HOLLYWOOD LEGEND DORIS DAY IS DEAD!!!
Hollywood legend Doris Day has died at the age of 97. Her death was announced by her charity, the Doris Day Animal Foundation, on Monday. The foundation said in a statement that she was surrounded by close friends and ‘had been in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia.’
She died at her estate home in Carmel Valley, California, where she has lived in solitude for the last several decades with her dozens of pets.
The charity also revealed that ‘her wishes were that she have no funeral or memorial service and no grave marker.’ Instead, she wanted fans to donate to the charity she founded to save animals.
Day charmed America in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, starring in an astonishing 39 films in just 20 years. On screen, she was a bright-eyed goody two-shoes and she often referred to herself as ‘America’s virgin’
In addition to starring in some of the most iconic Hollywood films of all time like Pillow Talk, Love On The High Seas and Love Me or Leave Me, Day was a Grammy-winning singer and started her career aged 15 in Les Brown’s band.
Her songs Sentimental Journey, Secret Love and Que Sera Sera have all been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. She embodied a wholesome presence that America fell in love with.
Born Doris Marianne von Kappelhoff, she grew up in Evanston, Ohio.
Her parents were a music teacher and a housewife and she dreamed of a dance career, but at age 12, suffered a crippling accident: a car she was in was hit by a train and her leg was badly broken.
Listening to the radio while recuperating, she began singing along with Ella Fitzgerald, ‘trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words
Day began singing in a Cincinnati radio station, then a local nightclub, then in New York. A bandleader changed her name to Day, after the song Day after Day, to fit it on a marquee.
Her Hollywood career began after she sang at a Hollywood party in 1947. After early stardom as a band singer and a stint at Warner Bros., Day won the best notices of her career with Love Me or Leave Me, the story of songstress Ruth Etting and her gangster husband-manager. She initially balked at it, but the 1955 film became a box-office and critical success.
But she found her greatest success in slick, stylish sex comedies, beginning with her Oscar-nominated role in Pillow Talk. Warner Bros. cashed in on Doris Day with a series of musicals, including My Dream Is Yours, Tea for Two and Lullaby of Broadway.
Her last film was With Six You Get Eggroll, a 1968 comedy about a widow and a widower and the problems they have when blending their families.
With movies trending for more explicit sex, she turned to television to recoup her finances. The Doris Day Show was a moderate success in its 1966-1973 run on CBS.
Although mostly retired from show business since the 1980s, she still had enough of a following that a 2011 collection of previously unreleased songs, My Heart, hit the top 10 in the United Kingdom.
The same year, she received a lifetime achievement honor from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
In 2004, while being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, President George H.W. Bush said it was ‘a good day for America when Doris Marianne von Kappelhoff of Evanston, Ohio decided to become an entertainer.’ She did not make the ceremony in person because she had a fear of flying.
In 1978, she founded The Doris Day Foundation and spent the final years of her life committed to animal rights’ work. .
At the time of her death, her estimated net worth was $200million but it is unclear how much of it she has left to her charity. On the charity’s website, she is affectionately described as ‘The Dog Catcher of The Beverly Hills.’ Instead, she lived quietly in Carmel, Califonia, caring for animals.
She celebrated her recent birthday in April at home but 300 fans gathered in Carmel in tribute to her.
She is survived by her grandson, Ryan. May her soul rest in peace!!!
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