Early career (1938–1947) (1940) While recovering from her car accident, Day sang along with the radio and discovered her singing talent. She later said: "During this long, boring period, I used to while away a lot of time listening to the radio, sometimes singing along with the likes of
Benny Goodman,
Duke Ellington,
Tommy Dorsey, and
Glenn Miller. But the one radio voice I listened to above others belonged to
Ella Fitzgerald. There was a quality to her voice that fascinated me, and I'd sing along with her, trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words." Day's mother Alma arranged for Doris to receive singing lessons from Grace Raine. After three lessons, Raine told Alma that Day had "tremendous potential" and gave her three lessons per week for the price of one. Years later, Day said that Raine had a greater effect on her singing style and career than had anyone else. During the eight months when she was receiving singing lessons, Day secured her first professional jobs as a vocalist on the
WLW radio program ''Carlin's Carnival'' and in a local restaurant, Charlie Yee's Shanghai Inn. During her radio performances, she first caught the attention of
Barney Rapp, who was seeking a female vocalist and asked her to audition for the job. According to Rapp, he had auditioned about 200 other singers. In 1939, Rapp suggested the stage name Doris Day because the Kappelhoff surname was too long for
marquees and he admired her rendition of the song "Day After Day". While working with Rapp, she sang for his band, the New Englanders, and was paid $50 per day; her manager stole half. After working with Rapp, Day worked with bandleaders Jimmy James,
Bob Crosby and
Les Brown. In 1941, Day appeared as a singer in three
Soundies with the Les Brown band. While working with Brown, Day recorded her first hit recording, "
Sentimental Journey", released in early 1945 and which went to #1 on the Billboard. It soon became an anthem for
World War II servicemen. The song continues to be associated with Day, and she rerecorded it on several occasions, including a version for her 1971 television special. During 1945–46, Day (as vocalist with the Les Brown Band) had six other top ten hits on the
Billboard chart: "
My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time", Tain't Me", "
Till the End of Time", "
You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)", "The Whole World Is Singing My Song" and
"I Got the Sun in the Mornin. Les Brown said, "As a singer Doris belongs in the company of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra."
Early film career (1948–1954) and Day in
Starlift (1951) While singing with the Les Brown band and for nearly two years on
Bob Hope's weekly radio program, She was shocked to receive the offer and admitted to Curtiz that she was a singer without acting experience but he appreciated her honesty and felt that "her
freckles made her look like the All-American Girl." The film provided her with a No. 2 hit recording as a soloist, "
It's Magic", which occurred two months after her hit "
Love Somebody", a duet with
Buddy Clark and they would have another hit shortly after that with a cover of Patti Page's "Confess." Her first solo hit was "
Sentimental Journey" in 1945. Day recorded "Someone Like You" before the film
My Dream Is Yours (1949), which featured the song. In 1950, she collaborated as a singer with the
polka musician
Frankie Yankovic, and the U.S. servicemen in Korea voted her their favorite star. Her heyday as a hitmaker was from 1948 to 1951 when she placed 15 songs on the Billboard Hot 30 list and was one of the top female pop vocalists, competing with rivals such as
Dinah Shore,
Jo Stafford, and
Patti Page. Day continued to appear in light musicals such as
On Moonlight Bay (1951),
By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953) and
Tea For Two (1950) for
Warner Bros. in
Calamity Jane (1953) Her most commercially successful film for Warner Bros. was ''
I'll See You in My Dreams'' (1951), a musical biography of lyricist
Gus Kahn that broke box-office records of 20 years. It was Day's fourth film directed by Curtiz. She appeared as the title character in the comedic western-themed musical
Calamity Jane (1953). A song from the film, "
Secret Love", won the
Academy Award for Best Original Song and became Day's fourth No. 1 hit single in the United States. Between 1950 and 1953, the albums from six of her film musicals charted in the Top 10, including three that reached No. 1. After filming
Lucky Me (1954) with
Bob Cummings and
Young at Heart (1955) with
Frank Sinatra, Day elected to not renew her contract with Warner Brothers. During this period, Day also had her own radio program,
The Doris Day Show. It was broadcast on CBS in 1952–1953.
Breakthrough (1955–1958) '' (1955) Primarily recognized as a musical-comedy actress, Day began to accept more dramatic roles in order to broaden her range. Her dramatic star turn as singer
Ruth Etting in
Love Me or Leave Me (1955), with top billing above
James Cagney, received critical and commercial success, becoming Day's greatest film success to that point. Cagney said that she had "the ability to project the simple, direct statement of a simple, direct idea without cluttering it," comparing her performance to that of
Laurette Taylor in the Broadway production
The Glass Menagerie (1945). Day felt that it was her best film performance. The film's producer
Joe Pasternak said, "I was stunned that Doris did not get an Oscar nomination." The film's soundtrack album became a No. 1 hit. Day starred in
Alfred Hitchcock's suspense film
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film) opposite James Stewart. She sang two songs in the film, "
Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)", which won an
Academy Award for Best Original Song, and "We'll Love Again". The film was Day's 10th to reach the top 10 at the box office. She played the title role in the film noir thriller
Julie (1956) with
Louis Jourdan. After three successive dramatic films, Day returned to her musical/comedic roots in
The Pajama Game (1957) with
John Raitt, based on the Broadway play of
the same name. She appeared in the
Paramount comedy ''
Teacher's Pet (1958) alongside Clark Gable and Gig Young. She costarred with Richard Widmark and Gig Young in the romantic comedy film The Tunnel of Love (1958) and with Jack Lemmon in It Happened to Jane'' (1959).
Billboard annual nationwide poll of disc jockeys had ranked Day as the No. 1 female vocalist nine times in ten years (1949 through 1958), but her success and popularity as a singer was now being overshadowed by her box-office appeal. However, Day still had several more major hits over the '50s, including "Secret Love", "I'll Never Stop Loving You", and "Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be Will Be)" despite rock-and-roll reducing interest in older singers. The last charting single she had was "Lover Come Back" in 1962.
Box-office success (1959–1968) In 1959, Day entered her most successful phase as a film actress with a series of romantic comedies beginning with
Pillow Talk (1959), costarring
Rock Hudson, who became a lifelong friend, and
Tony Randall. Day received a nomination for an
Academy Award for Best Actress, her only career Oscar nomination. Day, Hudson and Randall appeared in two more films together,
Lover Come Back (1961) and
Send Me No Flowers (1964). Along with
David Niven, Day starred in ''
Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) and with Cary Grant in That Touch of Mink'' (1962). From 1960-1964, she ranked No. 1 at the box office four times, an accomplishment equalled by no other actress except
Shirley Temple. Day also received the most
Laurel Awards as the top female box-office star, winning seven consecutive awards, two more than the leading male star,
Rock Hudson. Day teamed with James Garner starting with
The Thrill of It All, followed by
Move Over, Darling (both 1963). The film's theme song "
Move Over Darling", cowritten by her son, hit No. 8 in the UK. In addition to the comedies, Day costarred with
Rex Harrison in the thriller
Midnight Lace (1960), an update of the stage thriller
Gaslight. Day's next film
Do Not Disturb (1965) did fairly well at the box office, but not enough to recoup its costs, and her popularity started to wane. By the late 1960s, in the midst of the
Sexual Revolution, critics and comics dubbed her The World's Oldest Virgin. She slipped from the list of top box-office stars, last appearing in the top ten with
The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). Among the roles she declined was that of Mrs. Robinson in
The Graduate, a role that eventually went to
Anne Bancroft. In her memoirs, Day wrote that she rejected the part on moral grounds, finding the script "vulgar and offensive." In another sign of the times, Day was dropped from Columbia Records in 1965 when the label dismissed long-running pop division head
Mitch Miller and hired new, young, rock-focused management, ending her active career as a recording artist. Day starred in the Western
The Ballad of Josie in 1967. That same year, she recorded
The Love Album, which was not released until 1994. In 1968, she starred in
Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? about the
Northeast blackout of November 9, 1965. Her final feature,
With Six You Get Eggroll, also released in 1968. It was a big hit, indicating she remained popular with the public. From 1959 to 1970, Day received nine Laurel Award nominations (and won four times) for best female performance in eight comedies and one drama. From 1959 through 1969, she received six
Golden Globe nominations for best female performance in three comedies, one drama (
Midnight Lace), one musical (
Jumbo) and her television series.
Bankruptcy and television career '' After her third husband
Martin Melcher died on April 20, 1968, Day was shocked to discover that Melcher and his business partner and advisor Jerome Bernard Rosenthal had squandered her earnings, leaving her deeply in debt. Rosenthal had been her attorney since 1949 when he represented her in her uncontested divorce action against her second husband,
George W. Weidler. Day filed suit against Rosenthal in 1969 and won in 1974, but did not receive compensation until a settlement was reached in 1979. Day also learned to her displeasure that Melcher had committed her to a television series that became
The Doris Day Show. Day hated the idea of performing on television but felt obliged to forge ahead with the series. and featured a rerecorded version of "Que Sera, Sera" as its theme song. Day persevered with the show, needing to work to repay her debts, but only after
CBS ceded creative control to her and her son. The show enjoyed a successful five-year run, although it may be best remembered for its abrupt season-to-season changes in casting and premise. on the TV special
Doris Day Today(CBS, February 19, 1975) and
Doris Day Today (1975), and guested on various shows in the 1970s. In 1985 she recorded new songs, which were released in 2011 as
My Heart. In the 1985–86 season, Day hosted her own television talk show, ''Doris Day's Best Friends'', on the
Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). The channel cancelled the show after 26 episodes despite the worldwide publicity that it had received due to an appearance by
Rock Hudson, who was showing the first public symptoms of
AIDS, including severe weight loss and fatigue. He died from the disease later that year. Day later said, "He was very sick. But I just brushed that off and I came out and put my arms around him and said, 'Am I glad to see you'."
1980s and 1990s In October 1985, the
Supreme Court of California rejected Rosenthal's appeal of the multimillion-dollar judgment awarded to Day in her suit against him for
legal malpractice and upheld the conclusions of a trial court and an appeals court that Rosenthal had acted improperly. In April 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 who he claimed cheated him out of millions of dollars in real-estate investments. He named Day as a codefendant, describing her as an "unwilling, involuntary plaintiff whose consent cannot be obtained." Rosenthal claimed that much of the money that Day lost was the result of unwise advice of other attorneys who suggested she sell three hotels at a loss, as well as oil leases in
Kentucky and
Ohio. He claimed to have made the investments under a long-term plan and did not intend to sell until they appreciated in value. Two of the hotels sold in 1970 for $7 million, and their estimated worth by 1986 was $50 million.
Terry Melcher stated that his father's premature death saved Day from financial ruin. It was not known whether Martin Melcher was duped by Rosenthal, and Day stated publicly that she believed him innocent of any deliberate wrongdoing, in that he "simply trusted the wrong person." According to author David Kaufman, Day's former costar
Louis Jourdan maintained that Day disliked her husband, although Day's public statements suggest otherwise. 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 suffered a deep leg cut from a sprinkler and was unable to attend. Day was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 1981 and received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement in 1989. In 1994, Day's
Greatest Hits album entered the British charts.
2000s Day participated in celebrations of her birthday with an annual Doris Day music marathon. She declined tribute offers from the
American Film Institute and the
Kennedy Center Honors because they both require that recipients attend in person. In 2004, she was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom by President
George W. Bush for her achievements in the entertainment industry and for her work on behalf of animals. President Bush stated: Columnist
Liz Smith and film critic
Rex Reed mounted vigorous campaigns to gather support for an
Academy Honorary Award for Day. According to
The Hollywood Reporter, the academy had offered her the honorary Oscar multiple times, but she declined as she saw the film industry as a part of her past life. Day received a
Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in Music in 2008, albeit again in absentia. Day received Grammy Hall of Fame Awards in 1998, 1999 and 2012 for her recordings of "Sentimental Journey", "Secret Love" and "Que Sera, Sera", respectively. She 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. The album is a compilation of previously unreleased recordings produced by Day's son Terry Melcher. Tracks include the 1970s
Joe Cocker hit "
You Are So Beautiful",
the Beach Boys' "
Disney Girls" and jazz standards such as "
My Buddy", which Day originally sang in the film ''I'll See You in My Dreams'' (1951). In the U.S., the album reached No. 12 on
Amazon's bestseller list and helped raise funds for the
Doris Day Animal League. Day became the oldest artist to score a UK Top 10 with an album featuring new material. In January 2012, the
Los Angeles Film Critics Association presented Day with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In April 2014, Day made an unexpected public appearance to attend the annual Doris Day Animal Foundation benefit.
Clint Eastwood offered Day a role in a film that he was planning to direct in 2015, but she eventually declined. Day granted ABC a telephone interview on her birthday in 2016 that was accompanied by photos of her life and career. ==Activism and charity work==