early interest in dance, and in the mid-1930s formed a dance duo with Jerry Doherty that performed in nationwide competitions.

Doris Day had signed a contract with a casting company to be a dancer and she was preparing to move to Los Angeles to pursue this opportunity.

On October 13,1937, while Doris Day was riding with friends, their car collided with a freight train, and she broke her right leg, curtailing her prospects as a professional dancer.

Day's mother Alma arranged for Doris to receive singing lessons from Grace Raine.

Years later, Doris Day said that Raine had a greater effect on her singing style and career than had anyone else.

In 1941, Doris Day appeared as a singer in three Soundies with the Les Brown band.

Doris Day was cast for the role after auditioning for director Michael Curtiz.

Doris Day recorded "Someone Like You" before the film My Dream Is Yours, which featured the song.

Doris Day has appeared in light musicals such as On Moonlight Bay, By the Light of the Silvery Moon and Tea For Two for Warner Bros.

Doris Day appeared as the title character in the comedic western-themed musical Calamity Jane.

Primarily recognized as a musical-comedy actress, Doris Day began to accept more dramatic roles in order to broaden her range.

Doris Day starred in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense film The Man Who Knew Too Much opposite James Stewart.

Doris Day sang two songs in the film, "Que Sera, Sera ", which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and "We'll Love Again".

Doris Day played the title role in the film noir thriller Julie with Louis Jourdan.

Doris Day appeared in the Paramount comedy Teacher's Pet alongside Clark Gable and Gig Young.

Doris Day costarred with Richard Widmark and Gig Young in the romantic comedy film The Tunnel of Love and with Jack Lemmon in It Happened to Jane.

In 1959, Doris Day entered her most successful phase as a film actress with a series of romantic comedies beginning with Pillow Talk, costarring Rock Hudson, who became a lifelong friend, and Tony Randall.

Doris Day received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress, her only career Oscar nomination.

Doris Day set a record that has yet to be matched by receiving seven consecutive Laurel Awards as the top female box-office star.

Doris Day teamed with James Garner starting with The Thrill of It All, followed by Move Over, Darling.

Between these comedic film appearances, Doris Day costarred with Rex Harrison in the thriller Midnight Lace, an update of the stage thriller Gaslight.

Doris Day starred in the Western film The Ballad of Josie in 1967.

That same year, Doris Day recorded The Love Album, although it was not released until 1994.

From 1959 to 1970, Doris Day received nine Laurel Award nominations for best female performance in eight comedies and one drama.

Doris Day filed suit against Rosenthal in February 1969 and won a successful decision in 1974, but she did not receive compensation until a settlement was reached in 1979.

Doris Day hated the idea of performing on television but felt obligated to forge ahead with the series.

The first episode of The Doris Day Show aired on September 24,1968, and featured a rerecorded version of "Que Sera, Sera" as its theme song.

Doris Day persevered with the show, needing to work to repay her debts, but only after CBS ceded creative control to her and her son.

Doris Day claimed that he had made the investments under a long-term plan and did not intend to sell them until they appreciated in value.

Doris Day was scheduled to present, along with Patrick Swayze and Marvin Hamlisch, the award for Best Original Score Oscar at the 61st Academy Awards in March 1989, but she suffered a deep leg cut from a sprinkler and was unable to attend.

Doris Day's cover of "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" was included in the soundtrack of the Australian film Strictly Ballroom.

Doris Day declined tribute offers from the American Film Institute and the Kennedy Center Honors because they both require that recipients attend in person.

Doris Day starred on screen with leading men from Jimmy Stewart to Ronald Reagan, from Rock Hudson to James Garner.

Doris Day is one of the greats, and America will always love its sweetheart.

Doris Day received a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in Music in 2008, albeit again in absentia.

Doris Day was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2010 received the first Legend Award presented by the Society of Singers.

At the age of 89, Doris Day released My Heart in the United Kingdom on September 5,2011, her first new album since the 1994 release of The Love Album, which had been recorded in 1967.

Doris Day became the oldest artist to score a UK Top 10 with an album featuring new material.

Doris Day granted ABC a telephone interview on her birthday in 2016 that was accompanied by photos of her life and career.

Doris Day was so appalled at the conditions with which the animals used in filming were kept that she refused to work unless they received sufficient food and proper care.

The production company erected feeding stations for the animals and fed them every day before Doris Day would agree to return to work.

Doris Day actively lobbied the United States Congress in support of legislation designed to safeguard animal welfare on a number of occasions, and in 1995 she originated the annual World Spay Doris Day.

When Doris Day became pregnant and refused to have an abortion, he beat her in an attempt to force a miscarriage.

Weidler and Doris Day met again several years later during a brief reconciliation and he introduced her to Christian Science.

Doris Day married American film producer Martin Melcher, who produced many of her films, on April 3,1951, her 29th birthday, and the marriage lasted until he died in April 1968.

Doris Day was the maitre d'hotel at one of Day's favorite restaurants.

Doris Day knew of her great love of dogs and endeared himself to her by giving her a bag of meat scraps and bones as she left the restaurant.

Doris Day later complained that Day cared more for her "animal friends" than for him.

Doris Day died of pneumonia at her home in Carmel Valley, California, on May 13,2019, at the age of 97.

Doris Day's death was announced by the Doris Day Animal Foundation.