Comments

Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff; better known as Doris Day, was an American actress, singer, and animal welfare activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, “Sentimental Journey” and “My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time” with Les Brown & His Band of Renown. She left Brown to embark on a solo career and recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967.

One of the biggest film stars of the 1950s–1960s, her celluloid career began during the Golden Age of Hollywood with the film Romance on the High Seas (1948). She starred in films of many genres, including musicals, comedies, dramas, and thrillers. She played the title role in “Calamity Jane” (1953) and starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1956) with James Stewart. Her best-known films are those in which she co-starred with Rock Hudson, chief among them 1959’s “Pillow Talk”, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also worked with James Garner on both “Move Over, Darling” (1963) and “The Thrill of It All” (1963), 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 movies. After ending her film career in 1968, and only briefly removed from the height of her popularity, she starred in her own sitcom “The Doris Day Show” (1968–1973).

Encouraged by Frank Sinatra to steadfastly ditch novelty songs, she did not always follow his advice. Nevertheless, the fact that he had imparted such words of wisdom was testimony to his belief in her vocal prowess. Check out her rendition of “I’ll Remember April”, recorded with Frank DeVol and his orchestra for her 1957 “Hooray for Hollywood” album, probably the definitive reading of this 20th century standard. Her vocal chops are near matchless, her recording perhaps rivalled only by Sinatra’s 1961 reading on his “Point of no return “ album.