Doris Day

[johnbear]

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[johnbear]

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[Neptun7878]

[tsunamiSD]

[tsunamiSD]

from a social media post...

[CandyMoFan]

doris day...............recording star................

[Findcandor]

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Fourth husband Barry Comden, 12 years
her junior, married the lady in 1976 and
divorced in 1981. According to him, she
loved the doggies so much, he took a
back seat. She did not marry again.


Among a ton of my planned posts is one for a beaut (another who has been ignored on VEF) with the first name of Mary and the last name of Michael. As I was gathering materials, a lead claimed M.M. had appeared in the spy comedy, Caprice (1967). While I could not find a sign of M.M. in the film, a lovely lady appeared in the cast, and I couldn't resist putting up this post. (Where I got into the film a bit, and if that interests you, consider the click.) There were other women in the film, foremost the leading lady: the legendary Doris Day.


Original caption: Hollywood, CA-"Systematic exercise is
a must for all actresses," declared Doris Day on the set
of Warner Bros.' musical, "Lullaby of Broadway." After
completing a strenuous dance routine with Gene Nelson,
Doris jumps into her pool for fun and exercise. She is
shown here on the diving board of the pool. Ca. 1940s.

It is my feeling that in U.S. culture, Doris Day came to be regarded as a kind of a joke. After her heyday in 1940s and 1950s movies, where she had the image of an innocent, and her reputation as a perpetual virgin (apparently Groucho Marx first made this joke) took hold later in her career. I'm supposing her famous romantic comedies with Rock Hudson (a leading man who worked beautifully with the woman. This reality became clearer upon a viewing of Caprice, where her lover was played by Richard Harris, who did not cut the mustard), particularly from the 1960s, helped perpetuate this "fall from grace." While she came to be beloved for the comedy films, perhaps audiences stopped being aware of what Ms. Day had come to be known for.


With her famed film lover boy, Rock Hudson,
in Pillow Talk (1959), their first pairing.

(By the way, the Motion Picture Herald named her as the #1 box-office star of 1962, 1963, and 1964, and even by 1968, the year her successful five-year-long TV series, The Doris Day Show, began — and she would never make a movie after that year — the lady was ranked 1968's 14th most popular movie star. All of that is a very big deal.)



In terms of looks, Doris Day was an undeniable smoke show, a true vision of loveliness. I had to go through the thread to make sure the non-Caprice photos I gathered had not been introduced earlier (while writing this post, I gathered some more, and did not re-check the thread; maybe a couple of duplicates slipped past), and I came across Member "Berigan"'s Post #12 from 2010, where evidently Doris (and this goes beyond her general beauty) was regarded by some as having "the best behind in the Hollywood of her time."



Reworked from the thread; first, Member "Joszka" presented (in Post #44,
2014) two scanned pages of a 1964 Ciné Revue article written in French,
and I felt the swimsuit view deserved to be highlighted. The second is from
2017's Post #87 by Member "Dirk," where he presented other views of our
lady in a bikini (besides what is seen above) from a 1973 appearance on
The Doris Day Show, when she was fifty-one.


That's kind of exciting. When the physical image of Doris Day comes to mind, I believe the impression for most would be just that she looked great. I wouldn't have thought any of her singular parts (aside from her wonderful face) would have attracted special attention. (Next time I see her in screen action, I'm going to make a point of checking out the rear view.)


Belting it out in April in Paris (1952), and in the second photo, Love Me or
Leave Me (1955), one of the lady's more noteworthy films. Her gangster
boyfriend was played by the great James Cagney, and the ballads sung by
our lady were often top-notch.

Next, what made Doris famous was her fantastic voice. Her dream was to become a dancer, but a car accident forced the then-teenager to re-shift the career gears. While recuperating, according to her IMDb bio, she would listen to the big band artists, and there was a clue about how Ella Fitzgerald inspired her. At age 17, the Les Brown Band hired Doris and she began touring. (Ms. Day met her first husband, a trombonist, this way, and they got married in 1941; he wasn't good for her, the union led to divorce, and interestingly the man committed suicide, with the implication that her departure caused depression.) In other words, the public did not get to know Doris Day for her looks. It was only after her movie career began in 1946 (first film: 1948) that the phenomenon most know currently as "Doris Day" began.


In short, we mustn't downplay her great vocal talent. Her theme song, Que Sera Sera (as one example), made a big impact in its time when she sang it in a 1956 Hitchcock movie, still affecting listeners today.



These images of Rock Hudson and Doris Day are from Leo Fuchs: 'Special Photographer from the Golden Age of Hollywood.'" Further shots
of the cinematic pair may be found here and here. Mr. Fuchs had a special status, at times an outsider who was allowed in the studios to
capture usually unguarded moments of the stars and other actors; he transitioned into the role of movie producer in 1964. Rock and Doris
were shot in other get-ups as well, but naturally Doris as "Jane," as seen in the first photo above, is especially irresistible.

Whenever I watch those 1960s comedy films, especially the ones with Rock Hudson, I'm always impressed with her comedic skills. Doris Day was a great comic actress. Comedy takes a back seat in the performance arts, but to handle oneself in expert "funny" fashion is not something everybody can do.




As for her talents as a dramatic actress, Ms. Day was no slouch either. I recall watching Midnight Lace (1960) and I was sincerely bowled over by her performance.



The film is about her credibility, if not her sanity, being questioned when she tries to convince others someone is threatening her. (In her autobiography she wrote that the memory of her first husband physically abusing her helped with the terror scenes, and she ultimately collapsed; production was shut down for days until she recovered.)


Doris Day and third husband Martin Melcher celebrate
their 8th anniversary with a big cake given to them on
the set of Pillow Talk; she stuck with him for 17 years,
until his death in 1968. Long-gone Member "Lovegod"
gave an idea of Melcher's shenanigans in the third post
from 2008. It's not as though he didn't come in handy
as her manager; for example, he talked her into accepting
a role in one of her best films, Hitchcock's The Man Who
Knew Too Much (her fear of flying made her balk). Yet
he did get her cast in parts that made her unhappy (as
with Caprice), and he squandered her money, leaving
her millions of dollars in debt. Lovejoy wrote he cost
Doris $66 million! She managed to recover $22 million
in the courts.

Doris Day was a multi-talented, amazing artist; of course, her prime womanly qualities could not be discounted, and the good looks only add icing to the cake.



With Richard Harris in CAPRICE

Her comedic abilities were well on display in Caprice, a film where she wore the nuttiest outfits. Mind you, she was forty-four or forty-five, an age considered to be over-the-hill for most actresses, and Doris was still every inch the babe. (In 2015, Member "Span4f" presented the thread with some fine caps from the film, in his Post #55.)



















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[senseo69]

Full page foto in German magazine Film Revue 04-august-1959. (webfind)