Doris Day's Biography

Doris Day was born Doris Kappelhoff on 3 April 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

It had previously been thought that Doris Day was born two years later.

Doris Day started singing professionally in the 1940s. She was a vocalist with a variety of big bands and also sang on radio.

Her first film was Romance on the High Seas (1948), but Doris Day shot to fame in the 50s with films like Calamity Jane and Young at Heart.

She was given an Academy Award nomination for the comedy Pillow Talk (1959), which featured Rock Hudson, who was a regular on-screen partner.

Her singing career was also a great success with hits like 1956 "Que Sera, Sera." Doris Day originally sang Que Sera Sera in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).

The song won an Oscar and it became her signature tune. Doris Day starred in her own sitcom, The Doris Day Show, and the theme song was "Que Sera Sera".

After her TV series finished in the early seventies, Doris Day turned her attention to animal welfare.

On June 23 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the USA's highest civilian honour.

According to the Medal of Freedom website:

"Doris Day, who is being honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom Wednesday in Washington, said her fear of flying will keep her from travelling to the capitol to accept it from President Bush. Day, who won an Oscar nomination for the 1959 romantic comedy Pillow Talk and made several gold records, blames her fear of flying on too many overseas trips with Bob Hope entertaining U.S. troops. "I saw him on his knees many a time, " she said. "In fact, we were all on our knees. We flew in snowstorms, whatever, to get to the next show. When I hit the ground, I said, 'Never again.'" The entertainer has also been recognized for founding the Doris Day Animal Foundation, which has sponsored annual Spay Days to reduce animal overpopulation. The Medal of Freedom distinguishes service in a range of fields, including the arts, sports, business and science."

In September 2011, The Telegraph reported that Doris Day at 87 was about to release her first album of new material in 17 years.

Entitled My Heart, the album includes several songs written by her late son, singer and Byrds producer Terry Melcher, who died in 2004.

In 2011, Doris Day was given a lifetime achievement award by the LA Film Critics Association (LAFCA).

She died on 13 May 2019.