Doris Day was a star from the minute she entered the mainstream consciousness. The bouncy blonde with uncontrollable optimism captivated post-war America as a big band era chanteuse before she achieved indelible fame in Hollywood as the wholesome girl next door. The camera loved her and audiences were insatiable for her the sweet, sunny disposition that masked the reality of her tragic private life that was defined by aching loneliness and misfortune.
Born, Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff in 1922 - the onscreen legend that was to become known around the world by her stage name, Doris Day died this morning at the age of 97 in her Carmel Valley, California home.
Day dedicated her twilight years to taking care of animals. Carmel Valley neighbors of her massive 11-acre estate recall the rare sighting of an eccentric woman they knew as Clara Kappelhoff shuffling through the streets while rounding up stray cats and dogs - the reclusive and shy bespectacled woman in horn-rimmed glasses was a far cry from the silver screen siren that captivated Americans as the 'ultimate girl next door.'
As a young girl, Doris Day had dreams of becoming a professional dancer. At 15-years-old, she moved from a Cincinnati Ohio suburb to Los Angeles with her mother and dance partner when she won the $500 grand prize in a dance contest. Day's dreams were dashed when her right leg was shattered in a car accident that was struck by a passing train, she wrote in her 1976 autobiography of the horrific moment she climbed out of the car and dragged herself to the side of the road. Inspecting her leg she said her fingertips 'came to the sharp ends of the shattered bones protruding from my leg.'
Doris Day has over 650 song titles to her catalog and has starred in 40 films. She is the recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and President Medal of Freedom. In 2012, she was accepted into the Grammy Hall of Fame
Doris Day made her Hollywood debut in 1948 with Romance on the High Seas. She beat out Judy Garland who was originally cast for this role after she impressed two Warner Brother executives during an impromptu singing performance at a Hollywood party
Doris Day married her second husband, saxophonist George Weidler on March 30, 1947. The couple lived in a Los Angeles trailer park and divorced after three years. Recalling her wedding day Doris said: 'I should have worn black'
Doris caught the attention of Les Brown (not pictured), who was looking to add a female voice to his jazz orchestra. At the time she was only 16-years-old and Brown lied about her age so she could perform in the night clubs. He convinced her to shorten her name to Doris Day so it could fit on the marquis and together they would record a string of music hits
Day's determined stage mother enrolled her in singing lessons during her convalescence where she proved to be a natural talent, spending countless hours listening to the jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington. It was during this time also, that Day was given a small dog named 'Tiny' to help her heal from the trauma. In her autobiography co-written by A.E. Hotchner titled, Doris Day: Her Own Story, she said: 'It was the start of what was, for me, a lifelong love affair with the dog.'
Her career in show business began in 1939 when she caught the attention of Les Brown, an American jazz band leader who was looking for a female vocalist to join his orchestra, together the two recorded a handful of hits before Day embarked on a solo career of her own that would span four decades long. Day was an overnight success and by the 1950s, she had become one of the highest paid singers in America, having recorded more than 650 songs to her catalog.
As a triple threat that could sing, dance and act, it was only a matter of time before Day made her way to the silver screen after she impressed a couple of Warner Brother executives during an impromptu performance of 'Embraceable You' at a Hollywood party. She won the lead part in Romance on the High Seas and subsequently launched her Tinseltown career with more than 40 titles under her belt; starring alongside on screen legends like Frank Sinatra, Clark Gable, Rock Hudson and James Cagney.
Day's success on the big screen did not carry over to her private life. Behind the wholesome, sunny façade was a vulnerable woman racked with insecurities and catastrophically poor judgement in men. She wrote in her book: 'My only true ambition in life was to get married and tend house and have a family.' Sadly it was this very dream that always eluded Day.
Doris Day, Frank Sinatra (center), and Lauren Bacall (right) pose at the Sands Hotel-Casino Las Vegas in 1956. In 1954, Day starred in Young at Heart alongside Frank Sinatra
Born Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1922. Her parents split apart at a very young age. Day's father was a music teacher and strict disciplinarian that embarked on a string of affairs, one of them with his wife's best friend. According to a biography written by David Bret, 'Doris would hear them having sex in the room next to hers and cry herself to sleep'
Doris Day was not shy to admit that her wholesome girl-next-door image was all an act. She wrote in her biography: 'I'm tired of being thought of as Miss Goody Two-Shoes…I'm not the All-American Virgin Queen and I'd like to deal with the true, honest story of who I really am.'
James Cagney co-starred with Day in Love Me Or Leave Me. Cagney said that Day had 'the ability to project the simple, direct statement of a simple, direct idea without cluttering it'
Movie studios desperately worked to preserve Day's bubbly blond facade but behind closed doors, she was known for her voracious appetite for men. Co-star Oscar Levant once said: Oscar Levant, 'I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin'
She was first married at 19-years-old to Al Jorden, a trombone player with a violent temper. Day claimed that Jorden struck her for the first time on the second day of their marriage after she accepted a wedding gift from his bandmate and the physical abuse did not stop from that day forward. He tried to convince Day into getting an abortion after she became pregnant with his child. When that failed, he threatened her with a gun and a few savage beatings before Day finally divorced him a year later. At 20-years-old, Day gave birth to her only son: Terrance Paul Jorden, later he became a famous music producer in his own right under the name Terry Melcher. Jorden committed suicide a year later.
Doris' second marriage to saxophonist George Weidler also ended in divorce after three years because he felt intimidated by her rising star status and said that he didn't want to be known as 'Mr. Doris Day.' The couple lived in a Los Angeles trailer park, and recalling her wedding day to Weidler, Doris said: 'I should have worn black.'
Between marriages, Day enjoyed the company of numerous famous men, most notably the infamous womanizer, Mickey Mantle. She met the celebrated baseball player on the 1962 set of That Touch of Mink. In his biography of Doris Day, writer David Kaufman said: 'Mantle boasted to friends that not only had he slept with Day at his regular suite in New York's St Moritz Hotel but also that she was an accomplished lover.'
Just as they had done to conceal Rock Hudson's homosexuality, studio executives worked hard to preserve Day's
