Doris Day - ©Theda Bara

The name I present in this post is that of American actress and singer Doris Day. Her dreams of pursuing a career as a dancer were dashed when a car accident on October 13, 1937, severely damaged her legs. She spent most of her adolescence in a wheelchair, and during this time, she began singing on the radio. Her film fame came with British filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980), having been directed by him in the mystery thriller “The Man Who Knew Too Much ” (1956). She played the central role of “Josephine Conway McKenna” opposite James Stewart (1908-1997), who played “Dr. Benjamin McKenna”, and the actress sang the Oscar-winning song “Whatever Will Be, Will Be” in the film.

Doris turned down the role of “Maria” in “The Sound of Music” (1965), explaining: “I’m too American to play an Austrian nun”.

Doris Day never won an Oscar. Her major awards were: a Grammy for lifetime achievement in 2008; four Golden Globes: three Henrietta Awards in 1958, 1960, and 1963; and a Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1989.

The actress has two stars on the Los Angeles Walk of Fame, located on Hollywood Boulevard: 6278, in the Music category, and 6735, in the Motion Picture category.

Born Doris Mary Ann von Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, she died on May 13, 2019, in Carmel Valley Village, California, United States, at the age of 97.

Her mother, Alma Sophia Kappelhoff (1895-1976), named her Doris in honor of her favorite silent film star, Doris Margaret Kenyon (1897-1979). Coincidentally, it was in the mid-1970s that Day wrote her autobiography, “Doris Day: Her Own Story” (1975), in collaboration with biographer Aaron Edward Hotchner (1917-2020). Kenyon was her neighbor on Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills, California, United States.

Doris Day underwent a hysterectomy during the filming of “Julie” (1956), where she played the lead character “Julie Benton”. After being diagnosed with an orange-sized tumor growing in her intestine, she underwent treatment and completed filming.

Doris Day was married four times, three of which ended in divorce. Her first marriage was to American trombonist and musician Albert Paul Jorden (1917–1967), from 1941 to 1943. The couple had one son, American musician and record producer Terrence “Terry” Melcher (1942–2004); her second marriage was to American saxophonist and composer George William Weidler (1926–1989), from 1946 to 1949; her third marriage was to American film and music executive Martin Melcher (1915–1968), from 1951 to 1968, which left her a widow; her fourth and final marriage was to restaurant entrepreneur Barry Comden (1935–2009), from 1976 to 1982.