Doris Day biography

Two of her biggest hits came from movies she made in the mid-1950s. She sang "Secret Love" in the musical western Calamity Jane (1953), in which she played a rough-and-tumble cowgirl. Working with director Alfred Hitchcock, she appeared in the thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much with Jimmy Stewart. Day sang "Que Sera, Sera" for the film. The song became one of her trademark tunes,

and she used it as the theme for her later television series The Doris Day Show.

In 1957, Day scored another box-office hit with the film adaptation of the popular musical The Pajama Game. She continued to explore lighter comedic fare with her first on-screen pairing with Rock Hudson, the 1959 smash Pillow Talk. The film brought Day the only Academy Award nomination of her career. She teamed up with Hudson for several more films, including Send Me No Flowers (1962). Day also appeared with James Garner in The Thrill of It All (1963) and Cary Grant in That Touch of Mink (1962). These films made her one of the most popular film stars of the era.

By the end of the 1960s, however, Day's sweet and charming persona seemed out of step with the times. She starred in such films as the humorous western The Ballad of Josie (1967) and the family comedy With Six You Get Eggroll with less-than-stellar results. Day fared better on television, with The Doris Day Show, which ran from 1968 to 1973. On the show, she played a widow who moves her two sons to the country.

Later Years

In 1975, Day announced that she was retiring from acting. She has devoted much of her time since then to working as an animal rights advocate. To support this cause, she founded the Doris Day Animal League, which worked on lobbying for animal-related issues. The organization is now part of the Humane Society of America. She even made a brief return to television in the mid-1980s for a show about animals called Doris Day's Best Friends. In 1998, she established the Doris Day Animal Foundation, which supports numerous animal-related projects and organizations.

While one of the top box-office stars of all time, Day didn't receive much critical recognition for her work until well into her retirement. She was awarded a Golden Globe Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989 and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004. Also in 2004, President George W. Bush gave Day the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying that "She captured the hearts of Americans while enriching our culture."

As a Hollywood icon, Day has been synonymous with the role she frequently played—the good girl, the girl next door. But she is much more than that, as evidenced by her earlier musical career, some of her most substantial movie parts and her philanthropic efforts.

Personal Life

While many of her characters may have ended up living happily ever after, Day has never seemed to get a fairy-tale ending to any of her relationships. Her first marriage, to musician Al Jorden, proved to be short-lived. The couple had one child together—a son named Terry—before divorcing after two years.