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Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff (born April 3, 1922) is an American singer, actress, and animal welfare advocate known as Doris Day. Able to sing, dance, and play comedy and dramatic roles, she became one of the biggest box-office stars. Day has 39 films to her credit, over 75 hours of television and as one of the most prolific recording artists in history, has recorded over 650 songs. She is an Academy Award nominee, as well as a Golden Globe and Grammy Award winner. She is currently the top ranking female box-office star of all time according to the annual Quigley Publishing poll's "All-Time Number One Stars" list, ranking #6 of the top ten of mostly male stars (the only other female on the list is Shirley Temple.)
Doris Day was born in the Cincinnati, Ohio neighborhood of Evanston to Alma Sophia Welz and Wilhelm (later William) von Kappelhoff. All of her grandparents were German emigrants. Her parents' marriage failed due to her father's reported infidelity.Although the family was Roman Catholic, her parents divorced. After her second marriage, Day herself would become a Christian Scientist. Day has been married four times.
The youngest of three children, she had two brothers: Richard, who died before she was born, and Paul, a few years older. She was named after silent movie actress Doris Kenyon, whom her mother admired.
Growing up in the 1930s, Day developed an interest in dance. By the mid-1930s, she formed a dance duo that performed locally in Cincinnati, until a car accident on October 13, 1937 damaged her legs and curtailed her prospects as a professional dancer. However, while recovering, Day took up singing. Soon she took lessons; at 17 she began performing locally.
It was while working for local bandleader Barney Rapp in 1939 or 1940 that she adopted the stage name "Day" as an alternative to "Kappelhoff," at his suggestion. Rapp felt her surname was too long for marquees. The first song she had performed for him was Day After Day, and her stage name was taken from that. After working with Rapp, Day worked with a number of other bandleaders including Jimmy James,[Bob Crosby, and Les Brown. It was while working with Brown that Day scored her first hit recording, "Sentimental Journey", which was released in early 1945. It soon became an anthem of the desire of World War II demobilizing troops to return home. This song is still associated with Day, and was rerecorded by her on several occasions, as well as being included in her 1971 television special.
Doris' Film Career.
While singing with the Les Brown band and briefly with Bob Hope, Day toured extensively across the United States. Her popularity as a radio performer and vocalist, which included a second hit record My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time, led directly to a career in films. After her separation from second husband George Weidler in 1948, Day planned to leave Los Angeles and return to her mother's home in Cincinnati. 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 contributed to an emotive performance of Embraceable You, which greatly impressed Styne and his partner, Sammy Cahn. They then recommended her for a role in Romance on the High Seas which they were working on for Warner Brothers. The withdrawal of Betty Hutton due to pregnancy left the main role to be re-cast. Thus, Day began her film career, in 1948, in a "peppy" Hutton-esque role. (The film was digitally remastered and released on DVD in May 2007.)
The success of this film established her as a popular film personality and provided her with another hit recording It's Magic. In 1950 U.S. servicemen in Korea voted her their favorite star. Early publicity saddled her with such unflattering nicknames as "The Tomboy with a Voice" and "The Golden Tonsil". She continued to make minor and frequently nostalgic period musicals such as Starlift, On Moonlight Bay, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, and Tea For Two for Warner Brothers, but 1953 found Day as pistol-packin' Calamity Jane, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Secret Love (her recording of which became her fourth U.S. No. 1 recording).
After filming Young at Heart (1954) with Frank Sinatra, Day chose not to renew her contract with Warner Brothers and instead freelanced under the management of her third husband, Martin Melcher, whom she married in Burbank on April 3, 1951 in a ceremony performed by justice of the peace, Leonard W. Hamner. Day had divorced saxophonist-songwriter George W. Weidler (September 11, 1917 –July 26, 1995) of Les Brown's band, brother of actress Virginia Weidler on May 31, 1949 in Los Angeles in an uncontested divorce action after marrying him on March 30, 1946 in Mount Vernon, New York, separating in April 1947 and filing for divorce in June 1948. Day's first husband was trombonist-musician Albert "Al" Jorden (February 1, 1917 –July 1967) from Barney Rapp's Ohio-based band, and later in Jimmy Dorsey's band in New York City, from March 1941 at New York's City Hall until their divorce in 1943.
Her range of acting broadened to include more dramatic roles. In 1955, she received excellent notices for her portrayal of singer Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me, co-starring James Cagney. Doris would later call it, in her autobiography, her best film. She was also paired with such top stars as Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Cary Grant, David Niven, and Clark Gable.
In Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Day sang "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and became her signature song. 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 Sera, Sera. 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." The song was used again in her film, Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960), and was reprised as a brief duet with Arthur Godfrey in The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). Que Sera, Sera also became the theme song for her CBS television show (1968-1973). The Man Who Knew Too Much was her only film for Hitchcock and, as she admitted in her 1975 autobiography, she was initially concerned at his lack of direction. She finally asked if anything was wrong and Hitchcock said everything was fine — if she wasn't doing what he wanted, he would have said something.[citation needed]
After the critical and popular success of Teacher's Pet, Day's popularity at the 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 box office draw. A dynamic performance in The Pajama Game received warm critical notices, but box office returns were disappointing. In the case of The Tunnel of Love and It Happened to Jane, both the critical and popular response was uneven. As a result, from 1957 to 1959, she was no longer regarded a "Top Ten Box Office Draw" by U.S. film exhibitors. This development may have been linked to a marked decline in popularity of musical films during the late 1950s, as well as to some poor choices in material made by Melcher on his wife's behalf. In addition, Day's popularity as a recording artist was diminished due to the growing popularity for rock and roll. Que Sera, Sera, for instance, was never a No. 1 hit, being kept from the top by Elvis Presley's Hound Dog. However, it was her biggest hit after the so-called "rock era" began. She had one more Top Ten hit with "Everybody Loves a Lover" in 1958, which was successfully covered by The Shirelles in 1963.
Box office queen. Main article: Doris Day filmography
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 favorite. It also brought a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Doris and Rock made two more films together, and she also made two with 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 hint of naïveté and the purest virtue. Algonquin Round Table 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 film star in America during the first half of the 1960s.
By the late 1960s, the sexual revolution of the baby boomer generation had refocused public attitudes about sex. Times changed, but Day's films did not. Critics and comics dubbed Day "the world's oldest virgin", and audiences began to shy away from her repetitive roles. As a result, she slipped from the list of top box-office stars, last appearing in the Top 10 in 1966 with The Glass Bottom Boat, her final hit film.
Day herself found many of her late films to be of very poor quality - her least favorite was Caprice, co-starring Richard Harris) - and did them only at Melcher's insistence. One of the roles she turned down was that of middle-aged adulteress Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (a role that went to Anne Bancroft). In her published memoirs (co-authored by A.E. Hotchner), Day said that she had rejected the part on moral grounds. Her final feature film, With Six You Get Eggroll, was released in 1968.
The impact of changing public tastes could be seen in the waning popularity of Day as a recording artist. Albums like Duet and Latin for Lovers garnered critical praise, but little commercial success in the U.S., although sales remained strong in some overseas markets like Britain. Day's last major hit single came in the UK in 1964 with "Move Over, Darling", co-written by her son specifically for her. The recording was a notable departure for Day, with its distinctly contemporary-sounding arrangement and, especially, her breathy and suggestive delivery of the lyrics. It was perhaps for this reason that it was banned by the BBC, and was labelled "distasteful" by senior management. In 1967, Day recorded her last album, The Love Album, essentially concluding her recording career, though this album was not released until 1994.
Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff (born April 3, 1922) is an American singer, actress, and animal welfare advocate known as Doris Day. Able to sing, dance, and play comedy and dramatic roles, she became one of the biggest box-office stars. Day has 39 films to her credit, over 75 hours of television and as one of the most prolific recording artists in history, has recorded over 650 songs. She is an Academy Award nominee, as well as a Golden Globe and Grammy Award winner. She is currently the top ranking female box-office star of all time according to the annual Quigley Publishing poll's "All-Time Number One Stars" list, ranking #6 of the top ten of mostly male stars (the only other female on the list is Shirley Temple.)
Doris Day was born in the Cincinnati, Ohio neighborhood of Evanston to Alma Sophia Welz and Wilhelm (later William) von Kappelhoff. All of her grandparents were German emigrants. Her parents' marriage failed due to her father's reported infidelity.Although the family was Roman Catholic, her parents divorced. After her second marriage, Day herself would become a Christian Scientist. Day has been married four times.
The youngest of three children, she had two brothers: Richard, who died before she was born, and Paul, a few years older. She was named after silent movie actress Doris Kenyon, whom her mother admired.
Growing up in the 1930s, Day developed an interest in dance. By the mid-1930s, she formed a dance duo that performed locally in Cincinnati, until a car accident on October 13, 1937 damaged her legs and curtailed her prospects as a professional dancer. However, while recovering, Day took up singing. Soon she took lessons; at 17 she began performing locally.
It was while working for local bandleader Barney Rapp in 1939 or 1940 that she adopted the stage name "Day" as an alternative to "Kappelhoff," at his suggestion. Rapp felt her surname was too long for marquees. The first song she had performed for him was Day After Day, and her stage name was taken from that. After working with Rapp, Day worked with a number of other bandleaders including Jimmy James,[Bob Crosby, and Les Brown. It was while working with Brown that Day scored her first hit recording, "Sentimental Journey", which was released in early 1945. It soon became an anthem of the desire of World War II demobilizing troops to return home. This song is still associated with Day, and was rerecorded by her on several occasions, as well as being included in her 1971 television special.
Doris' Film Career.
While singing with the Les Brown band and briefly with Bob Hope, Day toured extensively across the United States. Her popularity as a radio performer and vocalist, which included a second hit record My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time, led directly to a career in films. After her separation from second husband George Weidler in 1948, Day planned to leave Los Angeles and return to her mother's home in Cincinnati. 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 contributed to an emotive performance of Embraceable You, which greatly impressed Styne and his partner, Sammy Cahn. They then recommended her for a role in Romance on the High Seas which they were working on for Warner Brothers. The withdrawal of Betty Hutton due to pregnancy left the main role to be re-cast. Thus, Day began her film career, in 1948, in a "peppy" Hutton-esque role. (The film was digitally remastered and released on DVD in May 2007.)
The success of this film established her as a popular film personality and provided her with another hit recording It's Magic. In 1950 U.S. servicemen in Korea voted her their favorite star. Early publicity saddled her with such unflattering nicknames as "The Tomboy with a Voice" and "The Golden Tonsil". She continued to make minor and frequently nostalgic period musicals such as Starlift, On Moonlight Bay, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, and Tea For Two for Warner Brothers, but 1953 found Day as pistol-packin' Calamity Jane, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Secret Love (her recording of which became her fourth U.S. No. 1 recording).
After filming Young at Heart (1954) with Frank Sinatra, Day chose not to renew her contract with Warner Brothers and instead freelanced under the management of her third husband, Martin Melcher, whom she married in Burbank on April 3, 1951 in a ceremony performed by justice of the peace, Leonard W. Hamner. Day had divorced saxophonist-songwriter George W. Weidler (September 11, 1917 –July 26, 1995) of Les Brown's band, brother of actress Virginia Weidler on May 31, 1949 in Los Angeles in an uncontested divorce action after marrying him on March 30, 1946 in Mount Vernon, New York, separating in April 1947 and filing for divorce in June 1948. Day's first husband was trombonist-musician Albert "Al" Jorden (February 1, 1917 –July 1967) from Barney Rapp's Ohio-based band, and later in Jimmy Dorsey's band in New York City, from March 1941 at New York's City Hall until their divorce in 1943.
Her range of acting broadened to include more dramatic roles. In 1955, she received excellent notices for her portrayal of singer Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me, co-starring James Cagney. Doris would later call it, in her autobiography, her best film. She was also paired with such top stars as Jack Lemmon, James Stewart, Cary Grant, David Niven, and Clark Gable.
In Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Day sang "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and became her signature song. 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 Sera, Sera. 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." The song was used again in her film, Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960), and was reprised as a brief duet with Arthur Godfrey in The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). Que Sera, Sera also became the theme song for her CBS television show (1968-1973). The Man Who Knew Too Much was her only film for Hitchcock and, as she admitted in her 1975 autobiography, she was initially concerned at his lack of direction. She finally asked if anything was wrong and Hitchcock said everything was fine — if she wasn't doing what he wanted, he would have said something.[citation needed]
After the critical and popular success of Teacher's Pet, Day's popularity at the 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 box office draw. A dynamic performance in The Pajama Game received warm critical notices, but box office returns were disappointing. In the case of The Tunnel of Love and It Happened to Jane, both the critical and popular response was uneven. As a result, from 1957 to 1959, she was no longer regarded a "Top Ten Box Office Draw" by U.S. film exhibitors. This development may have been linked to a marked decline in popularity of musical films during the late 1950s, as well as to some poor choices in material made by Melcher on his wife's behalf. In addition, Day's popularity as a recording artist was diminished due to the growing popularity for rock and roll. Que Sera, Sera, for instance, was never a No. 1 hit, being kept from the top by Elvis Presley's Hound Dog. However, it was her biggest hit after the so-called "rock era" began. She had one more Top Ten hit with "Everybody Loves a Lover" in 1958, which was successfully covered by The Shirelles in 1963.
Box office queen. Main article: Doris Day filmography
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 favorite. It also brought a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Doris and Rock made two more films together, and she also made two with 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 hint of naïveté and the purest virtue. Algonquin Round Table 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 film star in America during the first half of the 1960s.
By the late 1960s, the sexual revolution of the baby boomer generation had refocused public attitudes about sex. Times changed, but Day's films did not. Critics and comics dubbed Day "the world's oldest virgin", and audiences began to shy away from her repetitive roles. As a result, she slipped from the list of top box-office stars, last appearing in the Top 10 in 1966 with The Glass Bottom Boat, her final hit film.
Day herself found many of her late films to be of very poor quality - her least favorite was Caprice, co-starring Richard Harris) - and did them only at Melcher's insistence. One of the roles she turned down was that of middle-aged adulteress Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (a role that went to Anne Bancroft). In her published memoirs (co-authored by A.E. Hotchner), Day said that she had rejected the part on moral grounds. Her final feature film, With Six You Get Eggroll, was released in 1968.
The impact of changing public tastes could be seen in the waning popularity of Day as a recording artist. Albums like Duet and Latin for Lovers garnered critical praise, but little commercial success in the U.S., although sales remained strong in some overseas markets like Britain. Day's last major hit single came in the UK in 1964 with "Move Over, Darling", co-written by her son specifically for her. The recording was a notable departure for Day, with its distinctly contemporary-sounding arrangement and, especially, her breathy and suggestive delivery of the lyrics. It was perhaps for this reason that it was banned by the BBC, and was labelled "distasteful" by senior management. In 1967, Day recorded her last album, The Love Album, essentially concluding her recording career, though this album was not released until 1994.
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Bankruptcy and television career.
1960s
Melcher died April 20, 1968. After nearly two decades as a top star, Day was shocked to discover that her husband of 17 years and his business partner Jerome Bernard Rosenthal had squandered her earnings, leaving her deeply in debt. Rosenthal had been her attorney since the late 1940s, and he represented her in May 31, 1949 uncontested divorce action against her second husband, songwriter, George W. Weidler. In February 1969, Day filed suit against Rosenthal and won the largest civil judgment (over $20 million) up until that time in California.
1970s
On September 18, 1974, Day was awarded $22,835,646 for fraud and malpractice in an hour long oral decision by Superior Judge Lester E. Olson, ending a 99-day trial that involved 18 consolidated lawsuits and countersuits filed by Day and Rosenthal that involved Rosenthal's handling of her finances after she terminated him in July 1968. The civil trial included 14,451 pages of transcript from 67 witnesses. Represented by attorney Robert Winslow and the law firm of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP, Day was awarded $1 million punitive damages, $5.6 million plus $2 million interest for losses incurred in a sham oil venture; $3.4 million plus $1.2 million interest over a hotel venture; $2.2 million plus $793,800 interest for duplicate or unnecessary fees paid to Rosenthal; more than $2 million to recoup loans to Rosenthal; $2.9 million plus $1 million interest for fraud, and $850,000 attorney fees for Day. Olson also enjoined Rosenthal from prosecuting any more lawsuits against Day or her business operations. Rosenthal filed more than 20 suits from 1969 to 1974. Olson, an expert in complex financial marital settlements, read every page of 3,275 individual exhibits and 68 boxes of miscellaneous financial records.
In October 1979, Rosenthal's liability insurer settled with Day for about $6 million payable in 23 annual installments. Rosenthal continued to file an appeal in the 2nd District Court of Appeal, and also filed another half-dozen suits related to the case. Two were libel suits, one against Day and her publishers over comments she made about Rosenthal in her book in which he sought damages. The other suits sought court determinations that insurance companies and individual lawyers failed to defend Rosenthal properly before Olson and in appellate stages. In April 1979, he filed a suit to set aside the $6 million settlement with Day and recover damages from everybody involved in agreeing to the payment supposedly without his permission.
1980s
In October 1985, the state Supreme Court rejected Rosenthal's appeal of the multimillion-dollar judgment against him for legal malpractice, and upheld conclusions of a trial court and a Court of Appeal that Rosenthal acted improperly. In March 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the lower court's judgment. In June 1987, Rosenthal filed a $30-million lawsuit against lawyers he claimed cheated him out of millions of dollars in real estate investments, naming Day as a co-defendant, describing her as an "unwilling, involuntary plaintiff whose consent cannot be obtained". Rosenthal said that the millions of dollars he and Day lost were in real estate sold after Melcher died in 1968, in which Rosenthal asserted that the attorneys gave Day bad advice, telling her to sell, at a loss, three hotels, in Palo Alto, Dallas and Atlanta and some oil leases in Kentucky and Ohio. Rosenthal claimed he had made the investments under a long-term plan, and did not intend to sell them until they appreciated in value. Two of the hotels sold in 1970 for about $7 million, and their estimated worth in 1986 was $50 million.
In July 1987, after a hearing panel of the State Bar Court, after 80 days of testimony and consideration of documentary evidence, the panel accused Rosenthal of 13 separate acts of misconduct and urged his disbarment in a 44-page unsigned opinion. The panel's findings were upheld by the State Bar Court's review department, which asked the justices to order Rosenthal's disbarment. He continued representing clients in federal courts until the U.S. Supreme Court disbarred him on March 21, 1988. Disbarment by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals followed on August 19, 1988.
The Supreme Court of California, in affirming the disbarment, held that Rosenthal engaged in transactions involving undisclosed conflicts of interest, took positions adverse to his former clients, overstated expenses, double-billed for legal fees, failed to return client files, failed to provide access to records, failed to give adequate legal advice, failed to provide clients with an opportunity to obtain independent counsel, filed fraudulent claims, gave false testimony, engaged in conduct designed to harass his clients, delayed court proceedings, obstructed justice and abused legal process.
Terry Melcher later commented that it was only his stepfather's premature death that saved Day from financial ruin. It remains unresolved whether Melcher worked in collusion with Rosenthal to pillage her vast earnings, or was himself duped. Day herself has stated publicly that she believes Melcher innocent of any deliberate wrongdoing. In her words, he "simply trusted the wrong person" completely, until it was too late.
According to Day's autobiography, as told to A. E. Hotchner, the usually athletic and healthy Melcher had an enlarged heart. Another factor in his death may have been his conversion to Christian Science during his relationship with Day, which led him to delay going to the doctor for some time. Most of the interviews on the subject given to Hotchner (and included in Day's autobiography) paint an unflattering portrait of Melcher. Author David Kaufman asserts that one of Day's costars, actor Louis Jourdan, maintained that Day herself disliked Melcher, however Day's own statements regarding her relationship with Melcher belie that assertion.
The Doris Day Show
Upon her husband's death, Day 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 percent 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 was aired on September 24, 1968. From 1968 to 1973, The Doris Day Show aired with "Que Sera, Sera" as its theme song. Day grudgingly persevered as long as she needed the work to help pay off her debts, and only after CBS had ceded creative control to Day and her son. The show was so successful that it ran for five years. It also functioned as a lead-in to the hugely popular Carol Burnett Show. Despite its successful run, today Day's show is remembered for its abrupt changes in casting and premise from season to season. The show has not been widely syndicated unlike many of its contemporaries and has been little seen outside the US and the UK.
By the end of the series in 1973, public tastes had changed to such a degree that her firmly established persona was now out of fashion. She largely retired from acting after The Doris Day Show ended, but she did complete two TV specials, The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special (1971) and Doris Day to Day (1975). She appeared in a John Denver TV special (in 1974) parodying her sunny public image.
Renewal of interest.
During the 1990s, interest in Day grew. The release of a greatest hits CD in 1992 garnered her another entry onto the British charts, while the inclusion of the song "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" in the soundtrack of the Australian film Strictly Ballroom gained her new fans.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the release of her films and TV series and specials on DVD further revived interest in her work, resulting in new websites devoted to Day and a growing number of academic texts analyzing various aspects of her career. In 2006, Day recorded a commentary for the DVD release of the fifth (and final) season of her TV show. Recently Day has participated in telephone interviews with a radio station that celebrates her birthday with an annual Doris Day music marathon. These interviews are available as downloadable podcasts.
While Day turned down a tribute offer from the American Film Institute, she received and accepted the Golden Globe's Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in 1989. In 2004, Day was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom but declined to attend the ceremony because of a fear of flying. Day did not accept an invitation to be a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors for undisclosed reasons. Liz Smith, a long-time entertainment gossip columnist, and movie critic Rex Reed have mounted vigorous campaigns to gather support for an honorary Academy Award for Day to herald her spectacular film career and her status as the top female box-office star of all time.
Day was honored with a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in Music in February 2008.
Two new biographies, coincidentally bearing the same cover photograph, were published in June 2008. Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door (Virgin Books) by David Kaufman, and Doris Day: Reluctant Star (JR Books) are "reputed" to tell about Day's "incredible, previously untold story".
1960s
Melcher died April 20, 1968. After nearly two decades as a top star, Day was shocked to discover that her husband of 17 years and his business partner Jerome Bernard Rosenthal had squandered her earnings, leaving her deeply in debt. Rosenthal had been her attorney since the late 1940s, and he represented her in May 31, 1949 uncontested divorce action against her second husband, songwriter, George W. Weidler. In February 1969, Day filed suit against Rosenthal and won the largest civil judgment (over $20 million) up until that time in California.
1970s
On September 18, 1974, Day was awarded $22,835,646 for fraud and malpractice in an hour long oral decision by Superior Judge Lester E. Olson, ending a 99-day trial that involved 18 consolidated lawsuits and countersuits filed by Day and Rosenthal that involved Rosenthal's handling of her finances after she terminated him in July 1968. The civil trial included 14,451 pages of transcript from 67 witnesses. Represented by attorney Robert Winslow and the law firm of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp LLP, Day was awarded $1 million punitive damages, $5.6 million plus $2 million interest for losses incurred in a sham oil venture; $3.4 million plus $1.2 million interest over a hotel venture; $2.2 million plus $793,800 interest for duplicate or unnecessary fees paid to Rosenthal; more than $2 million to recoup loans to Rosenthal; $2.9 million plus $1 million interest for fraud, and $850,000 attorney fees for Day. Olson also enjoined Rosenthal from prosecuting any more lawsuits against Day or her business operations. Rosenthal filed more than 20 suits from 1969 to 1974. Olson, an expert in complex financial marital settlements, read every page of 3,275 individual exhibits and 68 boxes of miscellaneous financial records.
In October 1979, Rosenthal's liability insurer settled with Day for about $6 million payable in 23 annual installments. Rosenthal continued to file an appeal in the 2nd District Court of Appeal, and also filed another half-dozen suits related to the case. Two were libel suits, one against Day and her publishers over comments she made about Rosenthal in her book in which he sought damages. The other suits sought court determinations that insurance companies and individual lawyers failed to defend Rosenthal properly before Olson and in appellate stages. In April 1979, he filed a suit to set aside the $6 million settlement with Day and recover damages from everybody involved in agreeing to the payment supposedly without his permission.
1980s
In October 1985, the state Supreme Court rejected Rosenthal's appeal of the multimillion-dollar judgment against him for legal malpractice, and upheld conclusions of a trial court and a Court of Appeal that Rosenthal acted improperly. In March 1986, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the lower court's judgment. In June 1987, Rosenthal filed a $30-million lawsuit against lawyers he claimed cheated him out of millions of dollars in real estate investments, naming Day as a co-defendant, describing her as an "unwilling, involuntary plaintiff whose consent cannot be obtained". Rosenthal said that the millions of dollars he and Day lost were in real estate sold after Melcher died in 1968, in which Rosenthal asserted that the attorneys gave Day bad advice, telling her to sell, at a loss, three hotels, in Palo Alto, Dallas and Atlanta and some oil leases in Kentucky and Ohio. Rosenthal claimed he had made the investments under a long-term plan, and did not intend to sell them until they appreciated in value. Two of the hotels sold in 1970 for about $7 million, and their estimated worth in 1986 was $50 million.
In July 1987, after a hearing panel of the State Bar Court, after 80 days of testimony and consideration of documentary evidence, the panel accused Rosenthal of 13 separate acts of misconduct and urged his disbarment in a 44-page unsigned opinion. The panel's findings were upheld by the State Bar Court's review department, which asked the justices to order Rosenthal's disbarment. He continued representing clients in federal courts until the U.S. Supreme Court disbarred him on March 21, 1988. Disbarment by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals followed on August 19, 1988.
The Supreme Court of California, in affirming the disbarment, held that Rosenthal engaged in transactions involving undisclosed conflicts of interest, took positions adverse to his former clients, overstated expenses, double-billed for legal fees, failed to return client files, failed to provide access to records, failed to give adequate legal advice, failed to provide clients with an opportunity to obtain independent counsel, filed fraudulent claims, gave false testimony, engaged in conduct designed to harass his clients, delayed court proceedings, obstructed justice and abused legal process.
Terry Melcher later commented that it was only his stepfather's premature death that saved Day from financial ruin. It remains unresolved whether Melcher worked in collusion with Rosenthal to pillage her vast earnings, or was himself duped. Day herself has stated publicly that she believes Melcher innocent of any deliberate wrongdoing. In her words, he "simply trusted the wrong person" completely, until it was too late.
According to Day's autobiography, as told to A. E. Hotchner, the usually athletic and healthy Melcher had an enlarged heart. Another factor in his death may have been his conversion to Christian Science during his relationship with Day, which led him to delay going to the doctor for some time. Most of the interviews on the subject given to Hotchner (and included in Day's autobiography) paint an unflattering portrait of Melcher. Author David Kaufman asserts that one of Day's costars, actor Louis Jourdan, maintained that Day herself disliked Melcher, however Day's own statements regarding her relationship with Melcher belie that assertion.
The Doris Day Show
Upon her husband's death, Day 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 percent 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 was aired on September 24, 1968. From 1968 to 1973, The Doris Day Show aired with "Que Sera, Sera" as its theme song. Day grudgingly persevered as long as she needed the work to help pay off her debts, and only after CBS had ceded creative control to Day and her son. The show was so successful that it ran for five years. It also functioned as a lead-in to the hugely popular Carol Burnett Show. Despite its successful run, today Day's show is remembered for its abrupt changes in casting and premise from season to season. The show has not been widely syndicated unlike many of its contemporaries and has been little seen outside the US and the UK.
By the end of the series in 1973, public tastes had changed to such a degree that her firmly established persona was now out of fashion. She largely retired from acting after The Doris Day Show ended, but she did complete two TV specials, The Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff Special (1971) and Doris Day to Day (1975). She appeared in a John Denver TV special (in 1974) parodying her sunny public image.
Renewal of interest.
During the 1990s, interest in Day grew. The release of a greatest hits CD in 1992 garnered her another entry onto the British charts, while the inclusion of the song "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" in the soundtrack of the Australian film Strictly Ballroom gained her new fans.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the release of her films and TV series and specials on DVD further revived interest in her work, resulting in new websites devoted to Day and a growing number of academic texts analyzing various aspects of her career. In 2006, Day recorded a commentary for the DVD release of the fifth (and final) season of her TV show. Recently Day has participated in telephone interviews with a radio station that celebrates her birthday with an annual Doris Day music marathon. These interviews are available as downloadable podcasts.
While Day turned down a tribute offer from the American Film Institute, she received and accepted the Golden Globe's Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in 1989. In 2004, Day was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom but declined to attend the ceremony because of a fear of flying. Day did not accept an invitation to be a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors for undisclosed reasons. Liz Smith, a long-time entertainment gossip columnist, and movie critic Rex Reed have mounted vigorous campaigns to gather support for an honorary Academy Award for Day to herald her spectacular film career and her status as the top female box-office star of all time.
Day was honored with a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in Music in February 2008.
Two new biographies, coincidentally bearing the same cover photograph, were published in June 2008. Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door (Virgin Books) by David Kaufman, and Doris Day: Reluctant Star (JR Books) are "reputed" to tell about Day's "incredible, previously untold story".
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Personal life.
In 1975, Day released her autobiography, Doris Day: Her Own Story, an "as-told-to" work with A. E. Hotchner. It revealed to the general public many of the painful events in her private life that belied her sunny public image. In particular, the book detailed her 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. Her only child, Terry Melcher (a boy), was born from this marriage. Jorden, who was reportedly physically abusive to Day, committed suicide in 1967 by self-inflicted gun shot wound.
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 her become involved in Christian Science.
To Martin Melcher, whom she married on April 3, 1951. This marriage lasted far longer than her first two. Melcher adopted Terry (thus renaming the boy Terry Melcher), and also produced many of Day's movies. Day later revealed that Melcher had physically abused Terry. His profligate spending caused the financial problems for Day that are outlined above.
After her autobiography was published, Day was married one more time; this marriage also ended in divorce.
Her fourth marriage was to Barry Comden, from April 14, 1976 until 1981. Comden was her first husband from outside of show business. Comden was the maitre d' 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.
The book was a best seller, thanks to its revelations about Day's private life, many contributed by her friends who were particularly scathing towards husband number three Marty Melcher. While promoting the book, Day caused a stir by rejecting the "girl next door" and "virgin" labels so often attached to her. As she remarked in her book, "The succession of cheerful, period musicals I made, plus Oscar Levant's highly publicized comment about my virginity ('I knew Doris Day before she became a virgin.') contributed to what has been called my 'image', which is a word that baffles me. There never was any intent on my part either in my acting or in my private life to create any such thing as an image." 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?".
In later interviews, Day said she believed people should live together prior to marriage, something that she herself would do if the opportunity arose. Her candor won her admiration among reviewers and possibly contributed to the book's success. At the conclusion of this book tour, Day seemed content to focus on her charity and pet work and her business interests. (In 1985, she became part-owner of the Cypress Inn in Carmel, California.)
The mid-1980s saw a renewed period of activity. In May 1983, she became a grandmother, and in 1985 briefly hosted her own talk show, Doris Day's Best Friends on CBN. The show generated unexpected press when her old friend Rock Hudson appeared in the first episode. Day was taken aback by Hudson's emaciated frame, as he had always been in top physical condition. Soon after, she and the world learned that he was dying of AIDS. Day and Hudson were good friends off-screen, but would not publicly acknowledge that he was gay.[citation needed] Despite the world-wide publicity the show received, it was canceled after 26 episodes.
In 1975, Day released her autobiography, Doris Day: Her Own Story, an "as-told-to" work with A. E. Hotchner. It revealed to the general public many of the painful events in her private life that belied her sunny public image. In particular, the book detailed her 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. Her only child, Terry Melcher (a boy), was born from this marriage. Jorden, who was reportedly physically abusive to Day, committed suicide in 1967 by self-inflicted gun shot wound.
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 her become involved in Christian Science.
To Martin Melcher, whom she married on April 3, 1951. This marriage lasted far longer than her first two. Melcher adopted Terry (thus renaming the boy Terry Melcher), and also produced many of Day's movies. Day later revealed that Melcher had physically abused Terry. His profligate spending caused the financial problems for Day that are outlined above.
After her autobiography was published, Day was married one more time; this marriage also ended in divorce.
Her fourth marriage was to Barry Comden, from April 14, 1976 until 1981. Comden was her first husband from outside of show business. Comden was the maitre d' 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.
The book was a best seller, thanks to its revelations about Day's private life, many contributed by her friends who were particularly scathing towards husband number three Marty Melcher. While promoting the book, Day caused a stir by rejecting the "girl next door" and "virgin" labels so often attached to her. As she remarked in her book, "The succession of cheerful, period musicals I made, plus Oscar Levant's highly publicized comment about my virginity ('I knew Doris Day before she became a virgin.') contributed to what has been called my 'image', which is a word that baffles me. There never was any intent on my part either in my acting or in my private life to create any such thing as an image." 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?".
In later interviews, Day said she believed people should live together prior to marriage, something that she herself would do if the opportunity arose. Her candor won her admiration among reviewers and possibly contributed to the book's success. At the conclusion of this book tour, Day seemed content to focus on her charity and pet work and her business interests. (In 1985, she became part-owner of the Cypress Inn in Carmel, California.)
The mid-1980s saw a renewed period of activity. In May 1983, she became a grandmother, and in 1985 briefly hosted her own talk show, Doris Day's Best Friends on CBN. The show generated unexpected press when her old friend Rock Hudson appeared in the first episode. Day was taken aback by Hudson's emaciated frame, as he had always been in top physical condition. Soon after, she and the world learned that he was dying of AIDS. Day and Hudson were good friends off-screen, but would not publicly acknowledge that he was gay.[citation needed] Despite the world-wide publicity the show received, it was canceled after 26 episodes.
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flyme2themoon
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flyme2themoon
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flyme2themoon
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