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.

Diane Keaton - ©Theda Bara

 

Diane Keaton passed away last Saturday, October 11th, surrounded by her family, with no cause of death disclosed. The only information given to the press was that her health had deteriorated rapidly in recent months. Cinema has lost another of its iconic actresses.

After a remarkable run of nearly a decade of films with her boyfriend Woody Allen (1935-), Diane finally won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1978 for her performance in “Annie Hall” (1977), playing “Annie Hall”, a budding singer with a somewhat complex mind who meets “Alvy Singer” (actor/director: Allen), a divorced Jewish comedian who has been in therapy for fifteen years. The couple decides to live together, but marital crises begin to emerge and affect both of their feelings.

Diane Keaton was one of the people who defended Woody Allen after accusations from his ex-wife, Mia Farrow (1945-), that Allen had abused their daughter, Dylan Farrow (1985-), who was then 7 years old.

Her film fame began with her appearance in Francis Ford Coppola's (1939-) “The Godfather” (1972), playing “Kay Adams-Corleone”, the wife of “Michael Corleone”, played by Al Pacino (1940-). In 1974 and 1990, she reprised the role in parts II and III of the classic.

Diane received three other nominations for Hollywood’s top award, Best Actress, for her performances in “Reds” in 1981, playing “Louise Bryant”; “Marvin’s Room” in 1996, playing “Bessie”; and “Something’s Gotta Give” in 2003, playing “Erica Barry”. Keaton’s box office hits include the comedies “My Big Fat Greek Gift” (1987), playing “J.C. Wiatt”; “Father of the Bride” (1991, 1995, and 2020), playing “Nina Banks”; and “The First Wives Club” (1996), playing “Annie Paradis”.

Other awards include a BAFTA Award for Best Actress (1978) for “Annie Hall”; and two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (1978 and 2004) for “Annie Hall” and “Something’s Gotta Give”.

The actress’s last film was “Summer Camp” 2024, playing “Nora”, another comedy, this time with Eugene Levy (1946-) and Kathy Bates (1948-). According to IMDB, she participated in three pre-production projects. One of them, called “The Making of”, was to star Blake Lively (1987-) and Richard Gere (1949-). The script was written by Marshall Herskovits (1952-), Oscar winner for “Traffic” in 2001.

The actress tried her hand at singing, releasing Christmas songs, but without much success, one of the few failures for such a talented actress. Another failure for the actress was not having a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Diane Keaton, born Diane Hall on January 5, 1946, in Los Angeles, California, United States, passed away on October 11, 2025, in Los Angeles, California, United States, at the age of 79.

Diane dated actors and film directors Woody Allen and Warren Beatty, younger brother of award-winning actress Shirley MacLaine (1934-); and also actor Al Pacino, but never officially married. She leaves behind two adopted children: young Dexter (1995-) and teenage daughter Duke (2000-).

Between 1993 and 2008, Diane was the primary caregiver for her mother, Dorothy Deanne Keaton (1921-2008), who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Their relationship, in fact, was a significant part of the actress's autobiography, “Now and Forever”, published in 2011.

Claudia Cardinale - ©Theda Bara

The name I present in this post is Claudia Cardinale, an Italian-French actress born in Tunisia, who passed away on September 23 at the age of 87, but who left a legacy of more than 130 critically acclaimed European films in the 1960s and 1970s, primarily Italian and French. She also starred in several British and American films. The actress was known for having her life divided into two parts: Claude, the person, and Claudia, her artistic cinematic pseudonym.

Claudia Cardinale has an autobiography written in 2005, with the original title in French: “Mon Étoile”.

Claudia Cardinale never won an Oscar, but she received an Honorary Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1993, an Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002, and was verbally honored at the 2010 Oscar ceremony.

Unfortunately, Claudia Cardinale did not receive a star on the Los Angeles Walk of Fame because she did not appear in any notable Hollywood films.

Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale, born on April 15, 1938, in Tunis, Tunisia, died on September 23, 2025, in Nemours, France, at the age of 87.

Claudia Cardinale was married only once, to Italian film producer Franco Cristaldi (1924-1992), from 1966 to 1975. The couple had one son, English actor Patrick Cristaldi (1958-). From a casual relationship with another Italian film producer, Pasquale Squitieri (1938-2017), the actress had a daughter, Italian biographer Claudia Squitieri (1979).